Toddler Activity Ideas

[Erin M]

Thought I would redo the toddler activity sticky as some people were having trouble accessing the other file.  Please add ideas that you have!  Thanks to everyone whose ideas are on here and thanks to Georgia (GG) for originally creating the thread. 

[Erin M]

GAMES & ACTIVITIES:  1-2 yr

• Hide-N-Go-Seek: Your toddler will not only have fun playing with you and testing out their new found walking legs (works just fine with crawlers, too) but they will also learn that, just because they can't see you, it doesn't mean you're not coming back for them.
• Toy Hide-N-Go-Seek: Take 5 of your child's favorite toys and have him cover his eyes and 'hide' them around the room. As they get older you can hide them in more difficult places. But to start make them in plain view. Encourage them to find the items by using 'warmer' or 'colder' or by saying 'it's near a blue pillow' etc.
  (This is a great game to play if you're trying to nurse a baby while playing with your toddler.)
• Pudding Paint:  (you can do something similar with flavored gelatin)
  Materials: Instant pudding, food coloring, small containers for pudding, long sheet of bulletin board paper or heavy craft paper, soap and water.
  Description: Prepare pudding and tape paper to a table. Give each child their own container of pudding, then let them use their fingers to do the rest. Talk about how it feels between their fingers, about the taste, and the smell.
• Animal Toss: for a littler toddler, Stand her in her crib along with a bunch of stuffed animals.  Place a laundry basket on the floor and teach her how to drop the animals, one by one, into the basket!
• Bowling:
  Materials: Empty 2 liter soda bottles and balls.
  Description: Set up plastic bottles like bowling pins, have toddlers use a lightweight plastic ball to roll from a short distance to knock the bottles down. This will be best accomplished by showing them, the first time, what you want them to do. The bottles do not have to be set up in a specific way so try to get the toddlers to help set up as well as bowl.
• Treasure Hunt: paint small rocks and hide them in the sandbox or in a big bin of rice for your toddler to unearth.  Or just hide little toys.
• Frozen water play (For hot days only): Buy a packet of assorted shape balloons and select some different shapes. Fill each with water and place them in the freezer for a couple of days.
  When they are frozen solid, cut away the balloon, leaving the frozen shape.
  Place the iced shapes into your children's wading pool, large dish or even a baby bath.  Your children will have lots of fun dropping food colouring onto the frozen shapes with an eye dropper and watching the colours change.
  
  OR you can fill plastic containers with coloured water for a different experience.  Your children will be fascinated by these colourful 'icebergs' to play with.
• Feelings and Emotions
  Materials: Felt circle for face, eyes, nose and different mouths for feelings (mad, happy, sad, etc.), eyebrows for mad = straight lines at angle, sad etc.
  Description: Create a face board and use the different faces to show toddlers; happy, sad, mad, scared, etc. Felt works really great because it sticks and is easy to get off and on quickly.
• Color Glove
  Materials: White work gloves;  red, yellow, green, blue and orange paint.
  Description: Take the white gloves and paint the fingers only of both hands. Paint them red, yellow, blue, green, orange, so that you have two of each color.  Then, sing this song.
       Tune: "Where is thumbkin" or "Are you sleeping?"
  Where is red? (bring one hand up with all fingers showing)
  Where is red? (repeat with other hand.)
  Here I am,  (wave one hand)
  Here I am (wave other hand)
  Show me if you can, (Hold hands up)
  Show me if you can.
  Where is red?
  Where is red?
  Repeat this with all the colors allowing the toddlers to show you the colors.
• Sticky Floor: Place contact paper the wrong side up on the carpet. You will need to tape the corners of it to the floor with some masking tape. Take off shoes and socks and go to it!  Kids love the feel and the sound it makes.
• Milk or Soda Containers: Cut the top off a milk or soda bottle. Put popsicle sticks or clothes pins inside.  Let your child try to drop them in from various heights or distances.
• Sensory Box/Indoor Sandbox: We have a sensory box that my son loves. It is just a large plastic storage box and each month we add different things to it. Right now, we have rice, measuring spoon/cups, and muffins tins in it. First I spread out a Neat Sheet on the kitchen floor.  Put the box of rice in the middle and give him some fun things to play with in the rice.

Here is the link where I got the idea from and ideas for each month.
http://www.hubbardscupboard.org/activites_for_2_s.html#AugustSensoryTub

Games to help with oral motor skills

• Blowing bubbles
• Bubble prints: Put food coloring and little water in cup and add a little bubble mixture. Place paper on the table under the bubble cup.  Blow through a straw until bubbles reach the top of the cup.  Place paper on bubbles and make bubble prints.
• Cotton balls game: Place cotton wool balls on the table and try to blow them across the table.
• Lipstick prints: Put lipstick on and make round lip prints on paper, alternate kissing shapes with smiling shapes.  You can also do this on a foggy mirror or window. Or you can make lip prints in icing on a plate, then have fun licking it off.

