Small photos of individual family members
On the poster board, either glue on the tree branch or use crayons to draw the tree. Help your child use crayons to draw in branches for each family member.
Glue the photos on the branches. Show your child how to place senior family members such as grandparents and parents on the upper branches. If you wish, label each photo.
Big Feet, Little Feet
This activity will help your child learn about sizes and comparison. You may wish to do this activity with hands as well. If you have a cooperative cat or dog in the family, you can include it, too.
Activity for an individual child
Age group: 18–40 months
Duration of activity: 30 minutes
Construction paper
Markers
Scissors
Crayons
Have each family member place his or her feet on the construction paper. Help your child trace around the feet with a marker.
Cut the “feet” out and label them.
Show your child how to compare the sizes of family feet. Can she guess which outline belongs to each family member?
Let your child decorate the feet with crayons.
I Know Your Nose
Can your child identify other family members by just looking at a nose or other facial feature?
This activity develops visual discrimination and problem-solving skills.
Activity for an individual child
Age group: 18–40 months
Duration of activity: 15 minutes
Scissors
Close-up portraits of family members, including one of your toddler
White craft glue
Index cards
Cut out each family member’s facial features (eyes, nose, and mouth).
Glue all of the eye sets to one index card, all of the noses on another, and the mouths on a third.
For each card, challenge your toddler to identify the owner of the facial features.
To extend this activity, omit the step of gluing the pictures onto the index cards; instead, tape them on temporarily. Let your child remove them and create a new person by jumbling the facial features into a new face.
Hiding Family
This traditional finger play is a great way to help your toddler learn about
family titles while she develops fine motor control.
Activity for an individual child
Age group: 18–40 months
Duration of activity: 5 minutes
Show your child how to hide her hands behind her back.
Teach her this song with the corresponding motions. Use the tune “Frère Jacques.” Where’s the father? Where’s the father?
Here I am
(extend one hand with thumb out)
Here I am.
(repeat motion with other hand)
How are you today, dear?
Very well, I thank you.
(wiggle fingers as if they were speaking to each other)
Time to hide.
(put hand behind the back)
Time to hide.
(repeat motion with other hand)
Additional verses:
Where is the mother? (index finger)
Where is the brother? (middle finger)
Where is the sister? (ring finger)
Where is the baby? (pinkie finger)
Where is the family? (all fingers)
Learning-about-My-Body Activities
From the moment your child discovered his own toes, he has been learning about his body and how it works. Toddlers are often eager to learn about the body and will show pride and share their knowledge as they explore and identify their body parts.
My Hands
This fun activity will help your child learn about different parts of his
body and will enhance his verbal skills, too.
Activity for an individual child
Age group: 18–40 months
Duration of activity: 5 minutes
My hands upon my head I’ll place
On my shoulders, on my face.
At my waist, and by my side.
I will raise them way up high
And then make my fingers fly.
Then I will clap one, two, three,
Then rest them gently on my knee.
Riddle Me This
Promote your child’s problem-solving skills with this game. You can play it anywhere, any time.
Activity for an individual child
Age group: 30–40 months
Duration of activity: 10 minutes
Ask your child to try to guess the answer to simple riddles. All the answers should be a part of the body. Here are a few examples: You use me to hold a crayon. (Hand)
I am the part of the body that eats food. (Mouth)
Vary the complexity according to your toddler’s ability. You may even encourage him to think of some riddles for you.
Build a Person
Your child develops his fine motor skills and problem-solving ability as he pieces together a person.
Activity for an individual child
Age group: 18–40 months
Duration of activity: 30 minutes
Body shapes cut from construction paper, or magazine pictures of body parts
White craft glue
1 piece of poster board
If you are using construction paper pieces, be sure to keep them very simple, such as a torso, arms, legs, and head. If you use magazine pictures, consider involving your child in the search for appropriate clippings.
Assist your child in gluing the body-part pieces to the poster board to create a person.
All about Me
Your toddler will delight in seeing a life-size copy of himself.
If you cannot get a large enough roll of paper, you can use an old sheet and fabric paints instead.
