Christmas Activities for Toddlers
I hope you enjoy these simple and fun Christmas activities for toddlers. These are a great place to start to get your child into the Christmas spirit. Let me know if you try any of these Christmas Activities for Toddlers on Instagram or Facebook Handprint Reindeer This is so simple, but a great keepsake to remind you of how small their little hands once were. Simply, paint their hand with brown paint and press down onto paper. Once dry, glue on a red pom pom for the nose and two googly eyes. Use a marker to draw the cord of Christmas lights around the border of the page. Your child uses finger paints to create the Christmas lights. Festive Invitation to Create. One of the most popular Christmas activities for toddlers are tinker trays. In the tray are a bunch of various craft supplies like pipe cleaners, pom poms, jewels, ribbon, feathers and gift bows for your child to tinker with. It’s an open-ended activity that allows your child to create something out of the materials provided. Christmas Stocking! This is a fabulous festive fine motor activity for toddlers. It is really three activities in one. To begin, cut a rough stocking shape out of felt. Your child
A Selection of the Best Halloween Activities for Toddlers.
I ran an Instagram competition to collate a selection of the best Halloween activities for toddlers. There are so many creative people developing all kinds of super fun educational activities that your child will enjoy. Thank you to everyone who continues to share their ideas with me and my followers. Please visit their accounts to see the original post with the full range of photos and caption. @Tiny_mountain_movers Jack-o-lantern Water Play This is a popular and one of the best Halloween activities for toddlers. It is simple to set up and requires few resources. Water play allows children to practice those practical life skills like pouring, scooping and transferring. Preparation is key for water play. Ensure you have a spill zone, a change of clothes and towels handy. Materials: Containers of varying sizes, water, food colouring, Halloween-themed play items and cornstarch. Instructions: Dye some water with a little food coloring and add some corn starch. Add some containers of varying sizes and any Halloween-themed play items that are waterproof. @thekolbeekboys Halloween Ghost Counting This is a fun and interactive Halloween dice game. It is a wonderful way to seamlessly infuse a little math into a child´s play. Materials: Recycled cardboard, playdough, dice, white cardboard and chalk markers to colour the windows and
A Selection of the Best Autumn Activities for Toddlers on Instagram
I decided to use my Instagram platform to get others to share with me their best Autumn activities for toddlers. My followers did not disappoint. So, I have collated a selection of the best Autumn activities for toddlers on Instagram to share with you here. I love the creativity and ingenuity of these activities that were shared from various countries around the world. Please visit their accounts for the full captions and complete selection of images for each activity. Coffee Filter Autumn Leaves @keeping.up.with.isaac A simple STEAM activity for toddlers to show water absorption in leaves. It is amazing how a plain white coffee filter is transformed into beautiful Autumn / fall colours. Materials: Coffee filters Marker Scissors Bowl of water Step-by-step: Place 5-10 coffee filters on top of each other. Trace a leaf shape on the top coffee filter and carefully cut the filters at one time. Using a small circular cutter, draw a thick band of circles of different colours using markers. Leaving a small white portion in the middle. Fold the coffee filter, then dip the center white portion into the bowl of water. Make sure to dip only the tip. You'll see water travel up the leaf and spread the ink throughout.
Simple Halloween Activities for Toddlers.
There is something about Halloween activities for toddlers that captures their imaginations. Perhaps it is all the crafts, sensory activities and dressing up? When I was a child, my siblings and I never experienced the Halloween. It was not a big holiday in Australia but, over time it is becoming increasingly popular. Although Halloween is not a big holiday in our family, it is still fun to get involved in Halloween-themed play. Halloween does not have to be scary but rather a fun experience where you can dress up as your favourite cartoon character or superhero. It can be very satisfying to step into another character for a while. Halloween Activities for Toddlers. Wrap the Mummy! Firstly, this is a simple but sweet Halloween toddler activity. It does not require a lot of resources and your little one can decorate it independently. Materials: brown paper, cookie cutter, marker, paper towel and glue. Step-by-step: Use a gingerbread man cookie cutter to make the ‘mummy shape’ on brown paper. Cut a small amount of paper towel into strips. Glue on the paper towel. Note: it’s a good idea to have an extra mummy so you can model what to do. Many little ones aren’t familiar with what a mummy looks
Autumn Activities for Toddlers.
Autumn, also commonly known as fall, is a truly a beautiful time of year. It’s also the season when the days get shorter and colder. Leaves shed from deciduous trees as they start to prepare for winter. To celebrate the changing of seasons, I will share with you a great collection of autumn activities for toddlers. These fun, creative and sensory activities are simple and engaging for your little ones to explore the wonders and vibrancy of Autumn. Mindful Nature Walk One of my favourite autumn activities for toddlers is to go on a mindful nature walk. We love visiting nearby parks and collecting colourful Autumn leaves, twigs, conkers or pinecones along the way. Encourage your child to tell you what colour or shape each leaf is as they collect them. As you continue to walk, ask them to notice the sound the leaves make under their feet or light crisp breeze on their face. Watch leaves falling from the trees and notice how they glide, spin, or quickly drop down. Perhaps they notice that the weather is a bit drizzly. Autumn is a great time for exploring nature. If you would like to learn more about mindfulness click here. Other things to notice: Are
The Power of Routines for Taming Toddler Energy.
