Birds That Fly
This is a follow-the-leader activity. Much like Simon Says, the object is to fool the player(s).
For younger toddlers, just stick with the true directives.
Activity for an individual child or a group
Age group: 30–40 months
Duration of activity: 15 minutes
Call out an animal and an action for your child to imitate. For example, when you call out, “Birds fly,” your child should flap his arms like a bird.
There are many possible directives, such as frogs that hop, snakes that slither, or horses that gallop.
Try to fool him once in awhile by calling out a silly directive. For example, say, “Fish hop.” If you fail to trick him, he gets a turn being the caller.
Jack-in-the-Box
This short-action play is sure to get your child’s attention and bring some laughter as well.
Activity for the individual child
Age group: 30–40 months
Duration of activity: 15 minutes
While your child crouches on the floor, repeat the following rhyme in a slow and suspenseful way:
Jack-in-the-Box, so quiet and still. Will he come up?
The child springs up and shouts, “Oh, yes, he will!!”
HINT: For younger age groups, you can instead play the song “Pop! Goes the Weasel.” When the song gets to “pop,” everyone can pop up. You may need to cue the children when it is time to do this by yelling, “Pop!” or raising your arms.
Rescue
Engage your child’s imagination while helping him develop balance and large motor skills.
You can change the theme of the rescue to suit your child’s interest.
Perhaps he can rescue the kitten from the dogs or the princess from the dragons.
Activity for an individual child
Age group: 18–40 months
Duration of activity: 15 minutes
Assorted rags and stuffed animals
Place a bunch of rags in a small bag or basket.
Have your child scatter these around the floor.
Choose an object/prop to be rescued. This can be another rag, a stuffed animal, or something else. Toss this object into the center of the others.
Challenge your child to walk in and retrieve (rescue) this object without stepping on the others. You might tell him that the dragons are sleeping and that he needs to tiptoe in carefully.
Jack and the Beanstalk
This is a fun activity to do right after reading the classic fairy tale by the same name.
Activity for an individual child
Age group: 18–40 months
Duration of activity: 15 minutes
While reciting parts of the story, have your child imitate different parts of the action. Stomp around like the giant and tiptoe quietly like Jack.
Once I Saw a Bird
This cute action includes a nice variety of actions.
Activity for an individual child
Age group: 18–40 months
Duration of activity: 5 minutes
Teach your child the following rhyme and corresponding movements:
Once I saw a little bird come hop, hop, hop (hop around)
So I said, “Little bird will you stop, stop, stop?” (hold hand in front of body)
I was going to the window to say, “How do you do?” (wave)
When he shook his little tail and away he flew. (wiggle rear end, then flap arms)
Exercise Activities
Many adults view exercise as an unpleasant chore. This is not so for young children. You will find that your toddler enjoys exercise just as much as any other movement and dance activities. In fact, she may be even more enthusiastic if she feels that she is doing a grown-up activity.
Hopping Home
This exercise activity will also help your child learn to follow directions. If your child is learning how to count, you can ask her to hop a specific number of times toward the home base.
Activity for AN individual child or a group
Age group: 30–40 months
Duration of activity: 20 minutes
Area rug or chalk
Define a home base area. You can use an area rug or draw a square on the sidewalk with chalk. Also define a starting place for your child.
Your child must ask permission to hop to the home base. Each time, she gets to hop or jump once.
Track and Field
These tried-and-true games have been modified for even the youngest of athletes.
Activity for an individual child or a group
Age group: 30–40 months
Duration of activity: 30 minutes
Carpet square or paper bag
Tape or chalk
Frisbee or beanbag
Add challenge to running races by adding hurdles. For the very young, use flat markers instead of raised obstacles to jump over. A carpet square remnant or even a paper bag can be used for this purpose.
Masking tape or chalk lines can be made to indicate a long or broad jump challenge.
Be creative. An old Frisbee can become a discus, and a beanbag makes a great shot put.
Pumping Cardboard
Toddlers love to imitate. Here is a chance for them to pretend to be bodybuilders.
Activity for an individual child or a group
Age group: 30–40 months
Duration of activity: 10 minutes
Scissors
4 paper plates
2 toilet paper tubes
Crayons or markers
Cut small holes in the center of each of the paper plates. Fit the plates on the ends of the paper tubes to make barbells.