Activity for an individual child
Age group: 18–40 months
Duration of activity: 15 minutes
Large roll of butcher paper
Markers
Crayons
Have your child lay flat on his back on the paper. Experiment with different positions of his arms and legs. Trace an outline around his body.
Point out to your child the different body parts on the outline. Label them if you wish.
Let your child color the outline with crayons.
Touchy Touchy
This silly game will help your child learn body-part identification.
(For older children, you may wish to talk about private body parts that other people should not touch.) This becomes like a simple game of Twister!
Activity for an individual child
Age group: 18–40 months
Duration of activity: 15 minutes
Call out different parts of the body. You touch that part on your child while he touches that part of you.
Let your older child take a turn calling out body parts, too.
I Am Special
As your toddler grows, she develops a self-concept. She is becoming increasingly aware that she is an individual person with her own tastes, interests, and personality. Early on, she will have experiences that will shape her self-concept and esteem. Both directly and indirectly, she will be receiving messages about her worth and competence. You can plan specific activities that will reinforce the message that she is indeed very special.
Self-Portrait
Have your toddler do a self-portrait a few times a year.
This is a great way to measure her progress in self-image as well as motor control.
Activity for an individual child
Age group: 18–40 months
Duration of activity: 15 minutes
Light-colored construction or bond paper
Crayons
White craft glue (optional)
Yarn and fabric scraps (optional)
&nbs
p; Provide your child with a paper and crayons to create a self-portrait.
If desired, let her glue on yarn for hair and scraps of fabric for clothes.
All-about-Me Book
Your child can create a lasting memory. She will enjoy “reading” it as much as she did creating it. You can bind the pages together with a stapler or by punching holes in the sides and attaching the pages with a yarn bow.
Activity for an individual child
Age group: 18–40 months
Duration of activity: 45 minutes
Markers
Light-colored construction or bond paper
Magazines
Scissors
White craft glue
Label each page of your child’s book with a title, such as “My Favorite Foods” or “Toys I Play With.”
Help your child find appropriate pictures in the magazines to cut out and paste onto the pages.
I Go to Pieces
Enhance your child’s self-esteem with this project. This also makes a great gift for grandparents.
Simply put it into a box labeled, “I love you to pieces.”
Activity for an individual child
Age group: 18–40 months
Duration of activity: 45 minutes
White craft glue
Photograph of your child, enlarged to 8 x 10 or larger
Poster board cut to same size as photo
Clear contact paper
Scissors
Glue the photo of your child onto the poster board and cover with the clear contact paper.
Cut the photo into puzzle pieces. You can make the puzzle simple with fewer pieces, or more complex with more pieces.
Give your child the new personalized puzzle to complete.
Monkey in the Mirror
Young children are often fascinated by mirrors and their own images.
Your toddler may enjoy simply making silly faces in the mirror.
Don’t worry—the dry-erase ink is easy to remove with a glass cleaner and a paper towel.
Activity for an individual child
Age group: 30–40 months
Duration of activity: 10 minutes
Mirror
Dry-erase markers
Have your child stand in front of the mirror and show her how she can use the markers to trace over her image. She may also want to give herself a hat or other accessories.
How I Grow
Your child will be aware that he is small. He will probably start to show an interest in being a big boy as he becomes more independent and competent. You can capitalize on his interest with these activities. These activities will also be teaching your child the math and science concepts of comparison, growth, and measurement.
I Am Smaller Than
Here is a concrete way to show your child how his size compares with others.
Activity for an individual child
Age group: 18–40 months
Duration of activity: 20 minutes
Yarn
Scissors
Have your toddler stand with his back to a wall. Run the yarn from his head to his toes, and cut it to the length of his body.
Show your child that the yarn piece represents his height. Take the yarn and hold it up to yourself and other family members to compare. You may also wish to compare the yarn with household furniture and other things in his environment. Is he taller than the fence? Is he shorter than the refrigerator?
As I Grow
Your child will enjoy reviewing photos of himself. You may also wish
to share photos of yourself from when you were growing up.
