Toddler Time - Mega Blocks

(14.5 Months)

So I know that my son is only 14.5 months, but he is very eager to learn new things and has been catching on to things so quickly!!  I've been doing some research online and found a lot of parents "schooling" their little ones during what has been coined "toddler time".  Toddler Time is simply special time set aside each day to focus on the toddler.  During this focused time, the toddler is exposed to early learning skills through fun play.

I know I try to make every situation a learning situation but today I decided to intentionally set aside some "toddler time" and try to document it and take some notes on the activity.

I started out with something simple: Fine Motor Skills (playing with mega blocks)

I decided to put down a small blanket to define the play space rather than him having legos scattered all throughout the house.  And unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of him during the actual play time.  

I sorted the legos by color and allowed him to play.  My intent was for him to build, stack, or line up the legos.  He wasn't very interested in this however!  He did end up picking up different colored blocks and mixing up the piles.  I've been teaching him the American Sign Language (ASL) signs for the different colors and shapes so I made sure to say the color and perform the sign for the color of the block that he grabbed.  About halfway through our playtime I noticed that he was starting to "sign" the colors as well (I consider it to be kind of like baby talk.  He's not actually doing a sign for a color yet, he's simply moving his hands in the attempt to sign).  He also had fun placing blocks inside the bag.  I took that opportunity say things like, "that's right, the yellow block is INSIDE the bag" or "there are now 2 blocks inside the bag and the rest of the blocks are OUTSIDE of the bag".  

He did pretty well staying on the blanket and I did have to remind him that the mega blocks needed to stay on the blanket.  I did this by redirecting him towards the blanket if he took a lego somewhere else in the living room.  We ended the activity once I noticed him becoming more interested in his books.