activities

Activities for Little Ones

Try one of these tried and true ideas with your children.

1. Discovery basket

Fill a basket with little things from around the house such as small forgotten toys, seeds, kitchen utensils, etc. Ask your child to organize the items by categories of their choosing. For an added bonus, ask them if they know where they belong and get them to return them to their proper place.

2. Paper towel roll chute game

Tape a cardboard paper towel roll to the wall (or a toilet paper roll) and encourage your child to drop cotton balls or ping pong balls into it. Watch how quickly they catch on and have fun with this "into-the-chute" game! This game can be adapted to older children by having them create a marble chute game.

3. Water bottle shakers

Empty a water bottle and then fill it with popcorn, rocks, rice, etc. or let your child fill them using a funnel. Tape the cap on to be extra safe and you've got a homemade instrument.

4. Messy painting - Hand and foot painting

There are so many fun handprint and footprint animals you can make with your little ones' hands or feet. Plus, the feeling of the cool paint on their hands and feet is a fun new sensation for children. Google images and Pinterest has loads of examples. You can spread the joy by mailing these masterpieces to friends and family.

5. Good old-fashioned water paints and paper

This is always a childhood favorite!

6. Playing with food

You can “paint" a lot of fun things using yogurt or applesauce and have a snack while you're at it!

7. Mess-free painting – Water Painting

Let your little one paint a masterpiece on some colored construction paper with water and a paintbrush. Bonus: The cleanup is simple and easy!

8. Sensory bottles

Add a few drops of food coloring to water bottles along with glitter and knickknacks like beads. Tape on the top and watch as your little one is amazed by tipping the bottle around.

9. Cereal necklaces

Let your little one string some Cheerios onto a piece of yarn or a pipe cleaner and create a little necklace. This activity is great for fine motor skills!

10. Sand doodles

Take a small box, draw some squiggly or straight lines on the inside, pour sand over it and encourage your little one to trace along the lines.

11. Music makers

Take an empty tissue box, wrap a few rubber bands around it and you have a makeshift harp! Your little one will love plucking the rubber bands and listening to the sounds that come out.

12. Sorting balls with a spoon

Set out two bowls and fill one bowl with ping-pong or golf balls. Then let your little one work on transferring the balls with a slotted spoon to the empty bowl. This is a great activity for hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills.

13. Sticky note peek-a-boo

Print off some pictures of family members you can’t see due to Coronavirus. Put a sticky note over the top. Then encourage your child to play “peek-a-boo" with the relatives!

14. Sock puppets

Grab a few old socks, draw faces on the tops with a fabric marker and have a puppet show! You can let them slide the socks on their hands to use, too.

15. Paper window mosaics

Tissue paper and press-n-seal food savers make for great window mosaics. Cut up some pieces of colorful paper and let your little one stick it to a window that gets a lot of sunlight. They will love watching the colors shine through the house.

16. Cardboard tunnel or fort

Save those Amazon boxes and craft a tunnel or fort to crawl through.