[Erin M]

GAMES & ACTIVITIES:  2-3yr

• Construction Site:  I read in Family Fun a suggestion to spread cornmeal (for sand) on waxed paper on the table with marshmallows, etc to create a truck construction site.  (Store in ziplock bag for next time.)  This would probably be a great, albeit messy, idea for a 3 year old.
• Buttons: I have a collection of old buttons of different sizes and shapes. He likes to empty them out of their container into a muffin tin. He can sort them into their colours, or sizes, or textures and so it gives him some learning in that respect. Today though we played tiddley winks with them, and it really worked him hard on his coordination skills.
  Similar things can be achieved with dried pulses or beans but obviously if there is a risk they will put any of this in their mouths, they can't do this unsupervised.
• Clothes Pins: Another fun thing that he discovered for himself was clothes pegs. Again he sorts these out into colours but I have taught him how to operate them and he pegs them onto an egg box that I have cut holes into. This seems to really work those muscles in his hands as he finds it difficult to squeeze the two ends together but is getting better all the time. (I am thinking of the muscles needed later for using scissors.)
• Collections:  he is into collections at the moment so we have a stone collection, a cork collection (from those new kind of corks made form plastic rather than cork), an out doors collection consisting of interesting things he has found on walks such as pine cones, conkers, sycamore seeds etc. he plays with these a lot. All these can be counted, painted, sorted stacked, put down tubes to test gravity, put into water to see if they sink or float etc.  I love toddlerhood!!! It is just the best thing to watch in the world!!
• Tents & pillow forts
• Tunnels: this isn't right from the book but close... we made tunnels for his matchbox cars.  First a small box from a tube of Desitin - perfect size.  Then I took a tube from a large roll of wrapping paper and we propped one end up on the fireplace (or coffee table).  We drove the cars into the tunnel and they shot out the bottom and kept rolling.  He really liked this one.  (Her original idea was to do tennis balls in a big tube and shoot them down the stairs but I had no balls and tubes that were compatible.)
• Toddler basketball: take a big box and cut a large hole in one side.  You can decorate it with a face, making the hole into the "mouth" (decorating not necessary though).  Toss rolled up socks into the hole from a few feet away.  Or use bean bags.  I think a laundry or waste basket would work fine too and be easier.
• Toddler Toss:  a variation on that one is to take a big sheet of paper or posterboard and draw shapes of different colors, and try tossing the beanbag or socks onto the "red square" and so forth.  Or you get points for landing on different shapes, etc.
• Sock Fish Game: "What do you do when you have mismatched socks? Make them into fishes for a game of catch! This is a fun game that I made. My daughter likes "catching" the fish by scooping them off the floor, and dumping them from one "net" to the other.....
  What you need: old socks ,uncooked beans or rice, ribbon or string ,scissors, permanent marker, empty soda or milk bottle, masking tape
  Directions
  --Just fill the socks with a handful of beans or uncooked rice and tie a secure knot.
  --Trim the cuff of the sock to make a fishy tail. Draw a face on the fish with permanent marker.
  --Use an empty milk or soda bottle to make a catcher. Cut off the bottom and tape over the edge with masking tape.
• Magnet Fishing Fun: Cut out lots of cardboard animals or magazine pictures. Slide a paper clip onto each animal.  Tie a magnet onto a ruler end or a piece of dowel with string. Your children can then fish the animals out a bucket.  When the child has caught one and pulled it out you can ask them what animal it is or you can tell them.  This will help with children's vocabulary building.  You can make this activity into themes animals, shapes, transport, food, etc.  It will all help with vocab building.
• Object Matchup:  Take a bunch of everyday objects, with interesting shapes (we used a metal star, a whisk broom, a frog candle holder, a spatula, a dustpan, safety scissors, a plastic egg, and some other junk), and trace each one with a large black marker, each one on a separate piece of paper.  Lay the pieces of paper out and give your toddler the pile of items and let him/her match each object with its outline. To make it harder, use objects that look similar but aren't quite the same.
• Indoor Baseball: use a balloon and a wrapping paper tube!
• Mailbox: take a few shoe boxes and use them for the "mail."  You can either just write "letters" and put them envelopes and mail them to each other, or you can put colored shapes on each box and use them for sorting (all the red lego blocks, or colored shape cutouts, etc. in one mailbox and so on).
• Have a color day: This helps the child to remember the color you are focusing on.  Center the day around this color, wear the colour, add a small amount of food colouring into their milk (only for older children)or give them a fruit juice, etc in the colour, make foods or eat foods that is the colour, playdough in that colour.
• Magazine picture puzzles: Look through magazines with your children and let them choose some pictures from which they would like to make puzzles. Help them cut out the pictures and use a strong glue to stick onto cardboard.
  When it is dry, cut it into puzzle shapes (big pieces).  As they master the skill, cut the picture into more pieces.
  Store and label the puzzles in plastic bags.
• Balloon play: Blow up lots of balloons for the children to use for throwing, kicking and catching.  This is a great way to teach basic ball handling skills.
• Jump the rope: Tie a small cushion or a sock half filled with rice, dried beans or sand onto the end of a rope.  Swing the rope around your slightly above the ground and the children try to jump the rope as it comes around.  If they are having difficulty, swing it a little slower until they master the skill.
  Once they have mastered this you can tie one end of the rope to your clothes line, small trunk tree or a post and have children run up and jump over the rope. With young children make sure it is low.  Eventually you will be able to swing the rope around and hopefully your child will be able to jump rope for real.
• Hop-Scotch: Draw squares on cement or have pieces of carpet cut and lay them on the floor.  Start at one end and try to get LO to jump from square to square.
• Breakfast Cereal Threading: Let your child thread cereal onto yarn or string.  To help thread the wool easier put some sticky tape around the end to use as the 'needle'.  Be sure to secure it tightly when all the loops are on.
• Car Garages: You can use your empty cardboard boxes from foods for car garages or use them as houses in the sand pits if they are building roads.  They can also be taped together to help make a doll house type thing for smaller toy dolls.
• Big Feet: Draw around your own feet or DH's feet on cardboard boxes or ice cream container lids.  Cut out the feet and attach elastic so your children can discover what it's like to have BIG FEET.

