Saw a thing on Pinterest...10 activity ideas for a 1 year old or somesuch. The thing is, these sorts of lists annoy/terrify me . My 16 month old has zero attention span. He doesn't do an activity and when I try to get him to play the "right" way he just tantrums or moves on. Example, they say to give your 1 year old Pom Poms to put in a yogurt cup. If I did that, my kid would watch me do it, do it himself once, then drag the Pom poms to the kitchen drawers, put them in there, get out some Tupperware, put it in his mouth , drive it around like a car, notice the dog, chase the dog ....any attempt to redirect his attention back to the activity would either result in ignore or, if I tried really hard, frustration. Is this normal? I feel stupid that I don't do organized activities with him but when I do them , he seems miserable.
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My daughter is a couple months younger (13.5 mo) but she is the exact same way. I get a little paranoid about this when I compare her to friends with babies the same age, but I do think I it's totally normal. Maybe they just have a little extra energy to burn off?!
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@Mrs. Sketchbook: hahaha! My 16 month old would be the same. She loves doing things like that, but only on her own terms. She makes the rules.
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M is totally this way at 15 months. She has zero attention span and anything I've come up with in terms of Pinterest-type activities is totally not worth it. Filling the days is... difficult lately
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@MrsF: this makes me feel better! I can' hardly get him to show interest in his toys (he would rather climb all over the house instead), much less a craft project or sensory activity! He has over 30 words and is extremely loving and cheerful so generally I am not worried about his overall progress but I do sometimes wonder why he can never sustain interest in anything for more than a few minutes . He also still mouths everything!
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Yep, my 16 month old has a short attention span when it comes to activities. I can't see doing the craft stuff until he gets older. We're happy if a song distracts him from something that's causing a tantrum. Also still working on having him focused while eating dinner. He's more interested in stuff on the table and wants to play while eating.
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Yeah, my 17 month old has zero attention span. The only toy that keeps his attention for any period of time is the M&D shapes puzzle, and then only for two or three minutes. And playing the electric organ will keep him occupied for 5-10 minutes.
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Sounds like another Pinterest post to make us all feel inadequate!
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A dog is what keeps my almost 15 month old's attention! She can poke her eyes, pull her ears, etc. this sort of thing is not on Pinterest.
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@lovehoneybee: Ok, this makes me feel tons better!
@mamimami: Amen!
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@mamimami: I can just see it now..."15 New Sensory Play Tortures for Your Toddler to Try Out on your Dog"
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@Mrs. Sketchbook: I think at this age they're just go-go-go exploring everything...ain't nobody got time for toys!
Seriously, though, I laugh at those Pinterest activities. My kid is just way too....everywhere, all the time....for those sorts of things right now. Hopefully eventually he will be, but for now I just try to roll with it.
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If he's not having any fun, just skip it. I'm all for activities, and all for mind expansion and education and what-have-you, but if your kid is miserable he's not going to benefit much.
I am very Montessori in the sense that I feel that very young children are naturally driven to seek out the sorts of experimentation and action that speak to both their inner proclivities as well as their needs for things like competency, a general understanding of the world, and human relationships. Activities can help in this pursuit, but so can putting pom-poms in drawers and chasing the dog. I've always found that the best activities are extensions of what we already see our child(ren) doing and interested in. So if he is fascinated with chasing things, maybe you can set up an obstacle course with sofa cusions and chairs and things for him to navigate. Extensions almost never produce misery, and you might be surprised at how long an attention span he has for the right activity.
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Base on age appropriateness developmental milestones, I would not expect toddlers to be able to have a long attention span considering that at that age, their interest varies from one thing/object to another rather quickly. I would enjoy their carefree view and exploration of how they see their environment and let them take the initiative in their learning.
Where I used to work, our philosophy in working with children ages 3 months-pre-k is to let the children be the ones to initiate their activities. Granted we have toys/activities available for them, but it is up to the children to decide what and how long they want to engage with each activity. The teacher's job was to help the child scaffold and extend his/her learning by supplementing other toys/items/asking open-ended question/etc....
However, if I had a pre-k student, then my expectations would be differ in that I would expect an older preschool student to have a longer attention span and be able to attend/complete simple tasks.
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No attention span for organized activities here either. DS is almost 16 months old and I tried Pom poms in an old wipes container. He opens it and throws them everywhere then he shoves them into every little crevice he can find. Shoes, handle bars on his little bike, drawers, couch cushions. We gave up on those for a bit. They are a pain to clean up and get full of dog hair easy
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i can't even begin to imagine doing an organized activity with my 11.5 month old. it would be an epic fail.
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Pinterest is a first time moms worst nightmare. My lo didn't have much interest in anything other than musical/flashy toys until very recently (18 months). Now she likes building with megabloks but still isn't into sensory play. If she wants to push Tupperware around like a car, so be it, it makes me happy if she's playing by herself for a few minutes, no matter what she is playing with.
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@Mrs. Sketchbook: From what I can tell, most of the kids I know who are M's age are the same way. I think they are all more willing to play with toys when they are in a group but the moms all tell me that they have no attention span when playing alone.
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Nope my 13 month old usually has his own take on whatever activity I introduce. He gets to roam the house and do what he wants 99% of the time. I
Pinterest though.
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Glad to know I'm not the only one here!
Today he was fussing in the kitchen and I was desperate to get breakfast done. I gave him a cutie to mess with and a plastic cup (they just happened to be in my hand) and when I turned around he had eaten a huge chunk of the cutie! Yes, with the peel on. Yikes, bad mom!
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Reading all these responses give me hope my child is normal
She has no attention span, I tried to get her to build towers with me...she started and then got bored, took the blocks put them in the dog kennel, and then took the dog toy and hid it from the dog...ect. She is on her own agenda.
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I had this exact thought today. N is 14 months and will do the activity once to show me he can and then run away or put his own twist on the toys.
Put the shapes from one box to another box...then put the now empty box on head.
Put this Pom Pom through the paper towel tube that mama taped up...then try to feed the Pom Pom to the dog.
Mega Blok get puts together...with his mouth.
Pinterest though.
She has no attention span, I tried to get her to build towers with me...she started and then got bored, took the blocks put them in the dog kennel, and then took the dog toy and hid it from the dog...ect. She is on her own agenda.
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