January 20, 2008 5:59 PM
Toddler activities - preschool at home
A toddler can have a blast with a big plastic bin full of rice and a bunch of shovels, scoops and spoons - and for the guys dump trucks and "guys" (is that what your boys call action figures? that's what mine call them).
Buy a big plastic box with a lid at Target or somewhere on sale - and a huge bag of rice at Costco. Dump the rice in the container and voila - your children have hours of play. When they are finished and it's time to put the rice away, have them do the clean up too with a mini-dustpan and brush like this:
those of you who have my Mommy Teach Me! books already have many ideas for Montessori type activities to build your child's learning potential. But I am impressed with the many FUN ideas at
- which I found via Angela's blog - Little Miracles.
When y'all find something good like this, please let me know so I can pass it on!
Posted in Preschoolers | Permalink
Comments
That's a great idea - I think I will try this out with my toddler. Thanks!
Posted by: Felecia | January 20, 2008 7:02 PM
Wow. That toddler site is full of ideas. I need a little kick to get focused again on the needs of my littlest ones while the needs of my older ones are great. Thanks.
In case anyone needs yet another =), here's an idea I came up with as a pre-school club teacher at church years ago that has always been a huge hit: We just call it "Delivery!"
For the class I actually made 4 houses out of paper (maybe 3 ft. high) and put them on the walls around the room, but for home I found cute, inexpensive little mailboxes with flags in the decoupage box area of the craft store. Each house or mailbox is labeled with a different shape and color, along with a single-digit "house number."
I give each child a bag of "mail." The letters can be actual little envelopes, or just pieces of paper, but each is "addressed" with a colored shape and a number. I also roll up single sheets of newspaper, close them with a piece of tape, and call them newspapers, which can be delivered to anyone. I give each one delivery instructions according to his ability-- match shape only, color only, shape and color, number. Really little ones can just deliver indiscriminately, too. They have a blast. "Another one for Mr. Green!" "Mrs. Triangle is getting a lot of letters today!"
This takes a little preparation to make the "mail", but the pieces get used over and over and over...
Posted by: Marian | January 20, 2008 7:24 PM
I use the rice for my kids. They love it! It's one of the few things my toddler will actually play with.
Posted by: Lucy | January 20, 2008 11:32 PM
That's a great site! I love the printouts. As for rice...I think I'll wait a few months until my daughter grows out of her "must eat all small objects" phase.
Posted by: Allie | March 3, 2009 12:08 PM
