Activities for toddlers (2-3 y)
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Fantasy Play, dress up, handbags, heels, wings, wands, hair salon etc.
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Hide and Seek (objects or self)
Count to 20 aloud. Hot / Cold.
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Read lots of books, dialogic reading. Encourage child to talk and finish sentences.
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Collect pictures from magazines of “inside” and “outside”
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Lots of puzzles (good for pro-longed concentration & gives instant positive feedback)
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Work with Scissors, cut shapes and cut along patterned lines (waves, zig-zags)
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Ask to lay the table, clear table, put dish / spoon in dishwasher, help sweep crumbs, tidy toys together.
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Stick with glue and work with stickers, putting neatly in place (buy cheap sticker books!) Zeeman!
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Put objects on top of, next to, behind or inside a box. Child finds the object you name. Call out the position of the object. Your child names the object. (Visual perception)
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Peg play (put 10 clothes pegs on & off a piece of cardboard to practice pinching skills.
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Sort types of pasta into bowls
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Join the dots to make pictures
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Play “snap” with Dora cards or start with 5 card “memory” games
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Threading BIG beads onto strings to make necklaces. Hand-Eye co-ord!
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“Feely Bag” Collect and hide 10 items in the bag. Blindfold. Guess what it is?! They love it!
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Draw body pictures of self / others
Or work on drawing shapes, NAMES
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“Stepping Stones” with table placemats/ serviettes on the floor. (Don’t touch the crocodile river). Open and close gaps as needed.
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Ball on a tray. Hold each side of the tray and roll the ball / balloon around on top.
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Make a “house” Large pieces of cloth: use as hideaway / house by draping over table & chairs
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Memory Game: put 5 items on a tray, cover with cloth, ask to recall. Fun!
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Swing around, jump on mini-tramp, upside down, dance and roll..
Fly on Aeroplane (your knees as you lie on your back).
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Sing Songs together. Play Music nursery rhymes and sing along. Musical instruments. Listen to story tapes, good for language development
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“Simple Simon” says...DO THIS, or THAT a very good body aweareness exercise.
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See list for 1 – 2 yr olds.
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- This is all relaxed one-on-one, free play. Important to ensure your child has “success experiences”.
- Smile with them and get down on the floor and have regular eye-contact.
- Use DESCRIPTIVE praise, so they know what they are doing “right”.
- Your Toddler will need to sleep at least once a day. Look out for the CRANKY signals, and give them a nutritous snack / lunch too.
- Help them learn about “delayed gratification” if possible. Say YES, in 1 minute (use a timer). Its a valuable life lesson to wait for something you want.
References:
Senior & Hopkins, 2002, SMILE Education Systems, South Africa
Richardson, 2005: Toddler Sense, Metz Press
Green, 1997: Toddler Taming, Vermillon, London
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