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59 14 Month Old Activities For Intelligence and Learning

Look for some 14 month old activities? Here are 59 ways to play and engage with them as they learn about the world!

14 months old is such a fun age! Your baby has gone through several big transitions at a year old and is moving into toddlerhood. One year olds truly are so much fun. I loved this stage with both of my kids.

You’ll probably see them exploring new skills, learning new words, and following new interests. All kids grow in different ways and are interested in different things. And at this age they are starting to have more focus and a longer attention span.

To help you figure our what to do with your 14 month old, I’ve put together a list of fun activities to engage your little one! These activities are a great way to get them thinking and using their little bodies to learn.

I’ve split this post up into different skills. And don’t worry if your little one is interested in some of these yet – it definitely takes times to expand their interests and skills!

At this age, they won’t likely play with things for more than a few minutes at a time and that’s normal! Even a little bit of attention is a great opportunity to introduce new activities to them. They will take several introductions to an activity to really pick it up in most cases.

Give your little one a few introductions to each activity before writing it off completely. Doing these things will help young toddlers meet their developmental milestones.

Plus, many of them can be done in a high chair if you want to try to contain the mess! But I do encourage you to let your child get messy. It’s great for their development.

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If you need to adjust some of the activities for kids, here are my suggestions. When you’re observing, here are things to keep in mind:

Is your child frustrated because it’s too hard? Adjust the activity to be a little easier to meet them where they are. For example, if you’re putting q-tips into holes, try something bigger and easier to grip like pipe cleaners instead and give them fewer at a time.

Are they bored because it’s too easy? Make it a little harder! Use something more challenging like yarn instead of a pipe cleaner for beading work.

One of my top tips is adjusting the activity before giving up!

14 Month Old Activities

Fine Motor Skills

At 14 months, your child is really starting to work at their fine motor skills! There are lots of things they can do to improve this skillset.

  1. Drill home holes in a container and let them poke q-tips through them
  2. To work on their hand-eye coordination, cut out shapes from a magazine and let them match the shape to a hole in the container.
  3. Let them use hand-eye coordination by letting them push beads onto pipe cleaners
  4. Paint with ice
  5. Make sandpaper letters for them to trace
  6. Practice putting age-appropriate beads on a string
  7. Put items into a toilet paper rolls
  8. Match various colored objects with construction paper or tissue paper

Activities like these are also great for their problem-solving skills. Different activities can target the same skills or totally different skills depending how you set them up.

What I like about a lot of these activities is that you can turn them into a fun game or a sensory experience by adding something simple. For instance, if you did ice paint you could also introducing shaving cream and have them glide the ice through that too.

Water Play

Water play is always a huge hit with kids. A water table is a great addition to any toy setup. But you don’t need one to do water play! We have this water table that we love.

Here are some ideas:

  1. give them a bowl, a few cups of water, and 1/4 cup of oil and let them mix them together!
  2. let them stand at the sink in a kitchen help and play in the faucet or help you wash dishes
  3. set them up a container with some favorite toys to play with
  4. make bubble foam (1/4 cup dish soap and 1/2 cup of water with a hand mixer – add in food coloring for fun colors)
  5. give them a bath at a different time of day
  6. let them have a bowl of water, a wooden spoon, and various objects that float and sink
  7. put pom poms in the water (it’s a great way to clean them, plus they dry easily!)

Water play is one the one of the best ways for young toddlers to get a sensory experience with less mess. It’s also a great activity for easy clean up!

Hand-Eye Coordination

At this age, your baby is getting better and better at hand eye coordination! Here are some activities to introduce:

  1. drill some holes in a coffee container and let them poke q-tips through them
  2. cut out shapes from a magazine and have them match to another container
  3. match beads onto pipe cleaners
  4. Have your child put pegs in a pegboard – this is great for hand eye coordination!

It’s important that you introduce activities like this when they are ready because it’s easy to get frustrated if they aren’t familiar with the activity.

At 14 months they are starting to be more independent but you will really have to observe to see where they are at developmentally. Each kid is growing on their own timeline!

Sensory Bottles

Sensory bottles are DIY bottles that give your toddler a sensory experience and new stimulation. They’re made by filling a clear bottle with water, clear glue, and any fun additions that you’d like!

Some popular sensory bottle fillers are:

  1. glitter
  2. stars
  3. dice
  4. holiday items
  5. pompoms
  6. beads
  7. googly eyes
  8. water beads

The idea list is really endless! Get creative here or let your child help you pick.

Make the sensory bottle by putting all of your items in first. Fill your bottle half full with warm water and the rest with clear glue. Add one drop of food coloring if you’d like. Then super glue the the lid on (possibly the most important step!)and shake it up!

This is a great sensory experience for kids and a great way to introduce different shapes and different colors in baby play.

Cognitive Skills

Your baby is learning all sorts of new things and is starting to gain a lot more independence as their skills develop. Of course, they still need your help with almost everything but it’s never to early to start letting them figure things out on their own!

