18 month old

loismustdie

any ideas what games to play or places to go with an 18month old boy. most things are catered for older kids. we go to the beach open farms, the zoo and the park but is there anythin im missin we could be doin> is there anywhere aimed at small toddlers
thanks

Schnooks

Sounds like you are already covering all the bases there - beach, zoo, park etc, that is what I have always used.

I suppose the only other thing is to make sure that your child has interraction with other kids of similar age, or older, doesn't matter really. My little monster (2 years and 2 months) is obsessed with trying to keep up with the older kids and follows them everywhere, and they look out for him too, kids are good like that.

We are all new to this game, just plodding along and doing the best we can. Well done for taking him to all those places you mentioned. Let him run around after the older kids, it's good for him

loismustdie

thanks so much, you're so right about older kids too, he is constantly laughin when he's around my neice or friends kids. the playgroup we'v only recently started goin to is over for the summer but il start goin places with friends with kids. i had noticed how much he loves them but didnt think of it like that. thanks fir your kind post.

on a side note, what's the best way to teach him games like jigsaws or bouncin balls. i know he's young but ive been talkin him through this kind of thing as i do it and he watches and tries to join him. he's good at shapesorting now and im not sure if it;s cos i kept demonstratin or if he learnt it his own way.
i know this sounds so trivial but like you said, we are just learnin ourselves too, thanks again

nesf

loismustdie wrote: »

on a side note, what's the best way to teach him games like jigsaws or bouncin balls.

Sit down with him and start doing the game for him. He'll probably show some interest and try to join in. At some point they'll take things over and push you away so they can play with their trains/jigsaws/whatever. At this stage you normally teach through showing them and helping them do it, the important thing is to leave them try themselves even when they are completely messing it up and encouraging them.

The speed at which he learns stuff is really down to his preferences. Our guy loves doing stuff manually and picks up stuff relatively fast but that's just down to him loving doing it rather than anything we do. Other activities wouldn't capture his interest half as much most of the time and he progresses slower in them simply because he spends less time doing them to be honest. Scribbling with crayons he's not really into but if you give him a screwdriver he'll try and half succeed at dismantling some of his toys. Go figure tbh.

SarahMc

18 months is way too young for jigsaws. What he is really concentrating on at the moment is language acquisition, so lots of talking, music etc. I agree that interaction with other children is vital.

nesf

SarahMc wrote: »

18 months is way too young for jigsaws.

He might like watching them being put together though. Or be like our lad around that age and enjoy breaking up lego houses so someone else can put it back together again or similar. Just because a child won't be able to figure out the proper way to play with a toy doesn't mean that they won't get any enjoyment from it.

loismustdie

yeah he has a 5 piece dog jigsaw, says its aimed for one year olds he loves tryin it but cant get them into the right slots yet which is to be expected. thanks again for all advise

SarahMc

Thats what I meant, everything can be a plaything now, but a child of 18 months simply hasn't acquired the skills to actually complete a jigsaw.

LolaDub

Imaginosity in Sandyford is a 'childrens museum' its pretty much an indoor playground but they have some interesting stuff. For Toddlers they have a little toddler village with a mini hospital, restaurant diner, supermarket, library etc. At the weekend you definitely have to book in advance and theres more older kids, i think mid week is better for a younger child. Not sure exactly how much it is but for 2 adults and a toddler we paid about 20euro.