Activities for Toddler

Activities for you toddlers:

You can plan interesting activities for your baby to enhance their skills and learning abilities. Children start exploring their surroundings and taking pride in their new accomplishments by this age. Most babies also learn to walk and balance themselves because of improved muscle strength. The ability of the child to move around gives them the freedom to be independent. They can hold objects, drink out of a cup, stack bigger blocks, and make a mess out of things. Children could speak a few words at this age but can comprehend and follow instructions. They show an eagerness to solve problems and love indulging in imaginative play. It is the phase when you should let them enjoy their playtime and have fun. Here are some exciting activities for 15-month babies that will keep them entertained and amused.

Activiies for 13-15 months.

Activity : Bubbles:

You can start blowing bubbles and have your little one pop them. They can use their finger or their hand. Also encourage them to use their feet to stomp them. This will also help with their balance. While popping bubbles you can sing songs or play music. If you are outside they may need to do a little more chasing around. Skill Developed: Fine motor skills, strengthening hand muscles, hand eye coordination, bilateral coordination (ability to coordinate both hands) Visual, auditory, tactile & proprioceptive senses

Activity : Playing with ball

Balls, balls and more balls. There are so many to choose from. Your options range from different sizes, colors, textures and some may even make sounds. Because of this they can be very motivating to play with. At this age it’s best to use larger balls. For those that can stand and/or walk, kicking can be motivating. Simply place the ball in front of them and let them kick it forward. Great practice for them to learn to shift their weight practice,balancing and encouraging limb movements. Throwing can also be lots of fun and can be done both sitting down and standing up. You can provide them with a target to shoot at such as a box, baby pool, laundry basket or simply just let them throw it to you. Skill Developed: Hand eye coordination, visual tracking & balance Tactile, proprioceptive & visual senses

Activity : Crawling activity:

Because even though your little one is walking, crawling is still very beneficial. While crawling your little one is putting weight on their hands, which strengthens their shoulders and arms. This is important when completing any fine motor activity. As walking is really exciting to them now you need to find ways to make crawling just as exciting. Some ideas include crawling through a variety of different tunnels. They can include a store bought tunnel or one made from a bed sheet that has been draped over two chairs or you can create one from cardboard boxes that have tunnel doors cut out in them. You can also try to play chase with them while crawling. Anything goes as long as they are crawling on hands and knees. Skill Developed: Strengthening of shoulders, arms, wrists and knees & motor planning Proprioceptive & tactile senses

Activity : Fun sponges in bath:

You can use kitchen sponges for this activity. Cut them into halves or into different shapes like a car or a dianosaur. Show your toddler how to sink them, watch them fill up with water and then use those hands to squeeze the water out. You can vary the activity by squeezing the water out and letting it flow into a container. They can squeeze the sponge against the wall and watch the water flow down. Skill Developed: Strengthening small muscles in their hands, hand eye coordination Tactile, visual, auditory & proprioceptive senses

16 - 18 month Activities:

Activity : Painting with water:

Equipment: Bucket or a container of water, brushes, sponges, mops or anything else that can hold water when submerged. Best places to play are either on a concrete or wooden surface. Simply let your toddler submerge the ‘paintbrush’ of their choice and then ‘paint’ with it on the wooden or concrete surface. Your toddler will love watching the marks that they make and then watch them dry out. Skill Developed: Strengthening small muscles in their hands Visual, auditory, tactile, vestibular & proprioceptive

Activity : pinned clothes pegs:

The main goal of the game is for your child to pull off pinned clothes pegs. Where you place them it’s completely up to you. You can pin them onto edges of boxes, pin them onto your toddlers toys or even your toddlers clothes.Stick the pegs to your toddlers clothes and watch them pick it out happily. Just watch out your toddler from getting thier fingers stuck. Skill Developed:Fine motor skills & eye hand coordination Visual, tactile & proprioceptive.

Activity :Suspended ballons:

Suspend a balloon from a ceiling. Your toddler can have fun batting the balloon and watch as it flies. See it fly low as he lightly hits it and high as he bats it with all his force. For a bat you can cut a pool noodle into a shorter piece. Your toddler might even like to use a variety of kitchen utensils such as a whisk or a wooden spoon. Skill Developed: Eye hand coordination Visual, tactile & proprioceptive.

Activity : Catch me if you can!