Here are a few activities to help with their cognitive skills:

  1. shape sorters
  2. stacking blocks (the block set from Lovevery is a great toy for this age!)
  3. help you do things around the house like wash dishes, sweep, etc. (having them help is great for practice and they’ll feel proud of helping!)
  4. do puzzles
  5. have them put pegs in a peg board
  6. play patty cake
  7. have them push a toy or pull a wagon
  8. sing songs together
  9. do color matching activities

The Lovevery Block Set is one of our favorite toys ever. My boys have played with it for years and will for years to come, I have no doubt!

Sensory Bags

Sensory bags are another great DIY sensory activity. You can put almost anything into a cloth bag to give your toddler some new sensation and fun! Here’s how you make them:

Crumple up newspaper, add any additional items, zip it closed and have your child bounce away! They’ll love jumping on it or playing with it as a ball.

You can also buy some here:

Pretend Play

Pretend play is such a fun part of toddlerhood! They’re starting to understand the world around them and improve their language skills.

Here are some ways you can help your little one’s learning:

  1. Bake cookies with them or let them help make a simple meal.
  2. Play games like “I spy” or shape games
  3. Show them how to use the remote control
  4. Help them find things that they’re looking for (often hiding it in plain sight!)
  5. Play with play doh and explore their little hands!

In The Kitchen

Packing a lunch can be a blast for your toddler. They are always so into helping mommy/daddy with anything.

And it’s a fun way for them to learn about different foods, how to pack their own lunch, and encourage independence.

Plus packing their lunch is a full story time activity! They might not eat much food yet but this is a good way to familiarize them with foods before serving.

Here are some fun meal ideas:

  1. ham & cheese pinwheels with fruit sliced on the side
  2. baked potato with turkey, broccoli, and cheese
  3. baked sweet potato with tuna
  4. pizza bites or pizza bagels
  5. sandwich, apple slices, yogurt bites, and chocolate chips
  6. cucumber sandwiches

Here is also a what my toddler eats in week for more ideas! And here are ideas for a one year old.

Sensory Play

Sensory play is a great way to let them explore different textures! Here are some fun ideas:

  1. sensory bins – use dry rice, oatmeal, beans – whatever you want!
  2. make paint with food coloring and corn starch – pour into a plastic container or put in zip lock baggies!
  3. give them play dough to explore
  4. make taste-safe mud with cocoa powder and cornstarch
  5. a ball pit

Here are some fun items you can include:

  1. tweezers (to pick up little toys)
  2. different trinkets (jewelry, buttons, paints) – just be mindful of the size of them!
  3. cups with water or vinegar

Play some fun games with the items too! Something like hide-and-seek can be a great way to encourage their curiosity.

One of my favorite things to do is an ice bin – both of my kids love it!

Busy Board

A busy board is a great way to let your toddler explore things themselves and learn through exploration. You can buy one or DIY one yourself – there are many ideas on Pinterest!

They best toys are their own hands. And this is a good idea for younger toddlers, too!

Language

Mini-toddlers are still learning language but there’s a few key ways to make sure you’re developing language!

  1. focus on functional language (open, close, help, please, etc.)
  2. start with simple words and constantly expand on the language
  3. get excitable about words and use hand motions to go with them
  4. sing songs about everything – even if you feel silly doing it
  5. read, read, read! exposure to books early and reading with an engaged parent has so many benefits
  6. narrate your life and daily activities as you’re doing things
  7. take them to your local library for story time
  8. sing songs while you clean up the house (a simple way to introduce functional vocabulary)

Walking and Gross Motor Skills

Your mini-toddler is probably a new walker or just learning to walk too.

Encourage them to walk with a toy like this one or give them lots of things to hold onto (like the edge of a table of a couch in your living room) as they learn to navigate their way across the room.

This is also a great age to get a Pikkler triangle or climbing mats. I’m linking the Pikkler triangle we have here. This is the newer model and a touch different from the one we bought years ago but it’s essentially still the same!

The Babbler Play Kit From Lovevery

We love our play kits from Lovevery! The Babbler Play Kit is specifically designed for months 13,14, and 15 and is a great place to start if you are looking for a simple place to find great quality toys that are designed for your child’s developing brain.

You can learn more about the play kits here.

And there we have it – a massive list of 14 month old activities!

It can be exhausting as a parent to constantly come up with ideas. I hope this list has given you some inspiration to play with your toddler!

14 months is really such a fun age. Your babe is learning so many new skills and will be growing even more in the coming months. They mostly benefit from quality time, so make your play count!

Have something to add? Leave it below!

More Helpful Guides:

Baby and Toddler

Home and Nursery

For Parents

Travel

About the Author

Nicole Booz is the founder of GenTwenty and GenThirty. She is an entrepreneur, author of The Kidult Handbook, and most importantly, Mama to two beautiful little boys. She loves reading, organizing her home, and living a simple, less toxic lifestyle. You've seen her in The New York Times, TIME, Insider, Inside Edition, New York Post, NextAdvisor, Forbes, Yahoo, HuffPost, and U.S. News & World Report.

Website: www.genthirty.com


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