Here is an activity to start working on when your child is between 9 and 13 months. During this window of time, your child may be ready to start fitting together nesting boxes or cups instead of just pulling them apart. Like the Stacking Blocks developmental activity, this activity will take time and modeling.
Directions
- Invite your child into the play: Clear the play area of distractions and pull out your nesting cups or blocks. Start playing with the cups or blocks- pull them apart, stack them on top of each other, and put them back together to become one again. Let your child become interested in what you are doing and take the cups or blocks from you.
- Encourage: Keep the play positive and offer your child words of encouragement in whatever they are doing. If they are pulling the blocks apart, offer praise for pulling apart. Then encourage your child to put the cups back. Show your child how you put one small cup into a larger cup. Ask your child to show you. Offer your child a small cup and hold a large cup out. Point inside the large cup and ask your child to put the cup inside.
- Hand over hand assistance: Gently guide your child’s hand and help them put the small cup into the large cup. Give lots of praise when this happens!
- Repeat: Continue to repeat for as long as you have your child’s attention. Follow your child’s lead and give them opportunities to try on their own. Lots of praise when they are successful or even close to be successful.
Riley's experience
Riley has been playing with her nesting cups and nesting blocks for a few months now. She has mainly been pulling them apart. Mama would put them back together or stack them and she would take them apart or knock them down. Then during this 9 to 13 month window, Riley started trying to fit a cup into another cup. She started out by trying to fit large cups into small cups. We focused on using only the largest and smallest cups and boxes in the beginning. As she began to show an understanding of how to put the cups and boxes back together, we transitioned to nesting cups and blocks that were more similar in size. Riley also likes to throw in other toys into the boxes or cups as she puts them back together. She is all about putting things in and pulling them out these days (another great developmental skill that will start showing up around this window of time!)
Benefits
- Problem solving skill: Riley is working on her problem solving skills as she works to figure out which cups and blocks can fit into others.
- Fine Motor skills: Riley is strengthening her hand and finger muscles as she manipulates the cups and blocks to nest them back together.
- Language development: Riley is being exposed to contextual vocabulary as I narrate what she is doing. She is hearing words such as big, small, larger, smaller, together, apart, etc.
- Hand-eye coordination: Riley is developing hand-eye coordination as she works to put a smaller block inside a larger blocks
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