[Erin M]

ARTS & CRAFTS for 2 year old

• coloring
• finger painting
• gluing things (pasta, little pieces of paper) to a paper
• hand print turkeys
• gluing eyes/nose/mouth to a pumpkin cut out
• sticker pictures
• glue pictures of family members into a book and use it to learn everyone’s name
• play doh
• painted a small wooden birdhouse from the craft store
• hand print tee shirt for daddy
• glow in the dark pictures (use black construction paper, let color on it with a white crayon or gel pen (if you are brave), stick glow in the dark stars and planets on it)
• They make that foam stuff with adhesive on the back.  Sometimes I cut out shapes for him to stick.  Last week he and a friend (who just turned 2) did jack-o-lantern faces like that.  I also cut out leaf shapes and let him make a fall picture with it.  It is a lot less messy than glue and doesn't have to dry.
• Art Fun: we did sponge printing, which was really fun.  She suggests wetting the sponges and then coloring them with chalk to do the stamping.  Our sidewalk chalk didn't work all that well, but ketchup and mustard did!  You can also take cars and roll them first into paint and then roll them onto paper, making colored tire tracks.
• Ribbon Dancer: Remove the cardboard tube from a pants hanger (the kind you get from the cleaners) or use a wooden dowel.  Attach 1 or 2 pieces of ribbon about 15" - 18" long to the end.  Put on a Sousa march and have a parade in the house! 
• Newspaper Crafts: making things from rolled up newspaper – you can make a tall tower / robot etc.  You can also make monster masks / masks for his favourite book character
• Homemade Finger Paints (from the Girl Scouts website)
  2 cups cold water; 3 tablespoons sugar; 1⁄2 cup cornstarch; dish detergent; food coloring
  1.Mix the sugar and cornstarch in a medium saucepan.
  2.Stirring constantly with a wire whisk, add in water and cook over a medium heat.
  3.Bring to a boil.
  4.After about five minutes, when mixture thickens, remove from heat and allow to cool.
  5.Pour 1⁄2 cup into each paint container; add one drop of liquid dish detergent and 3 to 5 drops of coloring to each. Paint will be semi-opaque.
  6.Mix and use.
  ***Paint may be stored in small jars with large lids. This paint works on most types of paper. The detergent provides easy cleanup

[Erin M]

CAR TRIPS

Wait as long a possible to start handing out new toys and things to do.

• drive during nap times if LO will sleep in the car
• stop and eat
• have some favorite music
• a few new toys and some favorites
• Magnadoodle
• Aquadoodle
• coloring pages (we had a pad that had sticky on the top like a post it note. I stuck it to the tray)
• a small train track on wind up train (Take along Thomas or  something like that)
• a cookie sheet with magnetic animals
• a view master and lots of reels (we only give one reel at a time so they don't get lost)
• books
• Lacing Cards
• Sticker books
• Spiral notebook just for coloring or whatever

[Erin M]

WEBSITES

• Sensory Box - We have a sensory box that my son loves. It is just a large plastic storage box and each month we add different things to it. Right now, we have rice, measuring spoon/cups, and muffins tins in it.
  Here is the link where I got the idea from and ideas for each month.
  http://www.hubbardscupboard.org/activites_for_2_s.html#AugustSensoryTub
• This is a cool website for lil ones to have fun with the alphabet and reading.
  DD is 18 months and likes the alphabet part and learning the word apple from it!
  http://www.starfall.com
• EXCELLENT WEBSITE....JUST ROLL MOUSE OVER NO NEED TO CLICK!! http://pbskids.org/boohbah/namegame.html
• http://www.nwf.org/kidzone/kzPage.cfm?siteId=1&departmentId=126&articleId=683

[Erin M]

Here's another idea suggested by Alligirl.  Thanks, Alli!

