I have an almost 3 year old, very energetic daughter. I am having a difficult time finding creative activities for her to do or for us to do together. I own the Toddlers Busy Book and find that to be helpful but I wanted to find some addtional activities that we can do together. What are you toddlers all time favorite activities? Any creative ideas that you may have accidentially stumbled upon? Or any great tips that you received and put to use? Any unusual ideas? She seems to love pretend play such as playing grocery store, play cooking, and of course water play! She loves to read and we try and take her to storytime whenever possible. She doesn't like play dough, legos, or blocks very much. She is not too interested in arts-and-crafts such as catalog collages or cutting and pasting. Hates coloring. A recent activity that I did with her was too make the ice blocks with the toys trapped inside and she LOVED it. We will be doing that one alot from now on. Any other ideas along those lines?
Thank you so much everyone for the GREAT responses =) T. R. that was exactly the type of thing I was interested in =) Thanks again.
get a good size paint brush and a cup of water and paint the water onto the patio.
Sounds like she is into science- go online and look up science homeschool websites.
I went through the kitchen and found different types of food like dry oats, cheerios, flour, pasta, tea bags, etc. and laid it all on a table outside and gave my daughter (4) and son (2 3/4) bowls, spoons, measuring cups, etc. and they had a great time mixing their own creations. Messy but safe and fun!
Great question - your responses have given me some good ideas too!
Hi T. I.,
Our three year old son loves tools and building and fixing things and water play so we stumbled upon PVC pipes as toys. We bought some PVC pipes at home depot along with different fittings, my husband cut them into different lengths, and Severin can build water works in the backyard. With 3/4 inch size we can easily plug the hose in one end to see where the water comes out. We use buckets to collect water from wherever it comes out of his "fountain", or he builds "showers", etc. He's also the pipes to build tents and imaginary tools, but I don't know if your daughter would be interested in that if she's not so into building in general. Perhaps it's one way to use her love of water play to get her interested in other activities.
T. R.
She may enjoy a scavenger hunt. I did this with my son as at 2 1/2. He was a little young for it yet, but she may enjoy it. I chose 10 household items/ toys put them on the pic nic table and took a picture of them. Then I hid them around the yard. Keep the area small to start with. Then he had to find the items and place them back on the table like they were in the picture. I think it took him a day and a half to find everything, because of the short attension span.
Your daughter's interest in the ice block activity makes me think she is more interested in anything that has to do with science. I would look for places to go where you can tap into that interest. Unfortunately, I don't have a good list to recommend for Monday outings, but you might simply take walks.. and that works even on rainy days as long as the rain is a nice slow, steady rain and you are dressed for it. As you walk, look for things of interest, talk about them, make collections (rocks, sticks, leaves... whatever you find that sparks her attention). Point out the cloud patterns in the sky. Listen for sounds... traffic, airplanes, animal sounds, etc. On rainy days, observe the water as it flows through the gutters and down the sewer grates. See what is floating along on the water. Look for insects (most scientifically minded kids are fascinated by insects).
I just looked up "preschool activities, science" on Google search and came up with a number of links that may be helpful. http://www.first-school.ws/THEME/science.htm has a lot of 'school' type activities that may work for you at home. You have said your daughter 'hates' to color, and indicated that most of the reading, writing, color activites aren't of much interest to her. These activites do involve reading, writing and coloring, but are based on scientific activities, so may lead her into being more interested in doing the other things... which will be necessary once she starts school. I didn't look at any of the other sites, but you might try putting in that same search and check them out.
I would also suggest you also look up scientific websites that have interesting information at a child's interest level. Simply sit with her at the computer and look at the information ... some may have activities for her to do online as well.
I also noticed in another request you made, that you say your two daughters enjoy gardening, baking and swimming. These activities can be done year round. Gardening indoors may be just as interesting as gardening outdoors. A good way to incorporate this would be houseplants, or a window herb garden. Baking is a great activity, particularly at this season of the year, with all the holidays coming up. Teach them other types of cooking as well. And you can find places for them to swim indoors year round.
Another idea is... in re to your other request re the grandfather taking care of the children... use some of your time on Mondays to include him in activities with your daughter, if you decide to move her to another type of childcare. That will help you make the transition without having him feel left out of your children's lives.
Before it gets too cold you could buy some Buckets and Shovels and take her to the parks that have Sand and let her play. Most kids love this and will stay in there for hours. Milpitas has a good one and Willow Glen has a park with water & sand. If you don't mind the fact that you will have to totally clean her afterwards.
Also, most kids love Dress Up so you could collect your old dresses and shoes and jewelry and hair clips and put them in boxes and let her choose her outfit and put on a show for you. Also fun is to just get a cover and put it over the Dinner Table and leave it open on one side and bring in a tea set or some dishes and her stuffed animals to have a tea party. You can go exploring at a park, like Alum Rock Park and look for rocks or leaves. You can buy a bin of chalk from the Dollar Store or Target and go to the park and do Chalk Art. or Make a Hopscotch area and teach hopscotch. YOu can make a Hula Hoop area as well. You can even go to Michaels and do arts & Crafts. They have these wood pumpkins for like 3 for $1 and you can buy puffy paint or regular paint and paint them for Halloween. You can make a puffy paint t-shirt. There are lots of Creative and fun things to do. Also, when the weather is bad, find a mall with a play area and bring snacks and Hand Sanitizer-smile and play!!
Well, if she likes pretend play, does she have any puppets or dolls or stuffed animals? It sounds like she doesn't have really good manual dexterity yet. Does she have any Fisher Price play sets? They used to have a house, an airport, a garage, a farm, etc. You might be able to find them in used toy stores or at garage sales if they don't sell them new any more. My son loved his. Also, maybe musical instruments (percussion) like the triangle, xylophone, tambourine, or records (showing my age, I know!) that she can sing along with (folk songs, etc. like Woody Guthrie, Ella Jenkins or the Limeliters). And you can read to her yourself. Sometimes parks have nature trips for very young children--a very short walk, and looking at animals or plants and holding them. Or a visit to a Little Farm?
my twins almost 3 and they love to draw and color even though its nothing recognizable. they also love to watch noggin which is the educational part of nickelodeon.
How about baking together? Cookies or pies or making play dough out of baking powder and baking it?
My 2 1/2 year old just started a tap/ballet class and loves it so much. She also loves to dress up and color. We bought a toy that helps them learn to write from leapfrog and she seems to like that. She also loves to help me cook- so we do a lot of things in the kitchen.
Hi T.,
When my daughter's grandmother use to watch her at home, before she started preschool, she spent about 2 hours each day on the computer playing games. Nickjr has a website for toddler games and it has all the popular characters that she loved like Dora, Diego, Kai-lan, etc.
I recently bought her a set of plastic princess shoes from Target and she loves wearing that around the house and sometimes out. Her little sister 21 month old also enjoys them.
My 3yo also likes to play hide and seek with her dad. They take turns counting and seeking. Sometimes my 21 month old would be the counter.
