Print Article for : Activities For Toddlers Preschoolers

Your Online Guide » Natural Beauty » Health Tips

[A215]Activities For Toddlers Preschoolers

by Kari Hoopes, Kar

Playing outside isn't always an option. Whatever the weather - too cold, too much snow, rain, too hot, too muddy or too icy - sometimes we are stuck inside with young children who wish they were outside. However, you can certainly have a ton of fun by using some simple creativity and imagination. Here are several super fun ideas for indoor play that your child will delight in.

Make a cardboard puppet theater. A puppet theater can be made from any semi-large to large box. Simply find your box, cut off one of the wider sides and a large rectangular window in the other wide side. Then, with your child, be as creative or simple as you like decorating it. You can use paints, stickers, construction paper, ribbon, crayons, or markers. Basically, whatever you have on hand with work perfectly! After you're done decorating it find a nice spot in your living room to have you and your child take turns putting on a puppet show. You can even practice one to put on for the other parent when they come home from work. You can gather a lot of stuffed animals to be in the audience and teach your child the art of telling stories aloud.

Do you ever wonder what to do with all those left over toilet paper rolls? Well, take two cardboard rolls, glue them together long ways, and you have binoculars! Let your child decorate them with either paint or markers. When it dries take your child with the binoculars on an indoor safari. Place stuffed animals or even pictures of animals all around the house in different rooms. Let your child go on a safari using his binoculars to discover these different animals. At the end of the trail you can read books together about animals.

Have an indoor snowball fight. This works especially well if you have more than one child, but it can still be fun with a parent and one child. First, figure out what you want to use for snowballs. You can blow up tons of white balloons or use crumpled up white paper. Then, construct forts out of couch cushions or chairs and blankets. Constructing this with your child can be a lot of fun in itself. When your forts are ready, begin the snowball fight!

Also, make dinner time an especially fun time. Take a large sheet of crate paper and tape it down to your table. Set the table as usual for dinner, but put out markers, crayons, stickers, glue and googley eyes, on the table. When dinner begins, and while you eat, let your children show their creativity on the crate paper. When they are done, cut out their works of art and display them. The crate paper can be used at any meal, anytime you just want to add a touch of fun to your meal. You can even make it a special Saturday morning breakfast tradition or do it every night for one week at dinner and such.

Have fun with these ideas and add your own touch to them. These ideas can have many variations and even spur your creativity bone. A good idea, if possible is to also prepare for indoor days in advance. When you're at the store, stock up on your child's favorite things like paint, construction paper, and other craft needs. That way, when an unexpected indoor day occurs, you and your child can make it an imaginative day!

I'd have to say the watering can was my absolute favourite! I'd follow my Father around as he tended to the garden, watering everything in sight. My Dad even helped me make a little garden of my very own, and on special occasions like birthdays, I'd plant something new and wait impatiently for it to grow.

I planted pansies once and when they flowered, picked a delightful little bunch and gave it to my Granny who gave me a great big hug!

It's funny how we remember the little things isn't it?

Children love joining parents in everyday activities and gardening is the perfect pastime to teach children about growing things and protecting plants from harm until they grow big and strong.

We live next to a school and I'm sorry to say there are children there who like nothing better than breaking branches and pushing small trees over at lunchtime. It's obvious these children have never had the thrill of growing small plants and harvesting flowers, fruit and vegetables.

A really good place to start with a small garden is growing strawberries. There's something quite like picking a big juicy strawberry that you've grown yourself. It still gives me a thrill!

Here's what to do:

Help your toddler or preschooler prepare a well-drained garden bed or strawberry pot with holes using a good quality soil that contains plenty of compost and animal manure. Do make sure you wear a mask when using these materials, especially if you decide to buy bags of material from the nursery.

Make your visit to the nursery a real adventure and take time wandering through the rows of plants to find the strawberry runners. A punnet or two is all you'll need because if the garden is too big, the child will find it hard to look after and lose interest.

Once home, plant the runners about 16inches apart and carefully place straw round the plants to keep the strawberries off the ground. There's nothing worse than dirty, gritty strawberries!

Every afternoon, make it a special treat to visit the garden bed and inspect progress. Keep an eye out for pests and weeds. And make sure visitors are shown the garden bed or pot as children love explaining what they're doing to make things grow.

Turning your toddler or preschooler into an environmental expert

Nature and children go together like rain and rainbows. There's nothing quite like wondering through a forest with an ever-curious child, looking at the leaf litter and seeing the tiny creatures living there.

Boys love worms and crickets the best, while girls like butterflies and flowers.

You can explain how nature recycles leaves and fallen trees to make food for the forest soil and that you can show them how to do the same thing at home for the garden.

You'll need a kitchen scrap bin, a compost bin, some soil, and animal manure.

Collect all vegetable and fruit peelings, green leaves, apple cores, and torn newspaper but definitely no meat products. Make your child responsible for emptying the kitchen scrap bin every second day or so into the compost bin.

Build the compost in layers by adding soil every few weeks to which horse, cow or chicken manure has been added and keep moist. We have a tumbler compost bin that is excellent for turning the material and produces compost in no time!

Once the material has rotted down, you'll have a wonderful supply of rich fertiliser to use on the garden. What a lovely way to teach your toddler or preschooler about nature looking after the environment.

And don't forget the scarecrow for the garden!

Your toddler or preschooler will enjoy the thought of making a little person to guard their garden.

You'll need some old clothes, a hat and shoes your toddler doesn't need anymore. Use a pair of old tights to make the head by stuffing the top part with rags. Let your child use a permanent pen to add the eyes and mouth. Glue can be used to add a big button for the nose.

Stuff the clothes with straw or old rags and mould into shape. Sew everything together with stout string. Once made, tie the figure to a strong garden stake. Add a crossbar to hold the arms out if needed.

Article Source : Health Spas New York

About Author

Both Kari Hoopes & Carolyn R Morgan are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.

Kari Hoopes has sinced written about articles on various topics from Finances, Health and Payday Loans. Kari Hoopes is the owner of the bath and body workshop where you can learn how work. Follow the link to learn more about her most recent venture,. Kari Hoopes's top article generates over 27100 views. to your Favourites.

Carolyn R Morgan has sinced written about articles on various topics from Health, Kids and Teens and Gardening. Carolyn Morgan is a mother of two and grandmother of one (so far!). She is an artist who loves teaching children how to paint, scribble, draw, grow things, and construct all kinds of interesting toys and other playthings. Carolyn's website http://www.busy. Carolyn R Morgan's top article generates over 3600 views. to your Favourites.