"As per our occupational therapist, I've given Z (and thereby Stephen) assorted beans to play with (a pack of bean soup to be exact).  You would have thought they had hit gold!  I gave them each two bowls (one large and one small) and a measuring cup and they played and played!  I can't believe how much they loved it!  And it's great for Z who has fine motor delays and sensory sensitivities....he has to put his hands in them and has to pick them up and move them around so that really helped him use his hands in ways that he's not used to doing.

Anyway, just thought I'd pass along this activity that my kids loved in case you are wanting to find something different to do.  BUT-it is a MESSY activity...even after cleaning them up, we've all been picking beans off the bottoms of our feet since they first played with them."

[Erin M]

From Sheila (Nathan's Mommy)

Here is another one that Nathan loves.  I take an empty sour cream container, and cut two or three round holes in the lid, just large enough to barely fit a little pom pom ball in (the colored ones you can get at a craft store).  He will spend 20 minutes pushing the pom pom balls in the container, then taking off the lid, emptying it out, and starting all over.  (Of course, only okay if your kids won't try to eat the pom poms...   ).   

[Erin M]

Here's a great list of ideas for toddler activities from Aisling, one of our members.  Thanks for the great ideas!

I set up an obstacle course for Nello with baskets of surprises and many things are from around the house.  I change it every week to keep it fresh.  I made the living room in a circle, so I use chairs to block out openings so he stays in his course.  It contains this:

Book area: On our coffee table I put books with flaps or pop ups, he loves opening and closing these flaps.  He stands and does this with the books.

Ball area:  I put small plastic balls, a semi deflated beach ball, a large rubber ball and a plush ball.  Different tactile experiences with balls.

Wheel area: Cars, trains, wheel barrel, small plastic wagon--he loves wheeling these or just playing with the wheels

Basket #1:  Lids from yogurt containers, spatula, wooden spoon, an old VCR remote control, an old phone that doesn't work, an empty washed out shampoo bottle, skipping rope, sheer scarves, plastic measuring cups (this weeks play stuff!)

Basket #2: Plush toys, building blocks, plastic numbers and letters, stacking toys, a fisher price doctors kit (he loves this and I highly reccomend it-it has a stethoscope, tweezer, needle, fake plasters etc... all baby proof and nothing to swallow, he mostly just chews them and handles them, but loves crawling/walking around with them for some reason.)

Cruising area: The couch with the lambskin, towels, blankets, pillows on it.  He cruises around and loves to pull these things on and off of the couch.

Activity Table:  This is an old toy passed down from friends with an older child.  It is a play table with various "bells and whistles" things to turn and play, has music etc...I include a pic of him with it below.

He loves the baskets and mostly enjoys, taking things out an putting back in.  I get involved and play too or just let him get to it and take advantage of being able to tidy etc...

I made one outside too- A toddler slide and climbing thingy, a wagon that I pull him around with or he mostly plays with the straps and the wheels, my exercise ball, a kiddy pool filled with balls or sometimes I put a wee bit of water -not much and let him have a splash with various sand/water plastic toys I got at Woolies back in June-like a spade, pail, rake etc...

[Erin M]

From Sharon (Mum to Ella Rose)

We are in the process of moving house and have packed quite a bit of Ella's stuff already including her art supplies. So today (for the first time of course   ) she comes up to me asking to paint. So I found this great recipe for homemade paint online and just wanted to share it. It cleans remarkably well but the food colouring will stain fabric. Ella sure seemed to like it! 

• Mix together 2 tablespoons of sugar and 1/3 cup of cornstarch in a small pan, then slowly add 2 cups of cold water.

• Cook over low heat, stirring until the mixture becomes a smooth, almost clear gel (about 5 minutes).

• When it's cool, stir in 1/4 cup clear dishwashing liquid.

• Scoop equal amounts of the mixture into containers and stir in food coloring (or, for even more vibrant colors, use food coloring paste).

I found it took longer than five minutes to get to a gel. More like 10 or so. And it's supposed to keep in an airtight container for a week.

[Erin M]

Another great list from EmMUK74

Toddler Activities

1. Dump and Fill
Toddlers like to dump and fill just about anything. Be sure to supply the children with plenty of opportunities to dump and fill. Coffee cans and boxes make great items to be filled. You can have the children fill with toys, tops from baby food jars, and other toddler safe items.

