Toddler Help

[Dianthus]

I need activities for my toddler while we get back into full time school. She'll be 3 in a few months. It's been 6 years since I had a toddler while school and then my oldest was in 3rd grade. Please give me ideas.

[HomeAgain]

I used to make scented playdoh for my toddler/preschooler every week.  Every Sunday I'd pick a new scent and add other little things to go with it.  I'd also rotate things like pattern blocks, weaving ribbons (stapled to an old lid), children's chopsticks and puffs, hole punches..

You might look up TheDadLab (?) I think that was a guy who used to do all sorts of simple activities with his preschooler.  They were open ended and something that could usually be done over and over.   Or look at Timberdoodle recommendations.

[Lori D.]

The main thing is to have a lot of different activities, AND, they can ONLY be done at school time, AND cycle through the ideas regularly so they don't get "stale" (lol) -- and then recycle the ideas 2-3 months later.

- tub of water / bubbles / sand / beans / shaving cream...
Do school outside with older children, while pre-Ker plays, doing with toys and kitchen utensils (scooping, sieving, pouring, measuring, cleaning, etc. on a back porch so that clean up is a quick hose-off. 😉

- paint with water
Give child a small bucket that child can carry around, about half full of water, plus 2 sizes of paintbrushes used for painting big surfaces and edging; child goes outside and paints the wall, the sidewalk, the side of the house, etc. -- any hard surface -- with water.

- pudding painting or finger painting in a ziplock
Set child up in a high chair, or table and booster seat, and put pudding or finger paint inside a gallon-sized ziplock -- seal it AND tape it shut with a strip of packing tape. Then tape the edge to the table and let child squish and draw and mix without the mess.

- sorting activities
Sort toys into bowls, baskets or bins by color, or size, or soft/hard, or wheels/no wheels... etc.

- fine motor skills activities
Use toddler tweezers (larger size, plastic) or kitchen tongs to pick up cotton balls, duplo blocks, etc, and put into a container.
Push pipe cleaners through a slot you cut into the lid of an empty oatmeal container.
Drop clothes pins through a bigger hole into the empty oatmeal container.
Open/close spring clothes pins to clip around the edge of a big bowl.
 

Paula's Archives website (Paula was a poster here on these boards when first started!) is now gone, but can be accessed via Wayback Machine. I linked the site map page; here are the 2 pages from her website with lots of links to ideas:
- Preschoolers: What to Do During Schooltime?
- Homeschooling 3- and 4-year olds


Brightly Beaming Resources
has lots of free lesson plans (sound of the week; letter of the week; story of the week; science of the week; country of the week...)

For pre-K workbooks, activity books (drawing, coloring in the lines, using scissors, basic tape & glue projects) check out:
Kumon -- these are by age, so age 2, age 3, age 4...
Rod & Staff -- these might be better next year -- for age 3-4
 

Some articles with ideas -- some repeat ideas, but each of these also has a few unique ideas:
"35 Easy Toddler Homeschool Activities" 
"The Best Activities to Keep Your Toddler Busy While You Homeschool"
"14 Activities to Keep Preschoolers Busy While Homeschooling"
"12 Ways to Keep Toddlers & Preschoolers Busy While Siblings Complete School"
"How to Keep Toddlers Busy While Homeschooling"

[Clarita]

Depending on the age of your next youngest child you could rope the toddler into "doing" what the Kindergartner or first grader is doing. They get to leave the lesson and do their own thing or "participate".

At 3-ish you can give them some ground rules like you can leave the lesson but not bother anyone. I also found using Montessori style work rugs/mats to be helpful. Basically everyone's workspace is defined by their rug/mat; it helps the 3 year old know the boundary of stuff they can't play with.  

[Momof4sweetkids]

My 2 and 3 year olds favorite toys right now are Picasso Tiles and then putting their Little People inside their Picasso Tiles buildings.

Lots of cutting and gluing random pieces of paper.

Otherwise I feel like they'd rather just sit on my lap and play with the extra manipulatives that my oldest is working with. My 3yo made a building out of place value blocks today.

 

ETA: Busy Toddler has a website and Instagram with so many fun activities. 

Edited August 15, 2023 by Momof4sweetkids

[Dianthus]

I ordered these

Button toy

Labels to match on construction paper

Dress up bears but maybe should return and get something magnetic

These are in my cart:

Haba magnet maze

Lacing Cards but I wonder if too small and would be frustrating.

I saw a magnet board at a toy store I might go back and get. I just wonder how long these toys will hold her attention. She does like playdough and painting and coloring. Today she pulled up her rocking chair and sat for 10 min by me while I read to the boys, which was encouraging.

Today, I had a flash of inspiration and set her up at the kitchen sink to play in bubbly water but the boys left school and joined in the fun. One found a disposable cup and punched a hole in the side to make her a waterfall. They flooded my counter.

All in all, I think we'll get in the groove. And i had another idea. We have a train board that's been put away for about 4 yrs. So I was thinking, maybe I could get dh to get it out once a week for her to play with for a day. I can't leave it up all the time because we don't have space, and that would keep the novelty if he could get it out once a week. I was also thinking of buying a small play kitchen and doing the same thing, just getting it out one day a week. But can't find a reasonable kitchen right now.

Thanks for all the ideas.

 

 

[Lori D.]