“Silence is Golden. Unless You Have a Toddler…Then It’s Just Suspicious” We all accept that toddlers are high energy little beings. Sometimes that energizer bunny craziness can just feel overwhelming for parents every day, so structure goes by the wayside. Do not underestimate the power of routines for taming toddler energy. These expert parenting tips will help you tame the chaos. The Power of Routines for Taming Toddler Energy. Let’s first get real with ourselves and ask: Is it possible that your toddler has been trained (by you) that the rules of your home are open to negotiation? In other words, “Are You for Sale?” Being for sale means that you’ve allowed your child’s pleading, whining, or negotiating to get the best of you. When your child sniffs weakness, it gets exploited, and chaos ensues. The good news? With just a few little adjustments, it’s within your power to regain harmony in your household. The best way to get started is to create and implement a routine that you stick with. The Power of Routines. Toddlers get a sense of security and stability when they know how their day will unfold. This study for example, mentions how simply having a set bedtime for toddlers can result in their optimal
Fine Motor Activities for Toddlers.
There are numerous fine motor activities for toddlers that you can easily do at home. Fine motor skills are small movements of muscles that involve using the hands and fingers together to execute movements such as pinching or grasping. These types of movements are essential for toddlers to practice. It helps them to learn to do everyday tasks like buttoning a shirt or tying shoelaces. The fine motor activities I am sharing with you use items commonly found in homes, are low prep and budget-friendly. My Top Fine Motor Activities for Toddlers. Play Dough Fine Motor Activities. Firstly, manipulating the play dough uses lots of the smaller muscles in the fingers and hands. Children can poke, squeeze, flatten, pull, chop, cut, roll, or squash it. It is a never-ending tactile experience for all children that aids in many aspects of their development. You can add other elements such as stones, sticks, dry pasta, and cookie cutters and to increase creative play possibilities. Some play dough activities for toddlers include: Poke play dough with individual fingers. Hammer (child´s hammer) pasta into play dough. Play ‘Hidden Treasure’. Hide small objects in the play dough and then try to pull them out. Make holes in pretend cookies or
Kindergarten Readiness.
Starting kindergarten is a big milestone for you and your toddler. It is an exciting time of learning and growth. I want to share some kindergarten readiness tips from the perspective of a teacher. I do value fostering early literacy and numeracy skills however, sometimes I think it can be easy to place too much importance on these. There are so many everyday toddler activities, like getting dressed, preparing food, or tidying up, that we miss opportunities to develop our child’s independence To begin with, I will highlight and share some practical skills that young children sometimes struggle with when first starting school. It can really make their transition into kindergarten a lot smoother if they have started practicing some of these at home. The Kindergarten Day. Firstly, let’s look at how your child will predominately spend their day. In kindergarten, most of your child's school day will be working with and relating to other children. Therefore, it is heavily reliant on social and communication skills as they learn to: Cooperate and collaborate on projects. Talk and play with peers. Share toys and taking turns. Follow directions. Work alone. Relate to an adult other than parents. How to Prepare for the Transition. You can create opportunities
A Healthy Balanced Diet for a Toddler.
Healthy Eating for Toddlers. Toddlers are very active little people. A lot of toddler activities require a lot of energy. So, it is important that we know how to fuel their bodies for proper growth and development. Click here for ideas on how to involve your toddler in meal preparation. A healthy balanced diet for a toddler can also get them into the lifelong habit of consuming a healthy diet. What is a healthy balanced diet for a toddler? You might be surprised to hear that a healthy balanced diet for a toddler is not the same as a healthy balanced diet for an adult. Toddlers, aged 1 to 4 years of age, have very high energy needs to sustain their growth both physically and mentally. A balanced dietary pattern for a toddler consists of three meals and two to three snacks a day. A toddler’s diet should consist of a balance of the following foods: Starchy carbohydrates. Fruit and vegetables Dairy, and protein, including meat, fish, eggs, pulses and ground seeds, nuts. Drinks like milk and water. The high sugar, salt and processed fat foods are not needed in a toddler's diet but can occasionally be given in small amounts. So how does a
Supporting Language and Communication in the Home.
Regardless of where we’re living right now, life looks much different than it ever has in our lifetime. Many families are at home with children, struggling to play the role of the teacher in addition to all our other roles. If this is you, you’re not alone. Better yet, there’s help in the form of well-intentioned tips that may not make it all better. However, they can certainly be useful during a time when we need access to all the tools in our toolbox. As parents, we want to be supporting language and communication in the home. But often we anticipate our children’s needs without them ever having to communicate. However well-intentioned we may be, we’re missing language opportunities. For example, when we do routine things like help them put on their clothes or prepare their breakfast, without using language. Everyday routines are essentially toddler activities at home that we can use to support their language and communication in the home. Tips For Supporting Language and Communication in the Home. Gestures Count It’s not uncommon to get caught up in the use of words that we forget about other forms of communication. One common way toddlers communicate is through the use of gestures. If