13 Months: Favorite Activities

Wow - life has been busy and time is short, but I wanted to share some of Alex's new favorite activities, inspired by Montessori publications, magazines, and philosophies:

-Putting toothpicks into the top of a spice jar / pens into empty bottles with narrow necks
-Putting large poker chips into empty wipes containers/box with a slit in the top
-Shape sorting
-Taking old credit cards/library cards out of a wallet (has yet to learn to put them in!)
-Washing hands in a basin
-Brushing hair
-Putting on sunglasses
-Listening to animal sounds and identifying them on picture cards
-Building block towers
-Playing with nested items (blocks, bowls)
-Sweeping or placing the dustpan right in the middle of my pile while I sweep
-Mopping (or really just swishing the mop around in a bucket of water)
-Talking on a disconnected telephone
-Taking a variety of small balls (ping pong, tennis, rubber, wooden) out of a muffin tin (and sometimes putting them back)
-"Playing" basketball
-Moving objects around with a plastic golf club
-Typing and writing (with crayons, magnetic doodler)
-Feeding our dog, Buster
-Helping with the dishes
-Stirring
-Using a spoon and fork to eat
-Walking up and down hills/over rough surfaces and climbing
-Reading familiar books

Would love to hear what others are doing with children of this age or older!