How do you get your toddler to sit long enough to...?

Question

Hi all!

My dd is 13 months & is all over the place now LOL (but I love it!)

The only thing though is when I try to do something of an educational level like flash cards or read her a book - she either wants to tear them out of my hands (has a fit if I don't give them to her) & play with them or just goes off and starts playing/doing something else..I don't want to force "learning time" on her but I know how important it is so I'm looking for some creative ways

also, we've bought like a gazillion sesame street, & other educational videos but she's just not much of a tv watcher LOL

Answer 1

at the moment she is a bit young to go crazy on the learning but do fun activities that will help her learn like hide her toy and see if she can find it ans shape sorting sing the alphabet out loud and keep on your toes! i have the same problem with my son now 23 months i cant even get him to sit still for his dinner! but i made a game out of everything that we did and it was always boisterous activities! and at 18 moths he started speaking in sentences! he is great now but still never slows down he learned to run rather than walk lol. hope this helps. at the moment everything is amazing and new to your little girl think of it as you were on the moon you'd be amazed and excited and everything would be new thats just what your little girl feels like now. good luck :)

Answer 2

you can buy her shape and color puzzles you know those really big ones  where she can grasp  the moon,or whatever shape and figure where it goese by shape or color its hands on and she /he learns  also you can go get the cards laminated so she cannot tear the flash cards  

Answer 3

let her have the videos on in the background during the day. My son is very active and he plays in front of the TV. He will be coloring, playing with blocks, cars or whatever. When he sees something interesting he will stop for a few minutes and watch it, then go back to what he was doing. I would not get too upset about the flash cards for now. put them aside and get them back out in a few months.

Answer 4

It's natural for her to not want to sit still.  Her attention span is understandably very short.  Try doing flashcards while she's sitting in her booster seat at the table having a snack, or when you have her out and about in the stroller.  Just do a few at a time.  

It's great that she's not a TV watcher. Don't worry about that.

Answer 5

At that age, my daughter also did not want to sit still for books, and had no interest in watching tv.  That young, you are better off teaching them in an everyday way.  Meaning that just talking about everyday things with her and pointing things out to her will be enough as far as learning for now.  Instead of books and flash cards, they do better with 'hands-on' at this age.  You can do things like start naming things, when you are playing with her and with toys you can count them or point out certain colors, things like that.  I don't remember when she started, but my daughter has always loved puzzles.  They have many different kinds that will teach her different animals, and other things.  My daughter is now 4, and it's amazing how much they learn when you just talk about the everyday things.  My daughter knows certain road and traffic signs from riding in the car everyday to the sitter's and whatnot, things like that that we always talk about and she remembers and has learned.  Later on when your daughter is a bit older she will be more into books and watching tv, right now it's fine to have 'unstructured' learning time, your daughter will still learn a great deal from it.