2. Cause and effect
Toddlers will love to play games where they can see the cause and effect. A simple lightswitch can be a source of entertainment, (as well as the not so desirable toilet flushing LOL), toys that resond by touch, like music books, and pop up toys, jack in the boxes and activity centers are great toys for this age.

Another great cause and effect game includes the use of a large mailing tube and a toddler safe ball. (A choke tester is a reliable way to test toddler toys for safety.) The child places a ball or any item that will fit in the mailing tube and it will come out the other end.

3. Ramp and Roll
Create a ramp with a large block or book. Then gather toys and show how the toys roll or slide down the ramp.

4. Peanut Butter Play Dough
1 cup peanut butter
1 cup corn syrup
1 1/4 cup nonfat dry milk
1 1/4 cup confectioner's sugar
Mix then knead the ingredients. Let your child mold and play with the dough... and when they are done.. They can eat it.

5. Goop
Mix 2 cups water with a little food coloring, add 6 cups of cornflour/cornstarch to make goop. A great outdoor summer activity. And it is edible, but doesn't taste very good.

6. Bubbles
Toddlers are amazed by bubbles. Bubbles can catch a toddlers attention for at least 15 minutes.

7. Sand and Water Play
A dishtub filled with sand or water can provide entertainment as well as a great learning experience. Ideas to add to water play: a drop of food coloring, turkey basters, funnels, cups, dish soap, boats, plastic toys, brushes and sponges, ice, cold or warm water, baby dolls or play dishes to wash, toddler safe balls, items that will sink or float.

8. A box
Add a large cardboard box to a toddlers enviroment. Be sure the child does not stand ON the box. The children will have fun climbing in the box and hiding.

9. Peek a Boo
Even older toddlers still enjoy a game of Peek a Boo. Place your hands on your face and say "(child's name) where are you?" I usually encourage the older children to pull my hands away from my face. They really like to have control over the game. Let them put your hands over your face and pull them away.

10. Chocolate Pudding Finger Paint
Mix instant chocolate pudding according to the directions and paint on wax paper. Great for children who like to eat their art:)

11. Shaving Cream
Put a small mound of shaving cream on a tabletop, and allow your child to fingerpaintwith it. To add some more fun, add a little food coloring, for some pastel colors.Supervision is required so the child does not get the shaving cream in their eyes... butanywhere else is easily cleaned with a damp towel. (The pic is my son, enjoying his shaving cream experience)

12. Bell in a Bottle
Place a bell in a pop bottle. Seal the top very tight with hot glue. Allow to dry. Let the children play with the bottle.

13. Ring around the Rosie
Play Ring around the Rosie with the children.

14. Jump Song
(child's name), (child's name),
Jump up and down, Jump up and down, Jump up and down,
(child's name), (child's name),
Jump up and down, now sit back down
Variations:
replace "act like a clown" or "spin all around" for "jump up and down"
replace "child's name" with "everybody" or the name of your class, eg "Tot 2"

15. Sing a song

16. Art
Some material you may use for art projects include:

Crayons, Pens, Colored Pencils, Markers, Paint, Lace, String, Holes from a hole Punch, Ribbon, Paper Doilys, Tissue Paper, Yarn, Torn Paper, Stickers, Sand, Old Puzzle Pieces, Colored Glue, Colored Tape, Chalk, Wet Chalk, Wrapping Paper, Stamps, Aluminum Foil, Confetti, Sponges, Colored Pasta, Colored Rice,

I am sure there are plenty more... I will add more as I think of them.

17. Marble Art
You need a container with a top. (the larger the better) Cut out peices of paper to fit inside the top of the containter. Place a piece of paper in the top of the container, a small amount of water or paint will help it stick ot the lid. Place a small amount of paint in the bottom of the container. Use a few different colors. Add four or so marbles. Place the lid on the bottom. Flip the container upside down. Have your child shake the container. When they are finished, open the contianer and take out the paper.

18. Paper Tear
This is especially helpful when toddler feel the need to tear books. A center should be provided with paper that they may tear.

19. Paint with Water
On a hot day, take out a small container of water and large and small brushes. Allow the children to paint with the water. (Supervise the children at all times.)

20. Play Basketball
Supply the children with a large ball and a laundry basket. Show the children how to put the ball in the basket. Try the same with bean bags or small pillows.

21. Bean Bag Fun
Play with bean bags, toss them in a basket, up in the air, balance them on your head or the back of your hand, toss them to a friend.

22. Roll the Ball
Roll a ball back and forth.

23. Dance
Play some music and dance with your child.

24. Make an intrument
Use a pot or pan and a spoon, an empty coffee tin with lid, or two pot tops for cymbals.

25. Go for a Nature Walk
Point out trees, grass, bugs, rocks... etc.

26. Play in a mirror
Make silly faces into a mirror. Toddlers love to look at themselves. For added fun, place a mirror on the floor and let the toddler walk on it.

