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 stick 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. 5. Glue on a leaf to represent the tail of each fish. 6. Glue on a googly eye to each fish. 7. Introduce vocabularies like scales, fins, tail, and bubbles. Upcycled Newspaper Flower. Materials: Newspaper, split pin, scissors, watercolor paints, paintbrushes, and water. Step-by-step: 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 watercolours 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.
Are you 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