Activities for young children are easy to set up and promote a whole array of skills. They’re creative, open-ended, suitable for any age, and mixed with ideas for practicing motor skills through art, sensory play, and simple manipulative and interesting games, and there are so many to choose from!
One of the most prominent ways we can help our children while playing with them at home is by setting up simple activities that help to strengthen fine motor skills. Young children need to be prepared to hold and use scissors and pencils appropriately before using them in a classroom context. We cannot assume them to be able to write if they haven’t yet manifested the strength needed in their hands and fingers.
There are loads of easy ways to strengthen these muscles, practice coordination, and develop hand-eye coordination using simple, everyday materials, and a bit of crazy-fun! There are so many variations you could make from each of these to cater for your own child’s particular interests and learning orders. Let’s quickly learn about these activities.
Letter Hunt
It is as easy as it sounds. You don’t really have to do anything and you just need a pen and a newspaper!
Yes, a newspaper. Handover a page to your little one and ask them to encircle a specific letter of the alphabet. For instance, ask them to circle all the ‘A’ on that page. You can also participate in this hunt and thus make it more fun. To add a little twist you can set a timer and whosoever finds more letters in the given time (say 2 minutes), is the winner!
This activity will help your kid to boost concentration power and patience.
Animal Sounds
Take your toddler’s book of animals that make sounds. Then point to an animal and try to mimic the sound that that animal makes. For example, show them the cow and say, “Look at the cow. The cow says MOO!” Then question your toddler… “What sound does the cow make?” Help them by repeating the animal sounds, until they make the right one. You can also show them some more couple of animals, and then go back to the cow, and see if they remembered the sound of the animals they have encountered so far.
This one will help them in remembering things.
Taking Turns
Taking turns is a game that teaches your toddler the notion of sharing. In this, give your child one of his favorite toys and let him play with it. After some time, ask your child if you can play with his toy. When he gives you his toy, show him how pleased and appreciative you are that he is sharing his toy with you. You can play with that toy for a while. And then give it back to him. If your child is not comfortable in giving that toy, then you shouldn’t feel disheartened. The whole point of this activity is to teach you child sharing. Teach them that they should share their belongings with others, even if it’s their favorite thing. After all, “sharing is caring”.
Simple Chore Is Fun
Get your child a small version of cleaning materials such as a feather duster, broom, a cleaning cloth, and so on. When you are cleaning the house or the garden, ask your toddler to help you with that stuff. Once you taught her then she will enthusiastically copy your motions. Do praise her when she makes an effort to assist, and let her know that her help is appreciated and because of her assistance your work finished a bit early. For some advanced tasks, you can ask her to help you plant seeds or water the plants in the garden.
This can be the commencement of teaching her about some chores and responsibilities.
Arrange a Scavenger Hunt
We all are very well aware of the fact that children are natural investigators and they love to explore. Scavenger hunts can be created beforehand or created on the spot. At the supermarket, search for foods that are of one distinct color (like red) or look for objects of one shape (like a circle) throughout the house. If your child requires assistance, select three objects for her to choose from while asking, “Which object is red? Which object is a circle?” Ask her to explore the bookshelves for a specific letter, word, or number that you’ve already hidden there somewhere. You can also pretend you can’t find the orange juice carton in the fridge or a pair of socks. Send your child on a fun mission to find the items in the house.
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Craft a Collage
It’s time to use those old magazines. You need to cut out different noses, eyes, hair, and other features from those magazines, and then give it to your child. Raise their spirits by letting them make funny creatures or silly faces with the features, then paste with the help of glue onto a piece of paper. Guide them about how to use glue and try not to be too directive with it. Childhood is about uncovering new facts and applying them to theories, so help them make theories and memories.
This activity may raise your child’s creativity and knowledge.
Try a “Stop and Go” Game
You can play some games that involve movements like starting and stopping, such as “red light, green light.” Developing self-control will eventually help children to accommodate, compromise, and work out disagreements without losing their temper.
This activity will teach your Self-control.
Imagine a Train
For this activity, you need a blanket or a towel. Ask your toddler to sit on and hold on tight. After your toddler sits on a towel or blanket, smoothly pull her around the room. Pretend the blanket is a train and that you are stopping at various places, like the zoo, the grocery store, or your kid’s favorite restaurant. This activity can be conducted at home and will also improve her balance and imagination!
Hide Toys
For an easy indoor activity, hide a toy somewhere in the house, and ask your child to locate it. Explore with her, give some clues to guide her.
Through this activity your child will learn several skills like listening, problem-solving, social skills, and also enhance memory.
Opposites
You need to select a few easy opposites, like sad- happy, hot-cold, tall-short. Make flashcards of them. Then by taking turns, you have to act them out. The more you guess, the more you score and thus more chances to win!
You can also encourage them to speak the words.
This will enhance skills like Vocabulary, Cognitive Development, and Knowledge.
Finger Painting
Place newspapers on the table. Then take a piece of paper and stick it to the table and give your toddler some non-toxic paint.
Let your kid take control and paint what their heart desires.
It may be a good idea in considering dressing your kid in old clothes and supervising them.
This will teach your kid some Motor skills, Sensory Skills, and Creativity.
Play Dough
Playdough has enormous potential for learning. Not only does it strengthen fingers in preparation for a lifetime of writing, however, it also teaches fine motor skills, creativity, and coordination between hand and eye. Ask them to make different shapes with different colors and also say their names aloud.
Doll and Character Play
Here we’re not just talking about the girls! Providing characters in the form of mini-figures and dolls (be it barbie or some superhero) allows children to develop their social play. It stimulates the imagination and the expression (and labeling) of feelings.
Music, Dancing, and Singing
Singing and dancing help to develop language and form the basis of knowledge related skills. Moreover, they begin to develop rhythm, whilst also sharpening their listening skills. Dancing helps the child to amplify strength, coordination, and flexibility. A healthy reminder, they could also use a dance partner. So, do enjoy your time with your little one.
These are certain activities that help your kid to kill time and at the same time they’ll make sure that your kid gains some essential skills.