Do it yourself, also known as DIY, is the
method of building, modifying, or repairing things without the direct aid of
experts or professionals. Academic research describes DIY as behaviors where
"individuals engage raw and semi-raw materials and component parts to
produce, transform, or reconstruct material possessions, including those drawn
from the natural environment (e.g. landscaping) Wolf
& McQuitty (2011).
Below is a
list of 31 DIY for infants between zero to 1 year old.
1. Sticky Ball Fine Motor Activities for Infants
Materials: plastic ball and masking tape
Procedure:
Wrap
the masking tape, sticky-side out, around the ball in a few different
directions to cover the entire ball with tape.
Skills learned: It engages a baby’s brain in some simple
problem-solving that will be fun for you to see
2. Movable Fabric Road
Materials needed:
·
Old
jeans or denim scrap
·
Yellow
paint
·
Scissors
·
Paintbrush
Procedures:
·
Cut
your denim into long strips
·
Hem
the edges (optional)
·
Using
a paint brush paint small yellow dashes down the material to make the stripes
in the middle of the streets.
·
Once
the paint is dry cut your material into pieces/shapes you desire. With one pair
of jeans I was able to make two long roads, two shorter roads, two curved
roads, and a four way intersection piece.
3. Crumb Writing
Materials needed: Baby rice cereal or finely crumbed
crackers, cookie sheet
What to do: Spread the rice cereal or crumbled
crackers on the cookie sheet, and show him how to use a finger to
"write" in the crumbs. "This gives [children] the opportunity to
imitate the adults and older siblings in their lives, which is a major
meaningful activity of early childhood," says Rachel Coley, occupational
therapist, author of Simple Play: Easy Fun For Babies, and founder of CanDoKiddo.com. Bonus: The "sand" is edible!
(Of course, supervise your child closely.)
Skills learned: Early handwriting skills,
understanding cause and effect.
4. Books for Babies
Materials: construction
paper, black maker, clear packaging tape.
Procedure:
·
First step is to decide
what you would like on each page of your book. I made
a shape book, a book with the letters of my child’s name, and a book with
numbers.
·
Cut a piece of
construction paper into 4 parts. You
can fold it lengthwise then width-wise, unfold it and use the fold lines to
guide your cutting.
·
Choose the page order, and create a cover.
·
I wrote “How
to Spell Henry” as the title for the book I made for my twin son. You
can use that as a guide and write your child’s name or create your own title. Then
flip the cover page over and write the first letter of your child’s name on the
back.
·
Write the rest of the
letters (one per page) flipping the pieces of paper to write one letter on the
front and one letter on the back until you have all the letters written on the
paper. You may need to cut an additional piece of paper to add more
pages.
·
On the last page, write
“That’s how you spell [write child’s name]” if you like. (This
is a line from the Name Spelling song.)
·
Lay out the Ziploc® bags with the zipper side
to the left.
·
Open a zipper bag and insert the cover page for
your DIY book then close the zipper.
·
Continue filling the bags until each page is in
a bag and facing the correct way.
·
Lay all of the bags in order with the zipper on
the left.
·
Tear off (1) 4-inch long piece of packing tape
and set it aside.
·
Fold over the zippers
(all together) twice (as the photo above shows) and then tape down the zipper
flap. (This creates the bind of your book.) The
pictures show the bind folded towards the back. After
trying two ways, it looks nicer to fold the zippers to the front and tape them
down. Find out what you prefer!
Skills learned: it helps develop baby’s mental ability to read and identify
symbols.
5. Pick A
Boo Boxes for Babies
Materials: small cardboard box with a
flap that opens on top, sheet of construction paper, black maker, packaging
tape, 1-2 photos of your child.
Procedure:
·
Start by trimming any extra flaps
from your box. A baby has to be able to open and close the top, so it has to be
easy to open.
·
Fold your construction paper into
4 sections, or quarters, cut the 4 sections apart.
·
Write your infants name on one of
the paper and tape that piece to the top of the box. Overlap pieces of
packaging tape to cover the entire piece of paper.
