You’re already aware of those major milestones your baby will reach one day, such as rolling over, crawling and walking. But did you know there are hundreds more skills and mini-milestones she’ll master along the way? And if you share in her joy of movement, you can make a real difference to how she develops.
With our help, you’ll be able to support your baby’s efforts, and celebrate together endless little moments of success, because your attention and interest will motivate her like nothing else.
Walking
By this age, your toddler will be up on her feet. Typically by 14 months, she’ll be walking forward with her feet fairly wide apart, taking short steps with increasing speed. Pulling a toy,
she’ll try walking backwards, and you may notice her simultaneously bending her knees and swinging her arms as she tries to jump up off the ground. Soon she will be showing how far she has come by running across the floor, climbing up and down stairs, and trying to walk up and down a slope.
Sing ‘Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes’. Start with you both sitting on the floor with your legs extended in front of you. Eventually, she’ll be able to do the actions standing up too, as she finds the balance to bend over and touch her knees and toes.
Combining two gestures
Watch your toddler and you’ll notice her point and rotate her forearm with her palm held uppermost to encourage you to come closer. When you ask her a question, she may hold her arms out wide with her palms up and shrug her shoulders to communicate ‘I don’t know’.
Pass a toy between you and your tot. At first your toddler may offer it to you, but not give it to you. She is still learning how to let go of it!
She’s thinking about balance too
When walking, running, and slowing down to stop, your toddler learns about balance. She’ll put this to good use when she does activities like building a tower of blocks.
Throwing, kicking and catching
Ball games are a favourite activity that help your little one develop specific skills. Your toddler will learn how to throw overhand before she tries underhand. And her ‘kicking’ begins by her
walking into the ball to make it roll. It will take her a while to learn to balance on one foot, and then to do it while kicking forward, and then to do all that while keeping her balance to swing her leg back and forth in one action!
Play with your toddler using balls of varying sizes. Sit with your legs in a V-shape, facing one another, and roll a ball back and forth. She’ll adjust her skills to stop and roll large and small balls.