Busy Activities

Sometimes it’s difficult to think of a quick activity on the fly for our busy little toddlers. That’s why a few weeks ago I started planning out some simple weekly “busy activities” and it’s been a real hit around here.

If interested, you can download/modify the blank one here. I take a few minutes Sunday night to get all the activities ready for the week. Having the activities ready to go to sideline a meltdown is priceless.

I’m going to try and capture and then share some of the activities we do at the end of each week.

A few activities we did this week:

I picked up these paintable magnet kits at Joann’s for $1 each. They loved opening and closing the paint capsules, talking about each color they painted, and using the mini paintbrushes (perfect for toddler hands). When we were done we recycled these masterpieces to some relatives.

Playdough: is always a quick crowd-pleaser. Get out all the little tools and fun shapes for them to squish it into.

Sticker Charting: After scoring a 78 pack of Easter stickers in the dollar section at Target, I made simple little charts for them to match similar objects in each column.

Stringing beads on pipe cleaners: I gave them each a handful of beads and a few pipe cleaners. It is interesting to see the different interpretations. This time M wanted precisely 4 beads on each pipe cleaner while C wanted to get as many on as possible. You can also encourage color matching and counting. Great for building fine motor control.

Dot art Activities: This website has some great free worksheets!

Puzzles: This week we did some magnetic puzzles when their uncle was over. They have just as much fun “retrieving” the pieces as they do putting them back.

Magnetic Letters – Site words: In each bowl I put the letters they’d need to make their two site words. Use a cookie sheet and fridge magnets. They did this over and over and were very proud each time.

Cutting & Gluing Practice: I cut out strips for them to cut out (from here). Then they glued the squares onto the paper. Opening and closing of the glue stick was a big hit too. After that they colored their masterpieces.

Aquadoodle: We used our Aquadoodles this week too. It’s great that they can do this on the carpet (or anywhere) and no mess!