A fun 15 month activity for toddler. Plus quite simple. Play “chase” with your toddler around the house, playground or anywhere else outdoors. Depending on your toddlers walking or running skills this can be also done with crawling. But this will mean that you also have to get down on all fours to play. Warning: your child might laugh hysterically! Also remember to make sure to chase them. Just make sure the area is safe i.e. there are not too many obstacles to reduce tripping hazards. Skill Developed: limb co-ordination.

19 - 21 month Activities:

Activity : Shadow show:

All you need is a flashlight and a dark room. Your toddler is still too young to sit and watch the light jump across the room. Let them stand up and chase it around as you make it dance on the walls. Let the light move slowly, and then fast. Jump up or down. Maybe it can hop up to the ceiling. Have fun and follow your child’s lead. Skill Developed:Visual tracking skills (When eyes move from left to right, or focusing your vision on an object as it moves across a visual field. Skills needed later on for reading and writing), eye hand coordination, gross motor skills

Activity : Superman!

Lay down on the floor while bending your hips and knees. Bring your child up and lay them on your shins. Make sure you support them around their chest and under their arms. Once in position it’s time to go up, up and away!! You can pretend your child is a bird or a plane. Make sounds and move them in various positions and bounce them up and down. Don’t be shy and sing some tunes while your toddler is flying to make it even more exciting. Skill Developed: Core strength

Activity :Stop and Go games:

How to Play: Incorporate stop & go language into your toddler’s favorite games. Rules: While playing a specific activity say ‘stop’… wait… wait and then say ‘go’ and keep on playing. After your toddler understands the concept you can prolong the wait time. Just enough to keep them engaged but not frustrated. Examples of games: Ball bouncing: While bouncing on a large exercise ball, While walking outside,etc Skill Developed: Impulse control.

Activity : Potato games:

How to Play: Equipment: mashed potatoes, food coloring, variety of containers and utensils. First, boil your potatoes. Then mash, and add food coloring. I like to divide the potatoes so I can use more than one color. It is also fun watching them mix them up and see how colors change. When mashing the potatoes, don’t worry about doing a perfectly smooth mash. A few lumps are good for the extra sensation. You can get really creative with what you can do here. Some examples include: Explore with hands, Explore with feet, Manipulate the potatoes with a variety of objects or utensils, Move between containers, Find hidden objects, Skill Developed:Fine motor skills, eye hand coordination & motor planning

22 - 24 month Activities:

Activity : Outdoor treasure hunt:

Going on a treasure hunt while outdoors is lots of fun. Give your toddler a bucket and start collecting. You can collect sticks, leaves, stones, flowers, grass, acorns etc. While collecting you can talk about the characteristics of the items collected. You can smell them, try to break them into smaller pieces etc. To make it more challenging you can give them an egg carton and they only have to collect items that fit into it. Once you have finished collecting your treasures you can either throw them away or save them for a project. Sticking them onto contact paper is one idea. Skill Developed: Fine motor skills, hand eye coordination & visual perception.

Activity: Painting with fruit:

Use orange, lemon and lime for this activity. Feel free to modify the fruit or vegetables you use. Place some paint (orange, yellow and green) on individual plates. Before matching the colors with the fruit you can talk about them. Their color, their taste and their smell. Once their curiosity has subsided match them with the paint colors. Once the fruit pieces are in the paint they turn into paintbrushes. I used Glob All Natural Paint. It’s all natural flavors so you don’t have to stress if it goes into the toddler’s mouth. Skill Developed: Fine motor skills, bilateral coordination, hand eye coordination & color recognition

Activity : Bean bag:target throwing:

Equipment: Bean bags/rolled up socks/plush toys and a target (laundry basket, bowling pins or stacked up blocks) Position: Have your child lie down on their back.
How to play: Place the bean bags on the floor above your child’s head. Have them pick one up, then sit up and throw it at or in the target. Keep going until all the bean bags have been used or target has been knocked down. Skill Developed: core strengthening

Activity : Ball round up:

How to Play: Equipment: A target (an old box or a laundry basket), bat (swimming noodle cut into a small piece or a plastic bat) and balls. The aim of the game is to guide all the balls into the target (box or a laundry basket) with the use of a bat. I decided to use light balls as balloons move quicker and are more challenging to get into a target. Skill Developed:Gross motor skills, hand eye coordination & visual perception skills