Ideas for indoor play and physical activities recommended for 1-year-olds

Phone Game

[1-year-olds] Hello? Let’s make a phone and play!

Let’s make a phone and play with our curious one-year-olds.

Cut cardboard into a size that’s easy for children to hold, paste colored paper on it, and cover it with clear tape.

Then let them decorate it with their favorite stickers.

Having number stickers ready will make it feel more like a real phone.

It’s also a great idea to prepare animal pictures or similar so the children can color them and stick them on, helping them recognize which phone is theirs.

It’ll be fun to see what kinds of play the children come up with as they say “Hello?” to each other.

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tsukada moe

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Let’s become various animals!

Fun From Age 1: Let’s Be Different Animals! Movement Play with Hand Motions

Animal role-play is a recommended activity that lets even one-year-olds move their bodies a lot.

If they pretend to be frogs, they can imitate hopping around, and if they pretend to be rabbits, they’ll put their hands up like ears and do cute little jumps.

It’s heartwarming to see children use their bodies to express the image of each animal.

It’s great that no preparation is needed, and another nice point is that this play lets you see a wide range of expressions on the children’s faces.

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tsukada moe

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Cardboard play

Cardboard play ✨ Kirari Nursery School, Tagajo

What does it look like? Ever-changing and versatile! Here’s a fun way to play with cardboard.

All you need is cardboard and tape.

Adapt the play freely to match children’s interests and curiosity.

Let their imaginations grow as they explore activities like playing shop, pretending it’s a pool, or a train.

To make it safer, protect the cardboard edges with tape to prevent cuts.

You can also put newspaper or other materials inside the cardboard to create steps and enjoy active, movement-based play.

In that case, make sure a teacher or guardian holds the child’s hand and watches carefully to prevent falls.

Playing with the sheets

[Umi & Daichi] Sheet Play: Come, Big Wind! Scenes from May and August #1-year-olds #0-year-olds #sheetplay #HatsukaichiKujiraNursery #indoorplay

Let me introduce a sheet game you can play right away with no preparation—just a sheet! All you need to do is have two teachers hold the ends of the sheet and move it up and down.

It’s easy to set up and can entertain several children at once! When you move the sheet up and down, the breeze wraps around the children.

You can also create variety—and even more excitement—by stopping the sheet’s movement for a moment, draping it over the children and then lifting it quickly, or adding other irregular motions.

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Sticker pasting play

[Montessori Early Learning] A Preschool Teacher Explains How to Do Sticker Activities

Let’s get those little fingers moving! Here’s a fun sticker activity.

Prepare large round stickers, paper, and a pen.

Draw circles on the paper the same size as the stickers, then add illustrations to make them look like candies, tires, and more.

Have the child place the stickers inside the circles! You can also draw things like umbrellas or T-shirts and let them decorate them with sticker patterns—that’s fun too! It’s a good idea to have stickers in several colors so children can choose their favorites and stay engaged.

Adjust the sticker size to match your child’s stage of development.

Macaroni Play

Expand their imagination! Here’s a sensory play idea with macaroni.

You’ll need a tray, cups, spoons, and colored macaroni.

The play is open-ended! How children choose to explore the macaroni spread out on the tray will vary: some will focus on sounds and textures, while others will enjoy pretend mealtime play.

Having several shapes and sizes of macaroni will broaden the play possibilities.

It can also be fun to change the tools you provide as they grow.

Give it a try!

Have fun at home with plenty of room, even in a rental!

Noise complaints and the difficulty of restoring a rental to its original condition are surprisingly common.

But asking kids to be quiet and not draw on the walls is tough, isn’t it? And of course, we still want them to have as much fun as possible indoors.

So this time, we’re introducing activities that kids can fully enjoy even in a rental.

It’s packed with handy items and eye-opening ideas, so feel free to use it as a reference.

Cushion-style trampolines and wall-mounted whiteboards can be found at online shops.

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sasashina

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