- Baby Development
- Toddler Time
- Arts & Crafts
- Active Learning
- Outside Fun
Water Sensory Play
Supplies: zip-lock bags, masking tape, water, food coloring, beads, ice, glitter, rice or beans, plastic shower curtain
How to: Fill your zip-lock bags half way with water. (I suggest putting your bag in a plastic bowl or pitcher to give the bag shape as you pour the water in). Add food coloring and some beans, beads, glitter, or ice to which ever bag you want. Seal it tight. Lay out your plastic shower curtain, tape the bags to the floor, let your little one explore!
I love this activity because you can change it every time!
Jello Hunt
*Warning: Needs advance prep
Materials: Jello, hot water, cold water, water-safe toys
How to: Make Jello per instructions & add toys before putting it in the fridge
Playing with food is one way to introduce them to new foods. It is progress for picky eaters! Practicing their motor skills with sensory play is what this boredom buster is all about! Make some jello and put toys inside, let it set during your little ones' nap. They'll wake up to a fun snack! Pro Tip: Use a plastic shower curtain as a floor cover for quick & easy clean up. What are other ways you make eating fun?
Pompom Whisk
How to: push the pompoms into the whisk and hand it to your little one. This is perfect for developing their fine motor skills! You can also start practicing colors. Just make sure to supervise playtime, poms look tasty and can be a choking hazard.
*You can get a bag of pompoms at any craft store for a relatively low price. I love and use pompoms a ton, so they are worth the investment!
Glittery Slime
Materials: liquid measuring cup, 1 cup hot water, 1/2 tsp Borax, big mixing bowl, 2 bottles of Elmer's glitter glue, 1/2 cup water
How to: Mix 1 cup of hot water and 1/2 tsp of Borax together in a liquid measuring cup until the Borax has dissolved completely. Set aside to cool.
In your big mixing bowl, mix one container of Elmer's glue (5-6 oz if you're using the huge container) with 1/2 cup of water with a whisk. Make sure they are completely mixed together. Add any extra glitter if you want. Add a little bit of your Borax mixture into your slime and mix until you get the perfect slime!
You can add a fun sensory element with small toys, beads, buttons, more glitter - the possibilities are endless!
Color Sorting
Materials: week pill organizer, printer paper or color construction paper, markers (not if you're using color construction paper), pompoms or color beads, tape
How to: Color squares big enough to cover the top of your pill organizer on your printer paper with the markers or just cut out the right size squares from your color construction paper. Tape the squares on top of the pill organizer. I usually put one colored square on each size of the lid to completely cover the letter. Then, put in the matching colored pompoms.
*Make sure to supervise playtime.
Backyard Ball Pit
On those hot summer days, when you want to do something fun with the older kids, what should you do with your baby?
Put them in a kid swimming pool in a partially shaded area filled with all of their favorite toys. Also, add in some ball pit balls!
You can even through in some of our baby safe play dough for a fun sensory experience.
This is also the perfect time to give them a homemade popsicle. They can let it melt all over them & get sticky, because you can just rinse them off in the grass before going back inside.
Blanket on the Grass
Go outside for sensory experiences! Make tummy time fun with a blanket and their favorite toy. It's a simple way to let your baby enjoy the summer, have some needed tummy time & explore!
Concerts in the Park
Check out what's at your local park! Around the PNW, our park programs have plenty of kid-friendly activities all summer long! They have concerts in the park, water features & fun jamborees. You can find their calendar online, so try finding out what your local parks have going on this summer! Linked here are some must-haves when out in the sun. Baby pop up tent, Baby sunblock, Baby sun hat.
Snow Day
Make it a snow day! Even when it's cold outside, go out for a walk. Make sure they're dressed warm and enjoy!
I took this little guy up to the mountain and we went on a hike to see a half frozen waterfall! It was amazing! He loved stomping in the snow and seeing all the new things.
For your older one, you can take some food coloring in water along to color in the snow! It's so much fun and doesn't harm the environment.
Just avoid red, we wouldn't want others on the mountain to worry that something happened. 😉
Linked here are some snowy day must-haves! Snowsuit, gloves, hat, Snowshoes.
Nail Painting
Paint their nails & have them paint yours! This will help them practice fine motor skills and patience. I love this fast-drying, peel-off polish for the little ones!
Living-room Camping
It's really fun for any age! Living room camping is so easy and really mixes things up. All you need is a one or two-person tent. Set it up in the living room, fill it with blankets & pillows. Then, all you have to do is make some popcorn & oven s'mores for a fun movie day.
