As our world has transformed from hustle to celebrating a change out of pajamas, my biggest challenge has been finding activities that really do keep my toddler-child busy and are educational.
I complained to anyone who had a listening ear about this. I even sent texts to my boss complaining about how hard it was to do my job because my toddler was demanding every ounce of my being. She just sent back a discouraging reply that read, “just do your best!”
Do my best!?
A shower is my best. Making frozen pizza is my best. Putting on deodorant is my best. Best has truly reached new valleys, and I can’t get out of them!
What I need is a robotic nanny
Ideally this nanny could easily be wiped down with clorox wipes. She would get along well with my toddler-child and provide entertainment as well as education each day. A 2020 Mary Poppins if you will. Also, she can’t be too creepy when powered down and charging. To clarify, this would be very rare, only when she runs out of battery.
However, since no one has taken the time to send me such a nanny, I have resorted to Pinterist and my own knowledge of child development. Sometimes I forget I have a masters degree in Occupational Therapy. In addition, I spent several years of my career focused specifically on pediatrics and neurological development. This pandemic has provided good motivation to dig those skills back out. Honestly, it’s been refreshing.
Here are my tried and true activities that REALLY do keep toddlers busy and are educational!
1. Baking Soda, Food coloring and Vinegar Experiment.
Commonly known at my house as a “peri-ment.” This has been by far Ray’s favorite thing. I’ll link the Pinterist article HERE, but basically you just get a muffin tin, put a drop of food coloring in each circle, cover the drop with baking soda, place it outside on the porch and give your toddler a squeeze bottle with vinegar. It’s really fun because they don’t know the colors the tins will turn until they squeeze the vinegar in. And bonus is all the fizzing!
I usually tape a piece of paper down and give Ray a paint brush so he can paint once he’s done. He loves this activity, often asking to do it multiple times a day. Lucky for me, he is pretty independent with it. Once I have him set up, so it gives me a good 10-15 minutes to myself. Win, win, win!
As a side note, the dancing rice vinegar experiment also looks pretty cool, but Ray was less than impressed. I think it would be a hit with kids who are slightly older, say in the 5-10 year old range.
2. Handwriting without Tears Letter Building
I had these HWT wooden letters and capital letter prints left over from my occupational therapy years. They’ve been a huge hit with Ray. We spell his name, various letters and talk about “big line vs little lines” and “big curve vs little curves.” This is a fabulous activity to work on pre-writing, letter recognition and spelling. Also, it’s so much fun.
3. Jumping Jack
I got jack down from the top shelf of a closet where I keep my old therapy games. What I love about jumping jack is that this game is very versatile. It says ages 3 and up but I think the level of challenge could be easily graded. Jumping jack is a great game for strengthening all the muscles in little hands which ultimately contributes to grasp and other fine motor abilities. But it does it in such a fun way, that the kids just think they are playing. Jumping jack is also a great game to teach turn taking, basic counting and the general concept of winning and losing with a good attitude.
4. Gross Motor Movements
Here is what EVERY occupational therapist wants you to know: fine motor and gross motor are connected!
I remember when I worked in the clinic I had so many parents that would bring their kids in for “handwriting issues only.” But then as I worked through my evaluation almost all the kids who had handwriting issues, also had gross motor delays. However, because gross motor delays can often easily be compensated for or just brushed away as “clumsy” the parent never picked up on it. One of the very best things you can do with your littles right now is gross motor play. Nor only will this help them with strength and coordination, it will all translate to improved fine motor skills too!
For toddlers this can look like running, riding a balance bike or tricycle although if they can do the balance bike, it’s a great core activity, bear crawls (Ray’s favorite), bunny hops (just two feet hops), frog hops (same as bunny hops but you have to touch both hands to the ground too), and crab walking (tricky, but they can try it). For older kids this looks like bike riding, hop scotch and obstacle courses! Be creative and have fun with this one! Making it into a competition seems to really get my toddler engaged, so that’s a great strategy if you need one.
There you have it, activities that really do keep toddlers busy and are educational.
We’ve done lots of other things during this time like cooking together (tons of learning opportunities there, but for us it’s mostly just trying to make sure we don’t end up with two cups of salt in our scrambled eggs), currently potty training (85% successful thus far) and most recently our family caved and subscribed to Disney plus. I try to limit screen time, but y’all, desperate times call for all the resources!
If you’re interested my physical therapist friend recently wrote a post on motor milestones, you can read it HERE.
Also, I posted a kids craft that helps promote fine motor strength a long time ago. You can fine it HERE.
I hope you are well, and having at least some fun as you keep your littles busy. Also, if you have any great activities your kids love, tell me about them!
Until next time,
Cheers!
PS. If you find a robotic nanny similar to what I have described, please send me a link ASAP.