Let your child decorate her barbells.
Show your child how to imitate some bodybuilding poses as she lifts her “weights.”
Creative Movement
Who says you need music to get children moving and grooving? Creative movement activities help your child develop motor skills as well as balance and coordination.
Sticky Balls
This silly activity encourages cooperation and helps develop motor skills.
Activity for a group
Age group: 30–40 months
Duration of activity: 20 minutes
Have the children all bounce around in a defined area.
When 2 children meet, they stick together and bounce together.
Continue until all the children are stuck in 1 large ball.
Fun Walk
Children of all ages will want to try this activity. What other surfaces can you think of to include?
Activity for an individual child
Age group: 18–40 months
Duration of activity: 10 minutes
Clear contact paper
Bubble wrap
Tape a strip of clear contact paper onto the floor, sticky side up.
Stick a path of bubble-wrap packing material onto the contact paper.
Have your child remove his shoes and socks before stepping on the bubble-wrap path. You may need to hold his hand to help him with balance.
Buzzing Bee
This activity is meant to help children with separation issues.
You can dream up many potential variations. For example, you can be the moon and your
child can be a spaceship. Or perhaps you are a gas station and your child is a car.
Activity for an individual child
Age group: 18–30 months
Duration of activity: 10 minutes
You are the flower, so you sit or stand in one place. Your child is the bee who can buzz all around you and return for pollen!
Flying
This activity is best when your child has lots of room to move.
Activity for an individual child
Age group: 18–40 months
Duration of activity: 10 minutes
Chant the following rhyme, and teach your toddler the movements to go along with the words:
The airplane has great big wing
s (arms outstretched)
Its propeller spins around and sings (spin arms)
The airplane goes up (arms up)
The airplane goes down (arms down)
The airplane goes through clouds all over town.
(“fly” around)
Punchinello
Try this monkey-see-monkey-do activity the next time you have a bunch of young,
restless children to entertain.
Activity for a group
Age group: 30–40 months
Duration of activity: 15 minutes
Have children form a circle. Ask one child to stand in the center as the leader, Punchinello.
The children in the circle sing the following song: What can you do, Punchinello, funny fellow, funny fellow?
What can you do, Punchinello, funny fellow, funny you?
The child in the center makes a movement. All the others imitate him while they sing: We can do it too Punchinello, funny fellow, funny fellow.
We can do it too, funny fellow, funny you.
The child in the middle picks a new Punchinello. Continue until everyone has had a turn.
Using Props
When you add props to movement and dance activities, you enrich the activity and add interest. Also, by using props, you give your toddler further opportunities to develop fine motor skills as well.
Go Team!
No need to have a favorite sports team to cheer on—your child can be a cheerleader at any time.
Activity for an individual child
Age group: 18–40 months
Duration of activity: 20 minutes
2 sections of the daily newspaper
Masking tape
Scissors
First, create the pompoms. Roll a section of newspaper into a tube shape. Tape the bottom securely and then cut the top half into strips.
You may wish to teach your child a simple cheer, such as “Go, team!” or “Two, four, six, eight, who do we appreciate?” Or you can just play marching music and let him swish and swirl the pompoms.
Stick Horse
Watch your child’s imagination take off when you help him make and then ride this easy stick horse.
Activity for an individual child
Age group: 30–40 months
Duration of activity: 25 minutes
Scissors
2 sheets poster board
Crayons or markers
White craft glue
Yarn
Masking tape
3 paper towel tubes
Cut the poster board into 2 horse-head shapes.
Have your child decorate or draw a face on each piece of paper. Then let him glue on some yarn for the mane.
Using tape, attach the 3 towel rolls together to create the body. Put the 2 heads together back to back and attach them to the “body.” Let your child finishing decorating his horse, and he is ready to gallop away.
A Thin Line
A piece of rope is all that is needed to help your child practice balance and coordination.
Activity for an individual child
Age group: 30–40 months
Duration of activity: 15 minutes
Approximately 5 of rope
Stretch the rope out straight on the ground. Have your child practice walking along it like a tightrope walker. If you wish, you can have him use a balance bar.
