Fun ideas for Infants and Toddlers

Reading the new Zero to Three news letter I found some fun activities to do with your young child. They are all easy to make from items you have in your house or center and the best part is they explain what areas of development you are working on. On the next rainy day give these activities a try!

Here are some fun playtime ideas just right for our favorite young people.

Birth to 12 Months: Wrap It Up. Wrap a ball of waxed paper in a scarf and tie it up. Let your child reach for, grasp, squeeze, and crinkle it. Watch her face to see if she is interested in or surprised by the sounds the package makes. You can put into words what you see on her face: “Wow! It crinkles and crackles. What’s inside?” Games like this encourage tactile awareness, reaching, grasping, and language development.

12 to 24 Months:Hello, Good-Bye. Make a tunnel from a large cardboard box by opening both ends. Place your child at one end of the tunnel. You sit at the opposite end. Peek your face in the tunnel and say, “Hi!” Then lean away from the tunnel (so your child can’t see you) and say, “Bye!” Does your child try to communicate with you by crawling to find you, or by making sounds to copy your “hi” and “bye”? This activity builds the awareness that things and people still exist even when out of sight. It also encourages problem-solving and motor skills as your child figures out how to find and get to you.

24 to 36 Months:Open Up! Draw a large face on a cardboard box. Cut out a circle for the mouth. Pop a ball through the hole/mouth and tell your child, “My friend is hungry. I fed him an apple. But he is still hungry…What should we feed him next?” Encourage your child to find other pieces of “food” to “feed” your “friend.” Then he can tip the box over to get all the “food” out and start over. Activities like this encourage the use of symbolic thinking skills and imagination.