This is an amazing list from Creative with Kids. Don’t let the toddler years pass you by. Enjoy!
Play Together:
My daughter particularly likes it went I pretend her nose makes different noises like beeping etc. Its so bonding and so fun” ~Mel
- “I spy” in the car or at the park
- Building towers and knocking them down
- Rolling along toy cars
- Puppets
- Dress up
- Peek-a-boo, patty cake, hide and seek!
Hide & seek in the house (which is really silly because it’s just basic hiding beside the bed post or behind the couch). ~Katherine
- Pretend to be tigers and chase each other
- Pretend you can’t find their hands when you’re helping them get dressed
Exploring Nature:
Stomping in muddy puddles; making the most of the weather whatever it is! ~ Lucy
- Feeding the ducks, or chasing them…
- Feed a baby goat
- Fly a kite
- Walking in the rain…
- Puddle splashing!
- Play outside in fresh snow.
- Hop over waves at the beach.
- Look for crabs in the rocks, starfish in the rock pools.
- Plant a spring flower to watch it grow.
- Pick fruit off of trees
- Watch a caterpillar become a butterfly
- Explore the forest, touching everything.
- Play ‘ look high/look low’ and see what types of creatures or plants they see.
- Run in the fields.
- Toss leaves
- Collect rocks.
Go Visit:
- Petting zoos
- A botanical garden
- An open gym day where your child can free play in the foam pit, the trampolines and the mats.
- A Children’s Museum
- Public library toddler reading time
- Cousins, Grandparents, and Friends!
Sensory Play
- Playdoh
- Waterbeads
- Sand castles
- Playing with rice, beans or cornmeal
- Playing with those arts and crafts poms poms
- Anything messy.
- Mud pies, mud holes, mud body paint
- WATER! In the sink with containers, in the sprinkler, in a sand and water table.
- Pour and measure – add a drop of food color for fun.
- Squeeze wet sponges.
- Walk the neighborhood with a watering can and “water” the flowers you see.
- Long baths – not just for getting clean
Songs, Rhymes and Stories
- Read books together
- Touch and feel board books
- Sing and dance
- Songs with lots of movement, like “The Itsy-Bitsy Spider”, “The Wheels on the Bus”, and “Head, Shoulders, Knees & Toes.
- Have spur of the moment dance parties
Cooking
- Pretend or real cooking
- Make goop, gak or slime
- Baking cookies or mixing pancakes together
- Bake banana muffins
- Have a Tea Party
- Decorating cookies with lots of sprinkles that go everywhere!
Arts and Crafts
- Finger painting
- Pudding Paint!
- Water coloring paint
- Stickers
- Sidewalk chalk scribbles
- Stamping
- Make handprint art – tracing, impressions in salt dough and paint handprints
More Play!
- Blowing and catching bubbles
- Balloons and balls -Balloon baseball!
- Bikes, Trikes and Ride-on toys
- Knobbed Puzzles
- Do “chores” with Mama and Papa
- Push baby strollers or shopping carts
- Rough and tumble play
- Build “forts” out of boxes or couch cushions!
- Make blanket tents and tunnels
And of course: Tickle, snuggle, kiss, and have lots of playful physical interaction.
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Go Au Pair- New Jersey 