I've been providing private childcare for infants and toddlers (3 months - 2 years) for the past six years and during that time I've come up with a wide range of activities that I've used to keep these little people busy as they discover the world around them. Some of the activities may be ideas you've never tried and others may be things you do regularly with your own child. Whatever the case I hope that other childcare providers and parents will find inspiration in this Instructable to challenge their babies with creative new experiences.
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Signing UpStep 1: Playing With Water
Playing in water is a classic experience that nearly all babies enjoy. An outdoor kiddie pool is great when the weather is warm but there is no need to stop the wet fun when the air outside turns chilly. Just bring your kiddie pool inside to a warm room (with a water proof floor) and let the tots sit in the pool and play with warm water from a basin. They love using cups and funnels to fill clear bottles with warm bubbly water and to mix pots or bowls of water with spoons and whisks.
One novel variation on this theme that I've tried successfully is to add a couple drops of food coloring to large clear containers of water. The colored water adds a new twist to the play and provides another opportunity to teach the names of colors. (As long as the food coloring is diluted you won't have to worry about staining problems, just make sure a tot doesn't get a hold of the little bottle of concentrated dye.)
Misc Tips:
- When it's hot outside your toddlers will naturally want to drink the water they are playing in. Be ready with fresh water to quench their thirst.
- I don't recommend filling the whole pool with water when you have it indoors because 1.) it's difficult to empty the pool out and 2.) it's more likely the children will become excessively wet and chilled.
- For safety sake keep pool water shallow and maintain constant supervision.
- For comfort use warm water (even outside sometimes.)
- When using a kiddie pool indoors you may want to surround the pool with towels to absorb spilled water. This will make cleanup a little easier and will also help prevent slips and falls when toddlers climb in and out of the pool.
- Add bubbles to the water.
- Try bubbling the water with a straw or baster tube. Older toddlers can do this too, just watch the straw on the first time and make sure they understand the difference between blowing and sucking.
- If you let your tots play right at the sink beware of scalding danger if they can reach the faucet handle. As an added precaution you can turn your water heater down to 120 degrees. That will still hurt but won't cause real damage.
One novel variation on this theme that I've tried successfully is to add a couple drops of food coloring to large clear containers of water. The colored water adds a new twist to the play and provides another opportunity to teach the names of colors. (As long as the food coloring is diluted you won't have to worry about staining problems, just make sure a tot doesn't get a hold of the little bottle of concentrated dye.)
Misc Tips:
- When it's hot outside your toddlers will naturally want to drink the water they are playing in. Be ready with fresh water to quench their thirst.
- I don't recommend filling the whole pool with water when you have it indoors because 1.) it's difficult to empty the pool out and 2.) it's more likely the children will become excessively wet and chilled.
- For safety sake keep pool water shallow and maintain constant supervision.
- For comfort use warm water (even outside sometimes.)
- When using a kiddie pool indoors you may want to surround the pool with towels to absorb spilled water. This will make cleanup a little easier and will also help prevent slips and falls when toddlers climb in and out of the pool.
- Add bubbles to the water.
- Try bubbling the water with a straw or baster tube. Older toddlers can do this too, just watch the straw on the first time and make sure they understand the difference between blowing and sucking.
- If you let your tots play right at the sink beware of scalding danger if they can reach the faucet handle. As an added precaution you can turn your water heater down to 120 degrees. That will still hurt but won't cause real damage.
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Also, these kiddos are adorable!!!
My baby brother (2) LOVES playing dress up, his hats are his favorite! :0)
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BoomWhatkers: http://www.westmusic.com/1002405-kids/k5010-boomwhackers?gclid=CKqWrdG8s6cCFZNd7AodJm75_w
If you never introduce your child to (controlled) danger, they won't learn to recognise it or protect themselves from it.
I'm always looking for something new to do with my kids, many of these are already things I would do, but some are ones I might not think of right away.
Another cool idea is to take empty yogurt cups and poke small holes in the lids, and put "smelly" things inside. It's my experience that toddlers love to use their senses, and smell is one of them! Have them sniff the tub with the lid on and have them guess what is inside. Like put banana in one, cinnamon in another, garlic in another, a flower in one, etc etc (things that are all safe to sniff obviously)
Can also do the same idea but dip tooth pics (the round ones not the sharp ones) and dip them in different safe flavors and have them taste the flavors.
Get a big bowl or plastic tub, and fill it with uncooked rice, and uncooked dried beans. Add in some large wooden beads and have kids play in that. They will love the tactile aspect and finding the "hidden" beans. Give them some measuring cups, and funnels and watch them have fun!