27. Roll around
Roll around on the floor or down a gentle hill outside.

28. Make a play house
Drape a blanket over a talbe for a fun place to play.

29. Feed the Birds
Help your child crumble old bread for the birds to eat.

30. Fingerprint fun
Have your child press one finger onto a non toxic ink pad and then press onto a piece of paper. Repeat.

31. Read a Book

32. Name it
Point to something and name it for your child. Or say what color it is or describe it. Encourage your child to point out objects for you to name.

33. Mimic Me
Repeat your child's vocal sounds. Make simple sounds for your child to mimic.

34. Do a Simple Puzzle
There are Puzzles with just two pieces for toddlers.

35. Play with a Puppet
Children like to have a puppet talk and play with them. have the puppet tell a story.

36. Box Train
Attach a short piece of yarn to a small box to make a train for your toddlers stuffed animals.

37. Beach Ball Bat
Hang a beach ball from the ceiling just within the child's reach. Allow the children to bat at the ball.

38. Shakers
Make shakers by stapling two paper plates together with beans inside, (the children may decorate these) or placing beans, beads, or other objects in a sealed bottle.

39. Masking Tape
Allow the children to play with a small piece of maksing tape. Supervision is required.

40. What sound does a ? make?
Ask you child what sounds does a car make... a cow, a dog....etc

41. Where is your___?
Ask you child "where is your nose?" eyes, head... etc

42. Chrunch Autumn Leaves

43. Try to Catch Snowflakes on your Tongue

44. Build with Blocks

45. Knock down a 3 or 4 block tower

46. Pretend to talk on a play phone

47. Have a picnic.

48. Play with a streamer in the wind

49. Record your voice
Record your child's voice and play it back for them.

50. Blow a Dandelion

51. Use sidewalk chalk

52. Play dress up

53. Dance with a scarf

54. Play Hide and Seek

55. Pretend to have a Tea Party. Invite a favorite stuffed animal.

56. Pretend to eat like Cookie Monster.
The toddlers seem to really like this a lot. I ask them for a cookie or ice cream and they pretend to give one to me and I make a lot of noise while pretending to eat it.

57. Pretend to be asleep.
Let the children wake you up, pretend to be suprised. Snoring adds a lot more fun to this game.

58. Up and away
Lie on your back and lift the child above you for an airplane ride.

59. Leg excercises
Lie on your back, with your knees bent and feet on the floor. Ask a child to sit on your feet on place them on your feet, facing you. Lift your legs slowly so they are parrallel to the ground. If the child holds on you can Lift them upside down.

60. Pretend to be a ____!
Pretend to be a dog, cat, dinosaur, baby....

[Erin M]

A link to another great list from CharlotteandCharlie

We can only do a few of these because dd is 13 months but at least its a good start for these cold rainy autumn days.

http://www.arkcity.com/pat/101things.html

Hope it helps some others out there.

[Samuel's mum]

Sam is getting really excited about recognising numbers at the moment (comes from Thomas the Tank Engine originally!).
He really gets a kick out of playing this simple game from the BBC website:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/numberjacks/games/jumping_generator.shtml

(you might need flash to get it to work.)

[woopster]

Harry loves Numberjacks!

[mena]

THANK YOU FOR THIS THREAD!!

a very desperate-for-ideas mommy

[velvet]

Here are some things my ds and I do together:

I made him a house out of cardboard, cut him a window and put a little shelf inside.  He takes pics of cars (I cut out) and tapes them on the box.  I give him sticker and he sticks them on the box. He puts his toy animals in the box also.

I made him a cardboard oven with a cupboard.  While I cook, he takes the pots and pans and cooks, mixes, puts lids on, etc.  He borrows my spoons and cups and feeds teddies.

My son loves his toy cars.  He has a little madarine orange box full of them. He totes them everywhere.  We make tunnels out of his blocks, we use the blocks to put in dump trucks, we even make garages out of shoe boxes.

Playdough and measuring cups are a lifesaver - pop in his highchair and away he works.

Crayons, felts and big paper. Watch the felts though.

Books- get a big bin and throw all the books in. Have it be accessible - rotate books every week or so from the library.  Think of new themes too - eg. The Zoo - animal books - Things that go- car and truck books.

Tent and ball set.  He loves hiding, and jumping and running into the balls.

Making towers out of anything!  Once he took everything in his room and made a huge tower in the hallway.  He called "mommy, mommy" and when I came he pointed to the tower full of stuff.  He was so proud of himself.  It had pillows, blankets, his potty chair, his puzzles, his clothes, his diapers - you name it!

On you mark, get set, go!  On go- I raise my arm and let the little guy race to the other end of the hall.  He loves it and races all the way back to do it again!

