15 Independent Activities for One Year Olds

I have been preparing for the coming homeschool year, and it dawned on me that I will have a one year old to keep busy during homeschool hours!  He is a busy guy too - always into everything.  I went on the hunt for some activities that will be safe for him to do without supervision.  I'm hoping these will be exciting enough to him that he will keep himself occupied for a while.  If the pictures are not self-explanatory, you can check out the link under each one to find tutorials on how to make these activities. 

Make your own texture book

Peek-a-boo tray from shoebox lid

Baby Play Bottle

Buckle clipping toy

Treasure baskets

Tissue box stuffed with fabric squares

Nesting bowls

Muffin tin sorting

Putting balls through a tissue box

Velcro board

Tearing Paper

Playing with magnets

Placing objects in a large container

Tactile exploration cards

Pipe cleaners in a bottle

If you have any more great ideas for activities that would fit this age group, please let us know in the comments! Be sure you're subscribed to email updates or follow me on Facebook to keep up with more posts like this one!

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Girly Car Seat Canopy Tutorial

I had a boutique car seat canopy when my little girl was a baby, and several of my friends absolutely loved it (I did too!) When I found out my friend was having a girl, I knew I had to make one for her! I found tutorials online, but none of them were quite what I was looking for. I wanted one that was similar to mine, with a peep-hole in the top. I also wanted it to be made from more material, creating more fullness and "girly flowiness". I think I just invented a phrase, but that's okay.So here's what I came up with:

• Supplies: 2 coordinating fabrics about 1 1/2 yards each, scissors, thread, sewing machine.
  

• Fold fabric in half, and cut a piece 40 inches wide by 24 inches long. (When it's unfolded it should be 48 inches long.) Cut both pieces of fabric to these measurements.
  

• Round all four corners of both pieces of fabric. You'll want to take off quite a bit. I actually couldn't find a bowl large enough to trace, so I just eyeballed it. Then I matched the corner I had already cut to the other corners so they would all be the same.

• Fold the fabric in half lengthwise and make 2 small cuts, about 15 inches from each end. Connect the slits, by cutting a half circle that goes down about 3 inches deep. Do this on both fabrics.

• Next, cut 2 pieces of ribbon for the ties. They should be about 11 -12 inches long. If you're like me and don't have ribbon handy, you could just sew some out of your fabric scraps.

• Now, it's finally time to sew this thing together! Place fabric right sides together and sew all the way around the perimeter using a 5/8 inch seam allowance. Leave an opening to turn it right side out.

• Clip the corners up to the seam and then turn right side out. Fold under the unstitched part and topstitch. Continue the topstitch all the way around. I used the edge of the presser foot as my guide.

• Now comes the hardest part, and I forgot to take pictures! (Probably because it was hard.) So read closely...

Sew a gathering stitch around each circle in the middle of the carseat canopy. Gently gather each circle all the way around. Fold each circle inward and pin together. Make sure to pin the ties directly in the middle of the front and back sides. Topstitch all the way around. Once you've deciphered all that without any pictures, you're finished! Maybe you can tell from the finished picture what the finished middle circle is supposed to look like.

Now you have a flowy, girly carseat canopy with a hole at the top so that baby has some air circulating and you can peek in to chuck on her without disturbing her should she be asleep.