With young children their attention span isn’t very long, so you need to be creative to keep their attention for as long as possible, especially when you are trying to teach them something. An activity you can try is a tissue paper collage. All you need is some tissue paper, copy of letter you are working on, such as A, glue stick and scissors.
With a new school year beginning children will be learning names of new students in their classroom. This activity assist the children and it’s a fun activity in the process. To get started, have the children get in a circle. Each child takes a turn. One child says, “have you seen my friend?” Then they describe what their friend, which is another student in the class, has on. Another child says, “I’ll find him for you”, so then they say the child’s name that the first child is talking about. If correct then that child gets to take a turn and describe another child. By doing this all the children learn each others name and do it in a way that is fun.
There are many fun games and activities you can do with your baby/toddler, but one that most babies love is singing songs. They can be some of the common children songs or you can make silly songs up that makes your child laugh. Some of the common songs I have found that young children like are:
1. The Wheels on the Bus
2. Old McDonald Had a Farm
I did this activity with my 2 and 3 year old’s today and they loved it. It was very interesting in what they said their picture turned out to be.
Materials:
white paper (copy/printer paper works well)
two different colors of paint (like blue and red)
I recently did this activity with a group of older two year olds and young three year olds. It really went well so I am recommending it for parents or other adults to try with their children.
Materials:
construction paper (any color); paint (color of your choice, just make sure it will show up on construction paper you choose); cotton balls (1 per child); a paper plate to put paint on
Procedure:
First, you want to decide whether or not you want to do one child at a time or a group of children. I decided to do one child at a time because of their age and they had never done this before. After you decide that, give the child a piece of construction paper. Then, give them the cotton ball and let them dip it in the paint (keep in mind if you provide a lot of paint the child(ren) will take a lot of paint so put just enough for each child). Tell them they can rub the cotton ball across their paper or they can pat or dab their paper, let them decide what their picture will look like. Allow each child a couple of minutes to do their picture, if they keep rubbing their paper where the paint is they are liable to rub a whole in it. After each child has completed their picture have them throw away their cotton ball. Set the pictures aside to allow to dry.
This activity is great for summer because for those that take a vacation to the beach, you can use some of that sand you brought back with you.
Materials:
regular sand colored with dry tempera; salt shaker or some other type of shaker; thin paste; a brush to spread the paste; paper ( any kind will work)
Procedure:
Spread paste over paper and shake colored sand onto paper.
With this activity wherever the paste is the sand will stick to it and create a beautiful picture once it has dried. After the child has finished shaking the sand onto the paper leave it lying on a flat surface for at least 24 hours to make sure the sand will stick and it has time to dry. When you pick the picture up some excess sand will probably fall off so be aware of that. I hope your children enjoy this activity.
Most all children love to play with water in type fashion. One way for them to be “playing” with water but also learning about colors is with this eye dropper activity. I would only do this activity with two or three children at a time just so you can watch them and also help them if they need assistance. Read more …
This is a good activity to do in a classroom setting or even with your child at home. It has a science component but your young child will probably not understand this to it’s fullest just yet. They will just think this is fun and cool, for now.
This activity can be done with 3 year olds or older. An adult needs to supervise just so they can make sure the children are using the straws correctly. This supports fine motor skills by having to hold the straw. Children think this activity is a lot of fun. One child can do this activity or a group of children. I recommend if you try to do this with a group of children to use a long piece of butcher paper or something like it. This gives each child plenty of space to work with.
This activity is very fun but can get pretty messy. It would be a good activity to do outside this summer, while the children have their bathing suits on.
Materials: All you need is a can of shaving cream and a table that can be wiped down or hosed off.
Have the children gather around the table and give each a decent amount of room. This may require the children taking turns, which is a good lesson to learn. Spray the shaving cream on the table and allow the children to “paint” on the table itself. The children could make shapes, designs, whatever they feel like making, even if it’s just swirls, with their fingers and hands. Let the children play for a reasonable amount of time, say ten minutes.