Going for a walk always breaks the day.  Even if it's only for 20 min.  It's good to get outside.

Playing with velcro curlers - As I do my makeup, my little guy likes to take out my velcro rollers and play with them.  Usually, he takes the small one out of the next one then out of the medium one to the large one.  There are 6 big ones all filled like this.  He gets them all out and is quite proud of them all on the carpet.  He also likes how they stick together.

If you are like me and leave your laundry till last minute when you have 5 baskets full- this makes for fun time folding.  Little son likes it when I dump the big loads of dry clothes on the carpet.  I fold and he helps but when he gets bored, he likes to drive his toy cars through the bumps the clothes make.  After everything is folded, he helps put things away.

Dancing with Raffi - my ds is hooked on Raffi.  He dances and spins and runs and hops- it's a great time.

Playing doctor.  Just now, my son will lie on the carpet and say Help. I pretend to call 911 and take him to his room.  I tell him not to move and go get Dr. Teddy.  Dr. Teddy takes my son's temperature, heartbeat, gives him pretend medicine and water.  Then a hug and lots of rest.  Then we play it all again.  The same procedure but he sure loves it.

A play car mat is wonderful.  I used to make them on paper which was fine but then I found one that is a carpet at Home Depot.  What a great toy!  My son loves driving his cars along the roads and stops at the bus, school, police station, etc.

Blowing  bubbles/ looking at pictures of mom, dad, grandma, etc.

I filled an old purse with old cars - like old credit cards, movie rental cards, used gift cards and canadian tire money.  My little guy loves going throught the purse and pulling out all the cards from the wallet.  Eventually, I will fill it with toy keys, and photos, and whatever else I can think of.

Well, hope these help. Thanks for everyone else's suggestions.

[Jess-J&E]

 I just wanted to share some activies that were really a big hit for us

-I went to the dollar store and bought a pack of plastic easter eggs and a basket.  We do practice egg hunts and he loves it.  I keep it to one or two rooms and he loves searching for them.  I have also filled each egg with a little snack when I need more time and then he has a surprise in each one. Great when I am feeding the little one!!

- A huge plastic tub of white rice filled with all sorts of containers (measuring cups, funnels, bottles, spoons, mini shovels etc. )  for pouring, shoveling and whatever else he can think of.  I set him on a large flat sheet to play and then when he is finished I can gather all of the spilled rice in the center to put back in the bin.  Whatever is left I just shake outside.

-I bought a cheap package of clear light weight cleaning gloves.  Fill each one with water as much as possible and a bit of food coloring,  and tie off the end like a balloon.  Toss them in the full bath tub and he has a ball with the "hand balloons" as he calls them.  Some soapy water makes them slippery and fun to try and catch!

-I gave him a glue stick and a bag of those little cotton pom poms you can get at the craft store and I let him glue them all over a piece of paper.  I even gave him some regular glue to squeeze and press the poms into.  Now we have lovely refrigerator art

Hope someone can use these!  I have a few more but the little one beckons! Gotta run
Jess

[aisling]

My DS loves, loves, loves tactile time. 

I let him go on a chair at the sink.  I give him colanders, measuring cups, turkey baster, rubber ducks etc...he could stay there for hours. I let the water run on a very small drip at lukewarm temp.  Yes, it is messy, but....I put a towel or a tarp underneath and he is good about "keep the water in the sink please!"

I also fill his old baby tub with oatmeal or cornflakes or rice crispies to scoop and muck about with.  I give him scoopers, small gardening tools, cups, and I throw in some toy palstic spiders, snakes, cars, trucks etc... to play around with in there.  Again I put the tarp underneath.

I just bought a Step 2 Sand and Water table for the spring / summer, it has an umbrella, I can't wait to use it.

HTH

Aisling x

[Mom to M&M]

She has recently started to get interested in wooden puzzles. We have two but maybe I'll get one or two more. She often needs my help for them still though.

[TDR'smom]

Here is a link to one of the block sets Tyler loves.  It is very "babyish"...but it occupies him for quite a while.

http://www.farmgoodsforkids.com/c5672-lego-shape-sorter-toy-bucket.html

We also bought him a "piggy bank" made by Lego...I think.  I will try to find the link for that and post it.

[TDR'smom]

http://www.amazon.com/Fisher-Price-J2462-Learning-Piggy/dp/B000A88KOA

Here is the piggy bank we bought for Tyler recently.

[Erin M]

Katie has these and they seem to keep her occupied for quite awhile:

http://www.target.com/gp/detail.html/sr=1-3/qid=1174437848/ref=sr_1_3/602-7437755-9291022?ie=UTF8&asin=B0002Q92TM

They've been one of her favorite toys for longer than I can remember. 

As for the wooden puzzles, they make ones that are pretty simple and once Katie started getting the hang of them, she really took off with that. 