Hold one end of the rope. Keeping the rope on the ground, wiggle it around and encourage your child to jump over it. If you don’t think it will frighten your child, you can pretend that the rope is a snake.
Hula Hoop
It will be a few years before your toddler can use a hula hoop the way it was intended.
However, there are many fun movement activities you can still do with this toy.
Activity for an individual child
Age group: 18–40 months
Duration of activity: 10 minutes
Hula hoop
Lay the hula hoop on the ground. Show your child how to walk around the circle with one foot in and one foot out of the hoop.
Hold the hoop vertically and help your child crawl through it back and forth.
Join your child, or get a group of children in a bunch inside of a hula hoop. Work together to walk and change directions.
Parachute Activities
Parachute activities are a great way to promote social interaction and cooperation. Children and adults can easily play together in these fun games. You can use a large sheet or light blanket if you do not have a parachute!
Popping Ball
This activity requires children to cooperate to get the ball to do what they want.
Activity for a group
Age group: 30–40 months
Duration of activity: 20 minutes
1 parachute or bed sheet
Tennis or ping-pong balls
Have the children hold onto the edge of the parachute.
Drop one or more balls into the center of the parachute.
Have children work together to get the ball(s) to move. Can they make the ball roll back and forth or around the edge? What do they need to do to get the balls to pop up in the air?
Up and Down
Your child will be developing large motor skills as he works together with the rest of the group.
Activity for a group
Age group: 30–40 months
Duration of activity: 20 minutes
1 parachute or bed sheet
Have the children hold onto the edge of the parachute.
Instruct them to work together to pump the parachute up and down and to create a billowing cloud.
Have them release the parachute when it is fully extended to see which way it will float.
Alternatively, after the parachute makes a bubble, have the children squat or sit and tuck the parachute under their bottoms to create a mushroom.
CHAPTER 8
Let’s Pretend
As children enter school and mature, their interest in daydreaming and imagination is often discouraged. We often put the focus on academic skills much too early. Yet current studies are finding that imagination and creativity help children excel at school and help adults fare better on the job. Pretend play is a relaxing and valuable activity for your toddler. Be sure to allow her to plan and play activities of her choice.
Pretend Themes
You will observe some common themes in your child’s imaginative play. You can enrich these themes and extend his play by adding props and setting up a scenario for him to explore.
Restaurant Theme
Young children love to pretend to cook and eat food.
As a bonus, you can reinforce manners and social skills while your child is playing.
Activity for an individual child
Age group: 30–40 months
Duration of activity: 15 minutes
Table and chairs
Paper plates, cups, and napkins
Plastic tableware
Poster board
Crayons
Notebook
Plastic or real food
Let your child help set up the restaurant. Show him how to set the table.
Let your child create a menu on the poster board. You can have him color pictures of the food he wishes to serves. Alternatively, he can paste on magazine pictures.
Sit at the table and let your child take your order. Supply him with a small notebook so that he can pretend to write down your order.
If desired, let him serve you real or pretend food.
Camping Theme
Why not consider expanding this theme with your child? It can be a fun family activity to camp out in the living room for the night. You could even make S’mores in the microwave for a bedtime snack
Activity for an individual child
Age group: 18–40 months
Duration of activity: 30 minutes
Small pup tent or large sheet
10–12 small sticks
Scissors
Red
construction paper
Sleeping bags (optional)
Flashlights (optional)
Set up the tent. If you don’t have one, drape a large sheet over a table.
Create a fake campfire. Arrange the sticks in a teepee shape. Cut out 2 flame shapes from the construction paper and prop them up among the stick structure.
Arrange sleeping bags under the tent or around the campfire.
Sit around the campfire and sing songs and tell stories. If your child will not be frightened, turn off the lights and use flashlights.
Medical Theme
Many young children are concerned and often fascinated about injury and illness. The subject of doctors and hospitals is something that your child may wish to explore. You can easily change this into a veterinarian theme; simply add a few stuffed animals and a pet carrier.
Activity for an individual child
Age group: 18–40 months
Duration of activity: 15 minutes
The Everything Toddler Activities Book Page 9