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12 months

Your 12-month-old: what to plan this month

The first birthday — plus car seats, shoes and toddler meals.

Every baby develops at their own pace. These pages cover planning and play — for questions about growth or development, talk to your pediatrician.

One year! Celebrate, then take stock: car seat, clothes and meals all change around now.

What to plan this month

  • Celebrate the first birthdayKeep it short and around nap time.
  • Check car seat limits before switching stagesStay rear-facing as long as the seat allows.
  • Plan toddler meals the whole family can share
  • Size up clothes and look at first shoes

Play ideas for this month

More play ideas

Story time snuggle

  • 0–36 months
  • 10 min
  • Indoors
  • Low mess

Share a board book — chewing it counts too.

  • Words & sounds

You’ll need

  • Board books
How to play
  1. Snuggle up with a board book.
  2. Point to pictures and name them.
  3. Let your baby turn the pages, even if it’s out of order.

Narrated walk

  • 0–36 months
  • 30 min
  • Outdoors
  • Low mess

Talk through everything you see on a walk around the block.

  • Words & sounds
  • Senses

You’ll need

Nothing but you

How to play
  1. Head out with the stroller or carrier.
  2. Name what you see: trees, dogs, cars, clouds.
  3. Pause to let them look, touch a leaf or listen to a bird.

Sing and sway

  • 0–12 months
  • 10 min
  • Indoors
  • Low mess

Gentle movement and songs — a calm way to share some time together.

  • Words & sounds
  • Together time

You’ll need

  • Music to play
How to play
  1. Put on a song you like, or sing your own.
  2. Hold your baby close and sway to the beat.
  3. Pause the music now and then and see how they react.

Printables for this month