Toddler Activities

I used to nanny for a 2 1/2 year old, was such a fun age and can't wait for DD to be that age!

We did lots of painting and crafts - making paint stampers out of potatoes, making christmas tags, collages with leaves and flowers we'd collected on way to park. Chalk drawings if you have concrete outside.

We made huts out of the kitchen table with a sheet over it and had tea parties for her teddys (though think she was a wee bit lost on this and was more me talking to her teddies lol)

Baking, kids love to measure and pour and mix and eat the batter lol.

Hide and seek was also a favourite though convincing a 2 year old to stay in one place was hard but mostly I hid and made noises so she could find me

I made slime today for my DD and my nephew who is 4. One cup of lux flakes and 2 litres of hot water, mix together in a large tub (I used a plastic wash basin) till it thickens then use an egg beater or a wisk to make bubbles and thicken it up more. Make sure you play with it outside somewhere you can easily clean/hose off coz it gets quite thick and harder to wash off. I gave the kids egg beaters, wisks, fly swats etc and they had a ball. So did I actually.

I have a whole booklet of play ideas like that, I got mine from daycare but most librarys have books with that stuff in it.

One of the other ideas is to freeze toys/bits of flower & leaves/anything you like in blocks of ice and put it outside on a hot day on the concrete to watch it melt - kids seem facinated by that sort of thing.

Also, you can do roller ball painting which is a variation on the painting theme. You get an A4 box (a lid off the box that reams of paper comes in is ideal) and put a piece of paper in the bottom of it. You put paint in small containers (I use those plastic disposable shot glasses) and then put ball bearings or small marbles in the paint. Give the kid a spoon so they can fish the ball out of the paint and chuck it in the box, then move the box around so the ball rolls back and forth across the paper. Makes cool paintings.

One other thing that is a complete hit in our house is water play in the kitchen sink with kitcheny stuff. She stands on a stool at the sink and gets to run the tap herself. I give her measuring cups, spoons, the slotted kitchen spoon, drink bottles, plastic containers of different sizes. She loves it.

We also play pooh sticks if you can find somewhere suitable. She doesn't really get the idea yet but loves chucking things in the water. I use this to talk to her about what things might float and what mght sink. Leaves work with this too if you can't find good sticks.

Ummm, rather a novel but you get the idea...

Oooh, we made crowns too the other day. I brought coloured cardboard and cut crowns and she decorated them with stickers (cheap from dollar value), glitter, puff paint, felts and crayons etc.

Just a note - we do music and gym stuff at home rather than going to the usual kids sessions because I work and we only have two afternoons a week together plus the weekend.

Thanks everyone for the great ideas - keep em coming! Off to buy lux flakes, shaving foam, fly swats......lol!

you know i have been thinking about this. sometimes kids just want to be with us and do what we are doing.. some of our fun times have been at the clothes line while i hang washing. all the kids have loved helping, handing me pegs or clothes from the basket. its a good time to talk about colours - ie can you give me a purple peg? - and numbers - pass me two pegs please - and they love to feel they are helping. the same with making beds, baking, the vacuuming, doing dishes. They dont need to be always doing an organised activity to be playing.