Montessori Activities for 12 to 18 Month Olds
Your child has just started walking, or hasn't yet, and everything is fascinating: opening, dumping out, knocking down, doing it again. At this age, an activity lasts two minutes and gets repeated twenty times. You're not looking for a result or a rule, just real objects, a calm presence, and permission to explore with their hands.
Semilou offers 25 printable Montessori activities for ages 12 to 18 months, across five areas: Practical Life, Sensorial, Fine Motor, Language, Early Math, Science and Nature. Recommended time: 2 to 10 minutes, repeated often.
Recommended time for this age : 2 to 10 minutes, repeated often.
25 activities for 12 to 18 months
All doable with materials from around the house.
Self-Feeding with a Spoon
A heavy bowl, thick oatmeal, and a spoon that finally makes it to its target.
Taking Off Socks
The very first dressing skill works backward: we take off before we put on.
Reaching an Arm into a Sleeve
Getting dressed together is already getting dressed: they reach, you hold the sleeve.
Putting a Toy in the Basket
One object, one basket, one spot: cleanup starts with just a single thing.
Wiping Their Face with a Washcloth
A warm washcloth, a mirror at their height, and the first care they give themselves.
Throwing Trash Away
Carrying a scrap paper to the trash can and dropping it in: one complete little job.
The Floor Mirror
A low mirror, and a child who spends long minutes discovering that face is their own.
The Sensory Bottle
Water, glitter, a glued on cap: the world slows down inside a bottle.
The Fabric Basket
Silk, wool, velvet: the hand learns to tell them apart before words do.
Cold or Warm
Two washcloths, two temperatures, and a sensation that finally gets a name.
Banging on Pots and Pans
A wooden spoon, three pots, and the very first kitchen orchestra.
Pulling Scarves from a Box
A tissue box, knotted scarves, and a pulling motion that never seems to end.
Dropping Balls into a Basket
Grabbing is easy, letting go at the right moment is its own whole skill to learn.
Nesting Cups
Three cups, three sizes: the smallest always ends up inside the biggest.
Turning Board Book Pages
A book is an object before it's a story, and a page turns with just two fingers.
The Ball Tube
The ball goes in at the top, disappears, and comes out below: pure mechanical magic.
Opening and Closing a Drawer
A low drawer, just for them, always holding the same thing inside.
Narrating Bath Time
Bath time becomes a vocabulary lesson, as long as you name what you're doing.
Naming What You See Through the Window
Nothing to prepare: the world goes by outside the glass, waiting to be named.
The Family Faces Album
Real photos of the people they love, in an album they can open themselves.
Peekaboo with a Scarf
A face disappears, a face comes back: the game that proves what leaves can return.
Filling and Emptying
The full bucket, the empty bucket, and the endless trip between the two.
In and Out
The object goes into the box, the object comes out of the box: the first idea of space.
The Fruit and Vegetable Basket
Real fruit, heavy and fragrant, to weigh in the hand long before it's eaten.
The Toddler's Eye View Walk
About fifty yards in twenty minutes: the slowest walk you'll take, and the richest.
How to present an activity at this age
The rule is always the same, no matter the age: show once, slowly, without talking, then let the child do it their own way. Words during the demonstration pull their eyes away from your hands. And the activity always ends with putting the materials away, which counts as much as the rest.
If your child refuses, or does the same activity ten times in a row, that is all fine: repetition is what drives this age. Bring the activity sheet back out a few days later, or move on to the next age group once the motion feels secure.
