Well, temps are still very cold here in Southern PA, so we've been digging out even
more fun activities for Charlie to do when he gets that super bored face on! I try to make sure that the activities we do with Charlie are fun, but also provide some kind of learning experience, whether it be sensory exploration, sorting, tactile development, crafts, etc. I also keep them short - no more than thirty minutes. Toddlers certainly don't have the attention span to commit to an activity for any longer than that (and thirty minutes is pushing it). I don't want to overwhelm him. These are all very self-explanatory activities, so I'm going to let pictures do most of the talking.
Here are four of our favorites from the past week...
1- Stringing objects
Charlie has a great set of shapes/beads that were passed down from my little brothers, so this was an easy one for us to set up for him. I gave him a shoelace and showed him how to string it through the holes. If you don't have a set of beads handy, grab some pasta or dry cereal. Charlie enjoyed this activity while he was finishing up his blackberries from breakfast, haha.
2- Gluing pom-poms
This was the Valentine's Day heart that Charlie made for his Mimi, but it could easily be a craft for any day. I cut a heart out of a piece of foam (although any thick paper would work fine), gave him a small bowl of glue, and some pom-poms. This activity he
loved and even started saying "goo goo goo" for "glue."
3- Painting
Here we have Charlie's Auntie's Valentine, but again - an easy "any day activity". I squirted some glitter paint on his high chair tray, gave him a scrapbook paper heart, and let him go to town. Charlie loooooves to
paint, so this was another favorite activity.
4- Bottlecap Sorting
We've been saving bottlecaps for years for an art project I have turning around in my mind. In the meantime, they're taking up space in the cabinet, but they make for a great sorting activity! I gave Charlie a container of bottlecaps and a muffin tin and he had a lot of fun placing them in the cups. There wasn't really much specific organization to them, but he seemed to have a plan for what he was doing. Now, if you don't have a ridiculous supply of bottlecaps handy, anything small enough to fit in a muffin tin will work! We've also done this activity with wine corks (also saving for a project....), change, noodles, buttons, dried beans, etc. If your little one still puts things in their mouths, you'll want to be more exclusive with what you give them to play with, obviously.
Have fun!!!
My little one loves doing these at preschool. I should grab some laces and dry pasta to do some lacing activities at home though, just to have them on hand.
ReplyDeleteOhh I love the lacing idea! I should get on that one! Lucy loves to paint, too :)
ReplyDeleteWe were actually doing some stringing yesterday too. Darwin was using yarn and a big tapestry needle to string wagon wheel pasta shapes into a bracelet for him Mama :)
ReplyDeleteWhat a focused tot! Those activities must be really intriguing for him.
ReplyDeleteWow! Check out that toddler dexterity! I'm impressed!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the great idea. I think we need to do something with those pom poms that are in the girls' activity cabinet!
ReplyDeletePlay is a term used in psychology and ethics to describe a range of voluntary activities and intrinsically motivated usually associated with fun entertainment and enjoyment.It is most commonly associated with playing with children and their activities at the level of events, but play can also be useful activity adults, occurs between higher animals other performance as well.
ReplyDeletetoddler to preschool activitiestes