·
Tape a photo of your child to the
other piece of the paper. A photo 31/2x 5 inches works well depending on the
size of the box that you are using.
·
Tape the photo on the inside of
the box. If you want to use more than one photo, tape the other one under the
flap so baby can see two photos when they open the box.
Skills learned: it encourage
self awareness and object permanence using their own photo.
6. Sensory Crawl for
Infants
Materials: packaging tape, baking
cooling rack, pillow, duplo building mat, washed cloth, piece of fabric,
clothing item, bubble wrap, rug grip, piece of cardboard.
Procedure:
·
First,
choose the items you want to use.
·
Second, use strips of packing tape to secure each
item to the floor. This is
optional, but for walkers, it may be safer to secure anything slippery to help
prevent falls.
·
Then,
let your Little Mover loose to explore!
Skills learned: A sensory crawl activity is a
great way to encourage infants and toddlers to crawl and walk by adding a safe
focus for their exploration.
7. Build It Up: Toilet Roll Activity
Materials:
toilet paper rolls or cardboard rolls from craft shop, stickers, coloured
paper, glue, scissors, paints and brushes, tape.
Procedure:
This activity is good for children of varying ages, from
toddler to preschool.
Decorate the rolls with stickers or paper shapes stuck on
with tape or glue.
Allow to dry.
Little hands can work on creating colourful structures of
different heights.
8. Water Play for
Infants
Materials:
Lay a beach towel or
several small kitchen towels on a
water-safe floor like linoleum or tile.
Fill up a pitcher with
water.
Place a non-breakable mixing bowl or a plastic dishpan on the
towel.
Pour
the water from the pitcher into the bowl or container.
Provide some spoons or measuring cups and
your child can play!
Procedure:
·
Lay a towel on the
floor and set a baking sheet on
top.
·
Fill a pitcher with water.
·
Pour some water into the baking sheet.
·
Place child on their tummy near the baking
sheet so they can reach the water with their hands.
Skills learned: it
keep babies active
9. Baby Blocks
Cut the squares
4.5" x 4.5" for a 4" cube.
Sew the 6
squares together in a cross formation with a 1/4" seam allowance. At each
corner stop 1/4" from the edge. Then sew the sides and top leaving one
edge open. Turn right side out, stuff the foam block inside and hand stitch
closed.
Skills learned: It improves
baby’s dexterity.
10. Milk
Carton Photo Blocks
Materials: 6
photographs, quart-sized milk or juice carton, scissors, clear packaging tape,
scotch tape or masking tape, wrapping paper.
Procedure:
·
Make sure your cartons
are clean and dry. I rinsed mine out with hot soapy water a few times.
·
Cut off the very top along the top most crease
of the carton.
·
Cutting up the open end of the carton, cut half
way up one corner.
·
Turn the scissors and
cut around the carton perpendicular to the side cut. You
should cut through only 3 sides.
·
When you have cut through the 3 sides as shown,
cut up the crease to leave the fourth side on the box.
·
Fold down the remaining
side to create a top to the box. Fold
over any overlap.
·
Using two pieces of scotch tape or masking
tape, tape down the flap to close the box and make a block.
·
Wrap the block with
your choice of paper. I chose brown because it was plain and added some additional
support to the box.
·
Using clear tape, tape
your family photos to the sides of the block. You
may have to trim them down to fit. I used
two small pieces of scotch tape per photo.(You can use glue for this.)
·
Using the packing tape,
wrap the block with strips of tape until it is completely covered on each side. (Clear
contact paper can work too.)
·
This helps protect the
block and your child. Any drool or wetness will cause the ink of the photos to run,
and since infants and many toddlers put many items in their mouths, it is safer
for your child to avoid getting ink and pieces of paper in their mouth.
·
Once your blocks are
complete, they are ready for play! This
is a great building block for infants and toddlers because they are lightweight
and larger in size.
Skills learned: It is still fun for the
kids to this day to look at the pictures and see what they looked like as
babies, as well as remind them of their extended family.