Oven S'mores
Ingredients: Graham crackers, marshmallows, Hershey chocolate drizzle or chocolate candy (I love Reese's cups on mine!), a cookie sheet
Instructions: Break graham crackers in half. Lay out the halves on a cookie sheet. Leave about 1/2 inch in between them. Place one marshmallow (regular, campfire, jumbo - the choice is up to you) on each graham cracker. Put them in the oven on broil. Turn the oven light on and watch them as they expand. Once they get brown on top or as big as the cracker, pull them out and place them on top of the stove. Drizzle Hershey chocolate over them or place a chocolate candy on each. CAREFUL! It will be HOT! Wait for them to cool, add the top cracker & chomp away! 🙂
The 'Laser' Maze
Materials: ribbon, or yarn & tape
Instructions: tape one end of the string to the wall and walk to the opposite wall. Tape and cut the string to that wall. Repeat as many times as you want. Tape the string at different heights on the wall. Make the strings cross over and under each other. The more string, the harder the maze.
A creative way to get your little ones thinking, stretching, & problem-solving!
Pretend Doctor
Use your imagination. Get creative. Make "doctor" things out of string, plastic cups and paper. Make a mask out of a square of paper, and some string by making a hole in each corner of the paper with scissors or a hole punch. Tie the string through the holes and around the back of your little one's head. Make a stethoscope with a pair of headphones and a circle piece of paper taped to the end that you would plug in.
Make believe is the best way to play with toddlers. They are full of imagination!
Ask them questions and talk about real solutions to different "injuries". Practice using different feeling words as you describe your symptoms to them. Practice naming the different parts of your body together.
Imaginary play is the greatest opportunity for learning! Linked here a few of my favorite melissa and doug sets. Doctor set, Cleaning set, Vet set, Pizza making set, Interactive driver set, Baking set.
Toddler Safe Paint
Materials: 1/2 cup cornstarch, 3 tablespoons sugar, 1/2 tsp salt, 2 cups water, food coloring, a pot
Instructions: Mix everything together in the pot. Turn on the stove and stir constantly until is turns into a doughnut's jelly filling consistency. Separate the batch into 4 small bowls and add your food coloring. You can make more than 4, but I find that dividing it evenly into 4 parts fills my 3 oz baby food jars perfectly.
You can use these paints on paper or in the tub or just on their tray table! They will wash right off and are environmentally friendly! 🙂
Coffee Filter Butterflies
This is such a cool science experiment!
Materials: a short glass, water, coffee filters, markers, a pipe cleaner, and beads for flare
Instructions: Fill your glass about halfway. Pick your favorite color marker and make a big circle about 2 inches from the center all the way around the coffee filter. Go over that circle a few times with your marker to make a dark circle. Pull your coffee filter from the center to make a point. You should have a cone shape with the center as the point. Set that point down in the water. Make sure the water doesn't touch the marker.
Watch what happens as the water is absorbed up through the filter. You should see the colors separate out and spread up to the outer edges of the coffee filter. Thought that was cool? Try black!
Once the water's reached the outer edge, take it out of the water and let it dry on a paper towel. When it's dry, pinch two sides of the circle together and wrap your pipe cleaner around the center bending them into antenna to make your butterfly.
Toilet Paper Tube Squid
Materials: construction paper, yarn, markers, hole punch, paint, & optional silly eyes
Instructions: Paint your toilet paper tube & set it aside to dry. Cut 10 pieces of yarn. Cut a triangle out of your construction paper and decorate it however you want. Cut two slits in the base of your triangle. When your tube is dry, draw on a face (or use your silly eyes), hole punch 10 holes around the base of your squid. Make your tentacles by tying the pieces of yarn through the holes. Put your squid's head on top by slipping the two slits over the edges of the tube.
Paper Mache Volcano
Materials: a cookie sheet, 1/4 cup vinegar, 2 tablespoons baking soda, red food coloring, 12 oz. plastic water bottle, funnel, a bowl, 3 cups flour, 1 cup salt, 1 cup water, 2 tablespoons vegetable oil, a syringe
Instructions: Make the inside of the volcano. Pour the baking soda into the plastic water bottle. Set that in the middle of the cookie sheet.
In a cup mix the vinegar and red food coloring and set aside.
Make the outside of the volcano. In a large bowl, mix the flour, salt, water, and vegetable oil. Once it's mixed and thick, use it to sculpt your volcano around your plastic bottle on your cookie sheet.
Let the outside set and get hard. You can paint it, go outside and get some grass to add to the base of your volcano.
While you're waiting for the dough to dry, read about how volcano form. There are some amazing, kid-friendly videos you can find on Youtube! * *
Use your syringe to pull up your red vinegar and push it into the top of your volcano as fast as you can to watch the eruption!
Cereal Jewelry
Materials: Fruit loops or Cheerios & yarn
Instructions: Cut a long piece of yarn and set out some cereal. You can dye the Cheerios with food coloring or just use Fruit loops.
This is a perfect way to get your little one practicing their fine motor skills. You can practice their colors, counting, and patterns!
The possibilities are truly endless!
Baking
Baking is a fun way to incorporate numbers into your kid's day. There are so many recipes I've used with my little ones. If you'd be interested in seeing them, comment below and I'll add a recipe category here. Linked here is a personal favorite baking set!