[Katet]

When I was in the end of preg with L & I had really bad sciatica, so could hardly move we did some of the following

Money box with big coins... ds didn't put much in his mouth so that was ok
container of pasta & different containers to move it from & too... still popular here, although older child has rice/lentils& popcorn.
container of flour... "fun" to clean up though.
Posting shapes ... big cardboard box with a hole in it & then packing stuff.
my Sis is about to move & although her ds is approaching 3, she gave him a suitcase & let him pack up stuff... pack in one place, unpack in another & carry it between the 2 rooms.

[Mom to M&M]

You guys are great. Stacy - we don't have a kiddie chair for her (yet anyway, buying a kiddie table w chairs for new apartment) but that sounds like a neat idea. I'm worried she'd put the rice in her mouth... Same goes for coins, Kate. Could try the dry pasta though (large pieces). I wish she didn't put everything in her mouth - but she always has!

[maggie2]

Haven't read through all the replies, so forgive me if this was already mentioned. 

Ds is also 19 months, and I know what you mean about the coloring all over everything!  We have this neat little mat called an "Aqua Doodle".  It goes on the floor and comes with a special marker that you fill with water - it only colors on the mat and if they try to color anywhere else, it won't work.  You can also purchase seperate little stamp shapes and things. 

I think I'll read through all the posts now to get some ideas for myself!!!

Maggie

[Mom to M&M]

Ooooh, Stacy - didn't even think about Connect 4 - good idea! I think my parents may still have one if not maybe will get one after the move (April 6). LOL with the aqua doodle - I think Marisa might try to do that too! And her grandparents (my IL's) are going to buy her that fridge alphabet magnet set - the one from Leapfrog I think? Again after we move (won't work on stainless steel fridge here but new place is white fridge).

Very funny with Kaleb and the chair and the lemon though!

Will try that with the Pringles too. What do you put in there? Of course I'll have to eat all the Pringles first!

[~Faye~]

How did I not see this til now? I will have to read through tonight and get some ideas. I keep forgetting he has got bigger and can do more things

Thankyou, thankyou, thankyou. This will be such a help

Faye

[Grace's Mom]

Thanks for the thread.  It's a huge help.

Mel

[writelydivided]

Absolutely wonderful thread. I've picked out a few ideas, but can anyone give suggestions specifically for the youngest toddlers? My little guy is just about a year and seems to be getting close to outgrowing his treasure basket, which has been a mainstay for months. (Can post a link if anyone wants it--basically, a large basket full of household and natural items for babies; Jack would sit and entertain himself with all the stuff for up to 20 minutes.) Now, all he wants to do is "walk"--he's almost indepedent at it, but not quite, so we've been doing a lot of cruising courses and of course a lot of hand-holding and walking round and round the house. He loves pushing his stroller (with help). Yes: we're exhausted around here!

What to do with those who've outgrown the baby activities, but aren't quite ready for the true toddler ones yet either?

[velvet]

If your little guy is focused on walking you definitely need to get him a pull toy.  We have two little dogs on a string that sing and bark when my son pulls them.  Once he got coordinated to walk and pull he loved that. Or the other one is the push toy which he can push as he walks.  You could also tie a belt around a jumbo diaper box and have him pull around his stuffed animals.  If he's still small, he could sit in the diaper box and you could pull him around the house. I'm sure he'd love that!

With the hot days, a water table is great too as the little ones can pull themselves up and play with their little bath toys standing up.  Use some of the kitchen toys like measuring cups so he can scoop up water and pour it out.  He can also walk around the table to get other toys, etc.

Another idea is to make an obstacle course out of pillows and blankets, chairs, anything safe.  This way he is walking over bumps, through tunnels, over and around the couch etc. (more things to help with coordination).

Having a soft ball is another good idea.  If you hold his hands above his head while he walks he can run with your help and kick the ball.  Our son loved this - especially with the rubber medium size balls.

If your child loves to push the stroller- how about a toy shopping cart.  Our son loves his and he fills it with all his toy food and some recycled boxes.  He likes to fill the cart, push it around and then take everything out.  I even give him some grocery bags so he can put the groceries in the bags.  Sometimes he will give me the bags and then i pretend to pay him.

Finally, and this may be a bit ambitious, but I took the box our stroller came in and made a cardboard house for my boy.  Nothing too fancy - a door that opens and a window.  During the summer I took the box outside and I painted it.  He tried to paint too, but was still little.  Anyways, he loves the box.  It is his house and he loves going in and out and putting things in his window box.  When I give him stickers he always puts them on his house walls.  He even gets me to cut out cars from magazines and tape them on his door.  I know a lot of people might buy those houses from the stores and those are nice- but it was fun doing the whole project together and boy was he excited!

Anyways, hope you get some extra ideas for your little one.  All the best!

[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.