Category: Ages 2-6: Toddler/Preschool Activities
Here’s the finished product of the kids’ arts-and-craftsproject last week. It took two days to dry thoroughly. This was a really good project even for ED (age 2) whocould pretty much do it on her own as long as I remindedher of the steps along the way: Put the spaghetti (or yarn) in the glueStir, stir, stirDump it on your plate
For this activity we needed cooked spaghetti (we usedfettuccine), bits of yarn or string and glue. We had onebowl of plain glue, and a bowl of glue + red food coloringanother with glue/yellow and another with glue/green. This activity worked best when I had them use a fork.My kids didn’t dip it in well enough to get a lot of glue.They really needed to stir it around a bit (and...
ED turns two next week! Wow! She continues to do many of the same tonging,spooning and sorting activities with ever moreconcentration. I love this picture below whereshe is just so intent on getting the eraser ontothe right spot! I usually set up one new activity for her on thelittle table in the kitchen each morning. I didn’tget a picture of the rice/bean tub in action, butput in a picture of...
This tub used to be considerably fuller, but over timelots of the rice/beans have been tossed! This is a sensoryactivity. ED (and the others!) have to feel through therice/beans for the hidden objects.
The older kids are always given a small pitcher to pourtheir milk into their cereal. ED now has a very smallpitcher of milk to pour into her bowl. (She’s been doing thisfor a couple of months now, probably starting around 20months old, I think.) If she dribbles any milk she knowswhere the washclothes are and will go grab one out of thedrawer to wipe the table.
I put out a piece of contact paper (sticky side up) withsome crinkled pieces of tissue paper. I thought ED wouldhave fun making some art. There happened to be a coupleof craft match sticks and cut up straws in the bowl. WhenI turned around, ED was placing them vertically on thepaper! I was impressed at her three-dimensional picture. A little while later she had just as much fun destroyingher masterpiece.
I raved about Honey’s website a couple of days ago, but wanted to mention a couple of pages I found particularly useful that I don’t think I mentioned before. She had a very useful post about the websites she likes that have activities for toddlers: http://sunflowerschoolhouse.com/toddler-activities/ Also, I printed these brick building cards (Lego projects) and cut them so that there were two cards on each piece of paper. The...
For once, this is an activity that I thoughtup! Many people have talked about dyeingnoodles with rubbing alcohol. I didn’t likethat idea because ED puts everything in hermouth. So–I tried dyeing the noodles withvinegar and food coloring. I left them in thevinegar/coloring solution for about 3-5 minutes,then dried them overnight. I took a bunch of skewers and cut off the sharptips, put them together with a rubber band.Then I wove...
I made this with help from DD and LD a while back to useat Kindergym (we had a “Under the Sea” theme for a fewweeks). I’ve put this on the shelf for ED and added acovered tube to the smaller hole. She’s had fun puttingthe sea creatures into the box and retrieving them.
ED is signing “star” “fish”!
Here she’s signing “ice cream”!!
We had a wonderful weekend camping and I’ll share more about that soon. Today is DD’s birthday, though, so I won’t spend much time on the computer today. Last night I needed a few more ideas for ED and checked out a website I really enjoy. It’s truly a wonderful resource if you have a toddler or young preschooler. This Mom shares a wonderful assortment of activities for her son...
The girls really enjoyed the flower arranging this week. Theidea to use pipe cleaners and foam beads came fromhttp://mymontessorijourney.typepad.com/my_montessori_journey/2009/04/my-entry.html
When we were on holiday the kids saw a showcalled “Playschool.” LD saw how to make alieneyes and yesterday he got all the materials heneeded and made himself and the girls alieneyes. I didn’t help in any way shape or form (noteven to find the glue)… a first!!