From 12 to 18 months

Your child is one year old (sometimes it’s hard to believe how fast it happens) and honing their senses and skills, absorbing new knowledge every day and ready for new adventures under your careful supervision. Let’s take a closer look at what is happening during month 12 to 18 of a toddler’s life!

Child development from 12-18 months

Greater vigilance of a child’s environment is important at this age, given a greater capacity for toddlers to explore and curiosity about the world around them.
Most, though not all, children are taking their first steps around their first birthday. Your child is moving with greater confidence and independence.
Your child can sit independently in a chair, climb and descend stairs (with some assistance), perhaps even on all fours.
Children at this age are learning to move while pulling a toy behind them.
This is the period during which pretend play first appears (feeding and brushing a doll’s hair, transporting an object in a toy car).
Your child is making requests from a place of greater awareness, asking for specific objects by pointing to them.
Around 18 months, a child is able to turn the pages of an age-appropriate book and point to familiar objects in it when asked.
Your child can point to several body parts when prompted.
Toddlers at this age attempt to imitate the behaviors and tone of voice of adults.
Individual play is still predominant; your child will not yet engage in play with peers.
Children of this age typically have a vocabulary of around 20 words.
Your child will try to join in singing a familiar song or reciting a well-known rhyme.

How can you play with a one year old?

How can you play with a child over one year old? Not without a lot of fun! Your child is curious about the world and ready to make new discoveries. Their ability to acquire new skills fast may surprise you!

Create space for free, safe exploration. A child at this age is perfecting the ability to walk independently.
Incorporate a doll or other familiar objects into your games and play pretend.
Toddlers are honing their abilities to do things independently, not only during play, but also while eating or sitting. Praise their successes!
Respond to your child’s cues and comments by naming or talking about the objects your child asks for or takes an interest in.
Look at books together, name what you see in the illustrations, and ask the child to find and name different details.
Use onomatopeia sounds that are easy for your child to imitate. Animals are a great topic that toddlers love. That’s why they are featured so often in our first puzzles.
Play pretend and acknowledge when your child uses an object in play in the same way you do. Observing and imitating are very important in the learning process – toddlers learn precisely by imitating and trying things out on their own.
Sing and recite simple rhymes.
Stay active! Play with a ball, dance, imitate how animals move, jump, run and encourage your child to do the same. Use puzzle or book illustrations as inspiration for imitating the way animals move and the sounds they make.
Build towers and simple structures with blocks.
It’s time for puzzles! Even if your child can’t put the pieces together, take them out of the box or remove smaller circle elements – this is a great introduction to games that require more precision. We know how easy it is to lose little pieces. That’s why we have an entire collection of first puzzles with pieces to insert.
Play with different textures.
Try new foods and flavors.