Bye-Bye Boredom

My sister is full of so many great ideas. She just emailed this to me because it was too long for a comment in my previous post about activities for children. She typed it up when her son was a toddler. Thanks Abbie!

Things Ethan Likes to Do

Go to the Library

Playgroup/Playdate

Go to the Park

Rice, Bowls, Spoons

Tool Set

Build a Fort

Play in Car

Read

Give Him a Ride

Listen to Music or Sing Songs

Blow Bubbles

Find Something New in Cupboards

Jump on Couch Cushions

Make a Rattle

Ring Around the Rosie

Color

Side Walk Chalk

Make collage

Paint

Play dough

Toys For Toddlers

Toys that help build small-motor skills: nesting and stacking toys, simple wooden jigsaw puzzles, shape-sorters, blocks, boxes and containers for filling and emptying, activity boards and pop-up toys with dials, knobs and buttons to manipulate.

Toys that help build large motor skills: balls of all sizes, pull toys, push toys, riding toys, climbing toys, swings, slides, balance beams.

Toys that stimulate imagination: stuffed animals, dolls and doll furniture, cars, trucks, and airplanes, board books, kitchen equipment and gadgets, play household items, dress-up clothes and accessories, building blocks and building systems.

Toys that stimulate creativity: crayons and paper, clay, paints with brushes and sponges, finger painting, string painting, vegetable printing, rubber stamping, rubbings, chalk, markers, collages (fabric, macaroni, beans, seeds, beads and buttons, magazine pictures, nature items glued to cardboard), melted crayons for candles, stickers, bottled, paper mache, play dough, bubbles, string beads, make bird feeder/bird baths, sand art, lava bottle (equal parts oil and colored water), make puppets.

Toys that encourage musical play: drums, tambourines, horns, keyboards, etc.

Toys that encourage learning about the grown-up world: dolls (along with carriages, cradles, strollers, etc), cooking paraphernalia, pint-size household and garden tools, vehicles, tools, costumes, cash registers, doctors bag, dancers tutu, hats from firefighters or police officer, etc.

Toys that encourage discovery and interest in the physical world—that teach about how things work, about cause and effect, about numbers, shapes, patterns: dump trucks, blocks and building systems, nesting toys and shape sorters, sandbox and sandbox toys, non-breakable mirrors, water play toys (floating, squirting, and filling and pouring).

Scientific Activities for Toddlers

Show static electricity with a balloon on a wall, grow something, let toddler roam with a magnet to see what it will and won’t attract, talk about the weather (leave a glass outside to collect water and measure it), measuring (height of your child, etc.), use a magnifying glass to study objects, collect leaves, flowers and take them apart studying them, order objects from largest to smallest, press flowers, paint rocks, tour the house or outside concentrating on touch, smell, or sound.

Energy Outlets for Toddlers

Indoors

• Punching a pillow
• Drumming on pots
• Pounding or hammering toys
• Pounding clay
• Dancing to lively music
• Kiddie aerobics (toe touches, jumping jacks, and head-shoulder-knee-and-toe-touches)
• Pillow fights
• Bean-bag tossing
• Tumbling
• Jumping

Outdoors

• Free play: running, jumping, climbing
• Playground play: swings, slide, jungle gym
• Ball kicking and throwing
• Rolling on an oversized ball
• Riding a bike
• Pulling a wagon
• Swimming
• Splashing in puddles
• Pulling weeds in the garden

Relaxation Techniques for Toddlers

• Hugging, cuddling or massage
• Soft music
• Low-key videos
• Warm bath
• Puzzles
• Drawing with crayons or chalk
• Clay play
• Baking or cooking
• Simple parent-child meditation