Quick & Easy Teacher Approved Educational Activities For Toddlers

Educational activities contributed by Katherine Brazil of Casa De Bambini Learning Center

Ask any teacher and they’ll tell you how important it is for kids to continue learning at home.

But what if you’re slammed with work or other responsibilities? Can you still help your little angel improve on her skills with limited time?

Definitely!

Preschool teacher Katherine has graciously given us FUN, EASY and FREE educational activities to help toddlers and junior nursery students have better cognitive, fine motor, affective and rote memory skills. What’s the best part? They can all be done in under 30 minutes.

Before proceeding, here are a few definitions you may want to know:

• Cognitive skills – The ability to acquire knowledge from experiences, thoughts and senses.

• Fine motor skills – Small muscle movements – of the fingers, wrists, hands, tongue, lips, toes and feet – that require more precision. This post focuses on improving hand movements.

• Affective skills – Related to children’s attributes or qualities such as sharing, being helpful or being friendly. This skill helps develop EQ or the emotional quotient.

• Rote memory – Learning through memorization.

Now that’s done, let’s get to Teacher Katherine’s suggested educational activities:

1. Colorful Bottle Caps Game

Creative Commons Flickr via adie reed

Did you know that these BIG or small bottle caps we usually throw in the garbage can help little ones recognize colors?

Collect some bottle caps and wash them with soap and water to make sure they are clean. Place 3 – 5 caps on the table and sing the words below to the tune of Are You Sleeping (click here to hear the song):

Where is (say a color)?
Where is (say a color)?
Is it here?
Is it here?
Show me if you can.
Show me if you can.
Where is (say the color)?
Where is (say the color)?

Allow your child to show you the bottle cap with the color you asked for.

Skill(s) improved: Teaching your child color recognition will help develop cognitive skills.

Here’s a bonus: The activity itself is also enjoyable for your toddler because kids love learning through music.

2. Let’s Play Dough

Creative Commons Flickr via lovelihood

Making clay dough with your child is fun and simple. The ingredients needed are:

• 1/4 cup salt
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 cup flour

Mix flour and salt in a bowl then add water. Knead and squeeze the dough to make a clay consistency. You may need to add more water before reaching the desired consistency.

Next, divide the dough into sections, then knead in food coloring (liquid or paste) to make different colors. Kids love watching white clay change colors.

When the homemade clay dough is ready, teach your child how to pound and roll it. Help her to form shapes, numbers or letters out of the clay. Note: This dough doesn’t last as long as the cooked recipes.

Skill(s) improved: Fine motor skills are developed as your toddler makes her own clay dough (she will knead, squeeze, roll, pound the clay etc.). Helping your kid form shapes, numbers and letters also develops cognitive skills.

But that’s not all. Affective skills are also developed because your kid has the opportunity to socialize with you more through the activity. How? By learning to wait for turns or to value teamwork.

3. Shoot The Ball Game

Creative Commons Flickr via beatboxbadhabit

Kids love to play with balls. They like to roll, kick, throw and catch it. Here’s one activity you can do to combine their love of balls while introducing rote counting.

Ask your child to shoot as many balls in one basket for 1 minute. Get the basket and count the balls with your child to find out how many were shot in the basket.

Skill(s) improved: Both cognitive and fine motor skills are developed as your child shoots and counts the ball(s) in the basket. She will also learn to count with one-to-one correspondence.

I know you want to spend as much time as you can with your toddler. However, let’s be realistic. Life isn’t always time permitting.

The good news is with these easy educational activities, you can spend quality time with your child while helping her develop skills. All in doable 30-minute sessions.

Hey busy mom, here’s your challenge…

Pick 3 days to assign each 30-minute activity to. Think you’re up for it?

If you know another parent who’d benefit from this, help them out by using one of the share buttons below.