Toddler Activity Ideas

[writelydivided]

Great ideas--thanks so much! He's just about to walking on his own, so these will be very useful very shortly. We did get a push toy, and he's getting very good at that. He can even reverse and turn a bit on his own now. I think he'd love a shopping cart; will have to keep my eyes peeled for one.

[holdenlouis]

All great ideas thanks so much

[Lu_C]

I posted this somewhere else but realised it would probably fit better here!

A multi tip for keeping toddlers entertained, activities varied and toddlers room dust-free:



Keep toys out on shelves. I have 2 sets of 4- high shelves. Instead of letting dust grow on the shelves and the toys, take the toys off, dust the shelves and rotate the toys so the top shelf of toys moves down a shelf every day so the bottom, and most used, shelf is constantly changing. You could group toys into categories (e.g.'work' related, music, creative, caring, cognitive and motor skills) so that you can plan the rest of the day or activities around those toys (so if the stacking stuff is on the bottom shelf then you can have fun stacking other things around the house) and he can hone those skills whilst playing alone with his own toys. He also gets to see you cleaning and will want to help out, which can only be a good thing! (Give him a duster when he wants to help out!)



 

[Mama2boys]

great ideas, i will be back soon.

[Lu_C]

Multi-coloured Walk

Forget the old masking tape on the floor idea. Get rolls of coloured electrical tape and stick it to the floor.

Good for colour recognition as well as an endless walk. When you're done, pull it up together and make it in to a sticky ball for rolling and passing.

Hours of fun

[blue2006]

Thanks for all the great ideas. 

I don't think this site has been posted on this thread yet.  My boy is a few months shy of three and we've been doing crafts off this site together for at least 6 months.

http://www.enchantedlearning.com/crafts/toddler/

btw although there is a subscribe option but there's plenty of free stuff on here :-)

[*Jo*]

Hi all, I just got a book out from the library and it has all age appropriate games and activities so I thought I would share some that we have done and had great success with!

Container Magic
Age range: 15 months and up
Materials
3 or 4 coloured large plastic bowls
small toys
Put the bowls face down on the floor. Place a small toy under one of the bowls. Make sure your child sees which bowl the toy is placed under. Then move the containers around, sliding them on top of the hard surface, as if in a magic act. Once you've moved the bowls around for a while, have your child guess which container the toy is hiding under!

Magnet Mystery
Age range: 15  months and up
Materials
Metal cookie sheet or cake pan
magnets
Collect a variety of magnets and simply taking the magnets on and off a cookie sheet or sliding them around is entertaining. Have your child cover his eyes, then take one away and ask which one is missing, best of all, there is no mess and the pieces stick together for carrying

Blowing Know-How
Age range: 15-18 months
Materials
Large straws
Ping Pong ball, feather, cheerio's
The cause and effect action of blowing through a straw to make an object move will delight your toddler. Blowing games can be played on uncarpeted floors, tabletops, or inside the lid to a clothes box. To begin, hold the straw up to your own mouth, and show your child how to blow through the straw. Let him feel the air that comes out of the end. Then put the straw up to his mouth and put his hand at the end of the straw to feel for the air. Put a ping pong ball down on a smooth surface and begin blowing. At first, blow alongside your child so he can see the process. Try blowing other small, lights objects like a feather or a piece of cereal. Make up racing games by drawing a line on the surface for the starting point and then a line a few feet away to mark the finish point

Hard and Soft
Age range: 18-21 months
Go around the house collecting hard and soft objects. Put them into a container. Show each object to your child, allowing her to touch it, and use the word hard or soft to describe it. Then let the toddler take one item out of the container at a time and encourage her to say whether its hard or soft. Once she's gotten the hang of it, put one item at a time into a big bag, let her reach in, feel the item, and then tell you if it is hard or soft. Ask her to guess what the item is without looking into the bag.

[alethiaperry]

Jo- I love these ideas!  going to try some today.

[Om in Mom]

Wow. Thanks for all the ideas. I will be back to share some of my own.

[creations]

I don't think this one has been mentioned yet.

Corn flour gloop
Just mix corn flour and water until it is the 'right' consistency.  When you put your fingers on it, it initially feels like a solid, but scrape your fingers along or pick up some gloop and it turns to a gloopy liquid in your hands and run through your fingers, then once again appears solid in the bowl.
Can also be used with cups and spoons and totally safe to be used on a large scale with LO sitting in it.

Safe for toddlers who still insist on tasting everything.
Very easy to clean up from a hard floor or table top.  It looks a real mess but it can be scraped and picked up like a solid and will gloop back into the bowl, and the floor only needs a quick wipe over with a damp cloth.
Any that gets on clothes or carpets just turns to a flour powder and will dust off.  One point of warning though, if your LO sits in it or puts it all over themselves they will be wet, a change of clothes after the play session is called for or they'll get really cold!

[creations]

Threading for fine motor skills
Tape the end of a piece of firm string to make it a little easier to thread through cotton reels.
I bought a set of cotton reels which come with thick thread.  The reels are also good for stacking, rolling, counting, colour sorting...so they are a good buy for multiple activities.

I also recently bought a pack of multi coloured extra long bendy straws which are another good multi use item (from a £1 shop).  I found the cotton reels can be threaded onto the straws which is a little easier for beginning fine motor skills, then move on to the string.

[creations]

Mr Grass Head.
It's a short activity but fun to see the results over time.

A pair of tights/stockings cut off to make a 'pocket' at the toe end (the rest of the leg can be used too, tie a knot to create the pocket).
LO puts in a small handful of grass seed, then several handfuls of soil.
Tie a knot to seal the pocket.  (Ours is the size of an apple but really any size or a whole family of different sizes would be great)
Place it down with the knot underneath so the grass seed is at the top.
Stick on two googly eyes.
Water.

The grass begins to grow in a few days or a week and they are really cute little characters.  The 'hair' can be snipped as a later activity once it's grown which could help with scissor practice and might even help overcome hair-cut fear.

We only have one so far but I really want a whole family of these.  Can be kept indoors on a window ledge.