How to Play With a 1-Year-Old When You Are Not Sure What to Do

By Nurche Team · 10 August 2026

I would just sit there and look at him.

I remember smiling at him once, and he smiled back.

A very small moment, but it made me notice something.

He was watching me.

When I acted, he reacted.

If I stacked three cups while he watched and then told him it was his turn, he would try doing it himself.

That got me curious.

I started Googling activities I could do with him.

There was no shortage of ideas.

“5 activities for a 1-year-old.”

“Activities to improve this skill.”

“Activities to develop that skill.”

But I had a different problem.

I didn't know whether an activity was actually right for my child.

I tried color sorting with my son. It took him quite some time. For a while, he called every color blue.

Eventually I started questioning my own approach.

If he couldn't identify the colors yet, how could I expect him to sort them when I asked?

Maybe sorting wasn't the problem at all.

That led me deeper into understanding how children develop and how one ability can depend on another.

I started thinking differently about our playtime too.

Instead of finding a random activity and trying it, I started asking myself:

What is he ready for right now?

Does he need something physical because he has a lot of energy?

Can we do something that uses his hands and legs?

Or something around focus, memory or creativity?

Conversations with other parents made me realize I wasn't alone in figuring this out.

Every child was different. Every child seemed to move at their own pace.

What started as me trying to figure out how to play better with my son slowly became a much bigger curiosity about parenting and child development.

And eventually, that curiosity became part of the reason I started building Nurche.

I'm still learning.

But I no longer think good play is about keeping a child busy with more activities.

For me, it's about understanding the child in front of me and playing with a little more intention.