Toddler Activities
Anyone whose been around these parts long enough knows of my love and slight obsession with Pinterest. I can’t look away. I can’t stop. It’s become a problem. But it’s also been a real blessing, too. I have found some really great gift ideas (a few I’m using next week for my Secret Santa exchange at work that I’ll blog about), some excellent food ideas, and some fun activities for my family and kids.
Last week I was cruising around Pinterest and found this incredible website called, “Fun and Engaging Activities for Toddlers.” The website is as simple and straightforward as the name implies. It is a list of activities for toddlers, plain and simple. But these activities are really fantastic.
From what I can tell, the website belongs to a stay at home mom who does the best she can to do stimulating, educational activities with her toddler every day. I’m loving her website because it isn’t complicated. She blogs straight up about kids activities. And none of them are crazy complex or complicated. Most can be done with things you have laying around your house. My favorite was one with a bowl of water and a paint brush – super simple and Bean would love it!
Today, we were outside putting up Christmas lights for most of the afternoon. Gracie was taking a nap in her crib, so it was just Bean out in the front yard with us. We played with sidewalk chalk in the driveway and colored in his coloring books for a while, but I thought this would be a perfect time to try an activity I had found last week on the Toddler Activities blog.
It takes several plastic containers and a pitcher of water. That’s it.
The object of the game was to let Bean practice filling containers with water. It works his fine motor skills, hand eye coordination, and helps him start to learn about how and when to pour and stop.
I sat with him for a while, showing him how to pour and when to stop. Then, I’d sit back and just talk to him while he did it himself, saying things like, “Can you fill the rectangle bowl now?” or “Be careful! It’s almost full!”
But after a short while, Bean had the hang of it and spent the next half hour playing in the front yard with his plastic bowls.
It was such a simple way to learn while doing something Bean loves – water play is one of his favorites.
This website has a ton of activities just like this, taking tools you probably have and using activities you’ve probably done before. One of my favorite parts of the website is that you can search the activities archive by age of your child. I clicked the Toddler (2-3 years) category under the Age Range page and it pulled up pages of activities that Bean would absolutely love and that I can’t wait to try myself.
I’m so glad I found this website! What a great mom she is and what wonderful activities she comes up with!
11 Comments
Amy
Unfortunately, I had to learn the hard way that my toddler was into pouring, when he spent ten minutes pouring his milk into different bowls/containers for the kitchen while I was upstairs to change his brother’s nappy.
Thanks for the tip, off to check out the website now! (and I follow your boards on pinterest, love all your links!)
Alyssa
Thanks! I love finding new ideas 🙂
Unfortunately it’s freezing cold here so we’ll have to do this activity in the bath tub 🙂
Laci
Can’t wait to find lots of new idea’s from this website for my 2 year old! On another note, I’m jealous that you were putting up Christmas lights with Bean in shorts and barefoot…..we woke up to an unexpected 15″ of snow yesterday (forecast was for 3-5″). We had fun making a snowman though 🙂
Casey @ The Baker Bee
I am so excited to geek around on this site! I am always looking for fun things to do with my little guy & I often feel like I am running out of options!
Sarah@Crazy Love Gamble-Style
Thank you! That is great!! Signed – fellow Pinterest ADDICT.
Sara @ embrylovescookies
It’s amazing how such simple things will keep kids busy! Both my 4 and 7-year-olds still like to play with water. When we are at home all day they love to play in the sink with a couple of containers, spoons, and funnels. I just put an old towel on the floor to catch the drips.
Babytromm
I have a love/hate relationship with pinterest too. There are so many good ideas but I can waste ours on there. This is a fabulous idea however and since it is warmish here today I believe I will take my three littles outside and let them play with water and containers.
Lindsay (Young Married Mom)
Oh, fun! I’m so glad to see she has stuff for younger kids up there, too. Thanks for the tip!
Christina
I’m terrified of Pinterest, I haven’t accepting any invites because I’m afraid I’ll sit online all day long playing on it!
Meggie
Thanks so much for sharing the website! Sometimes I really struggle with keeping my almost 3 year old engaged and this sounds perfect. I’ll definitely be checking it out! And I’m probably 1 of like 5 women who hasn’t jumped on board with Pinterest yet. I just don’t have time to be addicted to anything else!!
Kat
LOVE this! Isn’t it crazy how many way more fun activities come from regular boring stuff we have around the house instead of the super expensive toys? Yet, we keep buying them…seriously you should see the Christmas piles