Keep it cheap and simple to start with:

- Dollar Store stamps (those small ones with self ink in the cap) and sheets of stickers, and a piece of construction paper. Or regular paper.
- toddler scissors and draw thick lines with a fat sharpie on scrap paper to practice cutting on the lines
- cut colored paper or tissue paper into 1' squares and let her glue stick on paper to make mosaics
- draw/scribble with colored dry erase markers on a white board 

 

1 hour ago, Dianthus said:

... Today, I had a flash of inspiration and set her up at the kitchen sink to play in bubbly water but the boys left school and joined in the fun. One found a disposable cup and punched a hole in the side to make her a waterfall. They flooded my counter...

Yep. 😉 Water / bubbles / sand / shaving cream -- in a tub outside on the back porch. Save yourself a lot of indoor clean up. 😉 

 

Edited August 17, 2023 by Lori D.

[Clarita]

1 hour ago, Dianthus said:

Lacing Cards but I wonder if too small and would be frustrating.

I had those at one point. They are actually pretty big. The laces aren't actually the laces you tie shoes with they are big thick laces. 

[Lori D.]

1 hour ago, Dianthus said:

I ordered these ... Button toy...

These are in my cart: Haba magnet maze...

Super cute button toy!

I think that Haba magnet maze looks nice, but that would have been used twice and completely over it in less than 2 minutes at our house.
Maybe something with magnets but that is more open-ended to allow for imaginative play/story telling? Like a magnetic make a scene set?
I loved the look of those Picasso tiles linked by the poster up-thread -- that looked like a lot of mileage for the price.

[Dianthus]

53 minutes ago, Lori D. said:

Super cute button toy!

I think that Haba magnet maze looks nice, but that would have been used twice and completely over it in less than 2 minutes at our house.
Maybe something with magnets but that is more open-ended to allow for imaginative play/story telling? Like a magnetic make a scene set?
I loved the look of those Picasso tiles linked by the poster up-thread -- that looked like a lot of mileage for the price.

We never had one of those magnet mazes, but maybe you're right. 

I like that magnet scene set. Was actually looking for a similar idea felt board but not finding one with good reviews. Maybe I can go through boxes and look for our old one but I don't recall if I kept it. 

We have magna-tiles, that are similar to Picasso tiles. Also she will play with duplos for awhile. 

[wisdomandtreasures]

All the usual goodies: Puzzles, magnetic mazes, playdough, watercolors, crayons, lacing cards

Pipe cleaners - add beads onto them or lace the pipe cleaners through the holes of a colander

Punch holes out of colored paper.  Draw shapes, letters, or simple pictures and then let him place the punched-out dots along the shapes/letters or inside the drawings (such as inside eyeballs or flower petals). Or make confetti with them. 😉

Tape colorful pieces of paper on the floor so they create arcs and use them as tunnels for toy cars. 

Put painter's tape on the floor in straight, wavy, or zigzagged lines and have him walk the lines.

Print out pictures of animals and put into a box. Have him draw one from the box and move around the house like that animal (leap like a frog, bound like a deer, lumber along like a bear, slither like a snake).

Print out & laminate 2 copies of the alphabet and let him play a matching game with them

Good classic books! The Little Engine That Could, The Little House, Blueberries for Sal, Ferdinand, Make Way for Ducklings, Caps for Sale, and so on. 🙂

Save delivery boxes. Tape shut or do the trick where you fold one flap under the other to keep closed. Anyway, stack them up and let him knock them down by rolling a ball at them... Or if he has a remote-control car, crash it into the box tower. Let him paint the boxes, too!

Bean bag toss into a box or bucket.

Soapy bubbly water in the sink + food dye (if you have a double sink, use two colors) + measuring cups and spoons = hours of fun! Just spread out a towel. 🙂

Ooh, I love this stage! Toddlers are my favorite people. So sweet!

[Dianthus]

She is a sweetheart. I don't remember my others being quite this affectionate. Lots of hugs and kisses and she says things like "You're such a nice mama," which melts my heart. I just feel I don't have time for her with all the things for the big kids. They also will all play with and read to her so she does get a lot of attention just not the whole of my attention. 

Delivery boxes is a good idea.

[Xahm]

18 hours ago, Lori D. said:

- Dollar Store stamps (those small ones with self ink in the cap) and sheets of stickers, and a piece of construction paper. Or regular paper.

😉

I love all Lori's suggestions except this one. Those stamps are terrible! They are small enough for a toddler to slip into a pocket or a fist, and once stamped onto a wall, good luck! They soak deep down into the paint. When you try to paint over them, they soak through the new paint to taunt you. When you sand down the wall first and then paint, somehow they still return, taunting even louder. Grandparents love to give these as gifts, but they have more been put on warning as our house and 2 sets of cousins now are semi-permanently decorated.

[Lori D.]

59 minutes ago, Xahm said:

I love all Lori's suggestions except this one. Those stamps are terrible! They are small enough for a toddler to slip into a pocket or a fist, and once stamped onto a wall, good luck! They soak deep down into the paint. When you try to paint over them, they soak through the new paint to taunt you. When you sand down the wall first and then paint, somehow they still return, taunting even louder. Grandparents love to give these as gifts, but they have more been put on warning as our house and 2 sets of cousins now are semi-permanently decorated.

Eek! Well, then totally expunge that one from the list!! 😵

[Xahm]

Just now, Lori D. said:

Eek! Well, then totally expunge that one from the list!! 😵

Maybe they are great if you have really, really obedient children. But not even my older ones who had much more self-control as littles than my current impulsive preschooler could resist the siren call of the blank canvas of a wall and the possibility of endless stamping.

[Dianthus]

My dd so far has not colored on the walls but I had to scrub red pen (stolen!) off her legs (all over) yesterday and I'm not doing stamps or dot markers for another year. I don't even like regular markers. She only paints when in the high chair. Otherwise, she can use crayons and colored pencils.