Activity for an individual child
Age group: 18–40 months
Duration of activity: 10 minutes
Photos of your child at different ages
Assist your child in putting the photos in sequence from youngest to oldest. Point out to your child the physical differences that are observable in the photos.
Five-Senses Activities
Your toddler relies on her senses to learn about the world around her. She is not yet able to learn about abstract concepts. She only knows about the concrete, real world, things that she has experienced directly. Engage your toddler’s senses, and you engage her mind!
Name That Sound
This activity will help your child use problem-solving skills. She will also be practicing auditory memory and discrimination skills that will help her later with reading.
Activity for an individual child
Age group: 30–40 months
Duration of activity: 10 minutes
Recording of various common sounds (such as dog barking, phone ringing, or alarm clock beeping)
Play the tape and have your child guess what is making the sounds that she hears.
What Is That Smell?
Stimulate your child’s senses with this activity, which also helps develop vocabulary.
Activity for an individual child
Age group: 30–40 months
Duration of activity: 10 minutes
Cotton balls
Items from around the house with distinctive pleasant odors (such as vanilla extract, lemon juice, crushed garlic, perfume, or ground cinnamon)
Saturate each cotton ball in a different substance.
Have your child try to describe the scent and guess its source.
Smelly Tacky Paintings
This is a fun project that will let your child explore different scents and textures while being creative.
Activity for an individual child
Age group: 18–40 months
Duration of activity: 20 minutes
Spoon
Water
Light-colored construction or bond paper
Different flavors of Jell-O (dark colors work best)
Help your child spoon a small amount of water onto the paper.
Let your child sprinkle the Jell-O powder on the wet patches.
Your child can then finger paint with these colors. She needs to be gentle so as not to rub through the paper. As she works, she will find that the consistency of the “paint” changes from gritty to sticky to slimy.
Fuzzy Hand
Young children like to touch things, and this activity provides an opportunity to explore different textures.
Activity for an individual child
Age group: 18–40 months
Duration of activity: 20 minutes
1 large sheet poster board
Pencil
Scissors
White craft glue
Various fabric scraps with different textures (such as burlap, satin, cotton, or corduroy)
Place your child’s hands on the poster board. Trace around them, and then cut out multiple paper hands.
Let your child glue the various materials onto the hands. Talk about how each hand feels.
Learning to Be Safe and Healthy
It is never too early to teach your child about keeping healthy. Although you can do activities with him, remember that your child will learn by your example. If you want your child to make good food choices, be mindful of what you eat. If you want your child to brush his teeth, be sure to brush yours as well. As your child matures, you will be able to use direct instruction more and more. Keep in mind that to be effective, these activities need to be interesting and fun for your child so that he wants to continue them on his own.
Paper-Plate Meals
Help your child learn about nutrition and balanced meals with this activity.
You may wish to introduce the concept of the basic food groups here.
Activity for an individual child
Age group: 30–40 months
Duration of activity: 30 minutes
Magazines
Scissors
White craft glue
Paper plates
Go through the magazines with your child and help him select food pictures that he wants to include in his “meal.”
Assist your child in tearing or
cutting out the selected pictures.
Show your child how to glue the food onto the plate to create a meal. Your child may enjoy doing a separate plate for each meal of the day.
Feed Me!
Here is a fun way to help your child start to make healthy food choices.
Instead of making the head, you can purchase a bean-bag target face for the same purpose.
Activity for an individual child
Age group: 30–40 months
Duration of activity: 45 minutes
Scissors
1 large sheet poster board or cardboard
Markers and crayons
Food pictures cut from magazines
Cut a large head (approximately the size of a beach ball) out of poster board. Cut out a hole for the mouth.
Have your child help you decorate the head.
Provide your child with a variety of magazine clippings of food pictures. Be sure to have a wide selection of both nutritious and junk foods. Ask your child to feed the head with only those foods that are nutritious.
Sparkle Germs
Young children are often resistant to washing their hands. It is hard for them to understand things that they cannot see. Here is a concrete way to teach them about germs and the importance of washing hands.