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Body Painting

body painting

This was a fun outdoor activity we did today – body painting.  First we were painting the bottoms of our feet and making prints.  But then the toddler just wanted to paint other people’s feet or her own.  We had a bucket of water close by so anyone could wash up when done.  The toddler […]

Homemade “Nail Polish” for Toddlers

Homemade “Nail Polish” for Toddlers

My little toddler LOVES to get her fingernails polished.  One day we were making some homemade paint and we realized it would work great as pretend nail polish.  It was some corn starch and colored water.  She really enjoyed “painting” my nails.  The corn starch made it dry hard on my fingernails but it washed […]

Toddler Time: Hide and Seek

Toddler Time: Hide and Seek

I am all for keeping it simple and this activity certainly keeps it simple. No materials or preparations are needed. All hide and seek requires is your time. When you stop to think about all the benefits of hide and seek it is really a learning game for little ones: visual perceptual skills – the […]

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Toddler Time – Giant Abacus

Toddler Time – Giant Abacus

Next time your toddler needs something to entertain him or her, try setting up this giant abacus.  All you need to do is grab items from around your kitchen that have a hole in them.  Here we used cookie cutters, paper towel tubes, measuring spoons, cups and pastry brushes.  Lace a string through all of […]

My First Matching Game

My First Matching Game

Set up a sensory box for your toddler to explore same and different.  Here we collected items from around the house that were all the same.  Some of the items we collected were: paintbrushes, toilet paper tubes, sponges, cups, lids, felt scraps, plastic spoons, popsicle sticks and straws.  The toddler explored the sensory box and […]

Toddler Time – Simple Sensory Path

Toddler Time – Simple Sensory Path

Need a quick toddler activity indoors to burn off some energy?  Set up this simple sensory path.  Gather objects from around your house.  We used some bath mats, the top of a ottoman, rug grippers and a baking cooling rack.  Off came the shoes and down the textured path the toddler went.  We practiced following […]

Toddler Time: Semolina Sand

Toddler Time: Semolina Sand

Here is a quick, simple recipe to make play sand.  Grab some semolina flour from your pantry and mix in some cooking oil to make it a consistency of wet sand.  That’s it!  Stick your hands in and start building sand castles.  Just use kitchen utensils to play with your sand and to build castles.  Measuring cups […]

Toddler Time: Rides

toddler ride

Need to entertain your toddler for a few minutes?  Bring them on a toddler ride in the laundry basket.  Stop and start the laundry basket slowly which will challenge the little ones balance skills and strengthen the trunk muscles.  You can encourage language by waiting to start the toddler ride until the little one using […]

Toddler Time: Dried Bean Play

Of all the things my children have enjoyed playing with through the years the dried bean container is in the top three most favorite “toys”. Toddlers especially like to pour, sort, scoop and touch all the beans.  If you provide kitchen items the beans make a nice plinking noise as you pour them.  You do […]

Toddler Time: Stacking Cups

After stacking all of our cups to see how high we could go, my toddler loved watching us stack the cups so she could knock them all down.  She would wait patiently while we stacked and then knock them down with all of her might.  She kicked them, squashed them and tossed them all over […]