Let’s play at home with a one-year-old! Activity ideas using things you already have at home
On rainy days or when your child isn’t feeling well and you’re staying home, you might find yourself wondering, “What should we play today?” As children reach around one year old, they start walking, their horizons expand, and their curiosity about the things around them grows even stronger.
As they can do more, the range of play widens too, so let’s stimulate their five senses by incorporating a variety of activities.
In this article, we’ll introduce ideas for at-home play recommended for one-year-olds.
From active play and bonding games to sensory play and simple crafts, we’ve gathered activities that one-year-olds will be completely absorbed in! Best of all, they’re all things you can do with items you already have at home—so please use this as a reference.
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Let's Play at Home with Your 1-Year-Old! Activity Ideas Using Things You Already Have at Home (1–10)
interactive play
Interactive bonding games that children can enjoy with their caregivers.
Have your child sit on the caregiver’s lap, touch their body while they are lying down, or hold them to build closeness.
When your child is on your lap, keeping time with your feet to the music helps develop their sense of balance.
In touch-based play, let your child enjoy the ticklish sensations.
It’s also recommended to enjoy fingerplay songs while your child remains on your lap.
At first, hold your child’s hands and make the movements together, and gradually transition to having them imitate the caregiver’s actions.
Share plenty of physical affection to enrich their hearts.
Newspaper play
Let’s try newspaper play that gets not only the hands but the whole body moving! All you need is some newspaper.
Start by ripping it into pieces or crumpling it up.
You can toss the torn pieces into the air and enjoy watching them flutter down, or gather them up to make a “blanket” or a “bath.” When you make balls, try games like a ball toss, plastic-bottle bowling, or target practice.
The dry, crinkly feel when touching newspaper and the tearing sound when you rip it are great points that children will enjoy and find intriguing!
Let’s put on a sticker
Sticker play—little kids love it, don’t they? Even with simple round stickers, you can pretend the red ones are fruit and stick them on a tree illustration, or use red, blue, and yellow to make a traffic light.
It’s fun to just keep sticking them on, even if the stickers themselves are nothing special.
It’s okay if they’re not stuck on perfectly! There are also sticker books you can stick and peel over and over again.
Hide-and-seek
Let’s try playing hide-and-seek, a game full of excitement where you can hide, search, and enjoy the thrill! When playing hide-and-seek with a one-year-old, it’s best to keep it simple: skip counting before searching and skip the traditional call-and-response of “Are you ready?” and “Not yet.” Instead, just hide and then search.
Even if you hide in an easy-to-find spot, your child will eagerly try to find you and have fun with the game.
When it’s your child’s turn to hide, even if you spot them right away, try pretending not to notice for a moment to build anticipation.
And don’t forget a hug when you find each other—or when you’re found!
Block play
Building blocks, which are also popular as educational toys, are a classic at-home play activity.
Around age one, children gradually become able to assemble blocks while imagining what they want to make, so the ways they can play with blocks expand rapidly.
Considering the risk of putting things in their mouths, some children may have only played with large pieces, but as that risk decreases, they will be able to play safely even with smaller pieces.
In addition to improving concentration, block play develops the ability to create what they envision, so be sure to include building blocks as one of your at-home play options.