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
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
Simple Play With Letters.
Toddlers learn best through play; therefore, I want to intentionally create play-based learning experiences to expose them to simply play with letters. Activities for toddlers are vital that early learning experiences are fun and positive. By ‘playing together’ both parent and child are relaxed. I will share with you five simple play with letters activities for you to try. Alphabet Soup! Materials: Container, water, and foam letters. Add kitchen items such as saucepans, whisk, strainer and plates. Step-by-step: Half fill a container with water. Always supervise children around the water. Add foam letters and gather various kitchen items for your child to use. Your child can stir all the letters and various other chosen items. They can scoop out various letters or choose items to place into a saucepan to ‘cook’. They may even want to plate up various creations. Simple Play With Letters. Materials: Box, marker, 26 popsicle sticks, and a sharp knife (adult use only). Step-by-step: The adult cuts 26 slits in rows equally spaced apart into one side of a cardboard box. Write the letters of the alphabet below each slit (I used upper and lowercase). Write the letters of the alphabet on popsicle sticks (I used upper and lowercase). Your child matches the letters
Simple Play With Numbers.
Adding fun toddlers' activities is a great way to help young children stay engaged. With numeracy, I find simple to play with numbers is a popular way for my son to have fun while learning foundational math concepts. Keeping things simple also allows me to rotate activities frequently or it is easy for my son to repeat these activities in his independent play. Popsicle sticks and clothespin numbers. This is one of my favorite toddler activities to practice number sequences. With little effort, it can be adapted to become an easier or more difficult activity. Simply change the size of the number and how many numbers are missing on a single popsicle stick. Materials: Popsicle sticks, markers, and clothespins. Step-by-step: Write the numbers 1 to 7 on a popsicle stick, leaving one number out. Repeat this on other popsicle sticks, leaving a different number out. Write on clothespins the numbers 1-7. Your child finds the clothespin with the correct missing number – so it´s also developing their fine motor skills. Clothespin Dominoes! Materials: Clothespins, markers, and stickers. Step-by-step: On one end of the clothespin, stick a coloured sticker. On the other end, write a
Five Fun Upcycling Ideas
I love upcycling projects as they help us to think more innovatively and creatively. Transforming recyclables into something new and useful is a lot of fun. I have chosen five fun upcycling ideas that you and your child will enjoy. The purpose of these toddler activities is to help your toddlers learn in an effective way. Bubble Wrap Fish! Materials: Bubble wrap, leaves, glue, paint, googly eyes, construction paper, and scissors. Step-by-step: 1.Cut bubble wrap into fish shapes. 2. Collect leaves for their tails. 3. Mix primary colors of paint together and paint one side of the bubble wrap. 4. Glue the bubble wrap on paper, leaving space between each one. Glue on a leaf to represent the tail of each fish. Glue on a googly eye to each fish. Introduce vocabularies like scales, fins, tail, and bubbles. Upcycled Newspaper Flower. Materials: Newspaper, split pin, scissors, watercolor paints, paintbrushes, and water. Step-by-step: 1. Cut four general flower shapes out of newspaper. Each flower shape slightly smaller than the previous one. Cut a rectangle shape for the stem. Paint watercolors on each of the four newspaper flowers and stems. Layer each flower on top of one another (biggest to smallest). Secure them together with a split pin. Glue on the stem to the base
5 Activities for Keeping Toddlers Busy at the Beach.
Looking forward to the beach this summer? I know my family is! A beach vacation is perfect for spending time together time and bonding as a family. A bucket and spade can only keep little ones occupied for so long. So, I will share my top five toddler activities for keeping them busy at the beach without breaking the bank. 1-Build Number Sandcastles In front of each sandcastle, write the numbers 1-5, or 1-10 depending on your child´s numeracy skills. Then use rocks or shells to decorate each sandcastle that corresponds to a particular number. Another way to play, use rocks to ‘draw over’ the numbers in the sand. It is an effective way to help your toddler learn. 2-Buried treasure! Draw a square in a small area of sand, bury a few items (we used sea animal figurines), rake over the top of it, and let your little one dig for treasure. Another way to play, wash the treasure afterward. 3-Number circles Another toddler activity is to use a bucket to make circles in the sand. Damp sand holds the form the best. Your toddler places a rock in each circle to help with 1:1 counting (forwards and maybe backward). If you would like