If you weren’t inspired by our last list of suggestions, here are some more that might make your toddler smile while you spend most of your time indoors together during lockdown.
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Joe Wicks 5 minute workouts: There are a number of these on YouTube and at just five minutes, they get your toddler’s heart rate up without exhausting them for the rest of the day. So if it’s raining outside and you don’t want to venture out in your wellies and waterproofs- this is a great way to get in some exercise for the day.
Storytime: Ask your little one to choose a book and snuggle up under a blanket while you read it to them. Try to get them to engage with the book as much as possible by following the words with their finger and pointing out colours, animals, numbers and letters within the illustrations. If their attention span will allow, keep changing out the books until they get bored.
Number hunt: Go on a hunt with your toddler to find numbers on everyday things such as the TV remote, the back of a tissue box, magazines that are lying around or letters and then ask them to tell you what the number is. You will be surprised how many numbers you can find around your home when you are looking for them.
Build a den: Throw a large sheet over your dining room table, over some chairs or your couch and secure with pegs if you need to. Then what you do in the den is up to you- you could play with their favourite toys, have a healthy snack, try some imaginative play or read a book, just make the most of the space you have created together.
Animal hospital: Buy some cheap first aid supplies or use some you already have in the home (if you have spares) and choose some stuffed animals to be the patients who are ‘poorly’ and need help to get better. Your toddler can put plasters and bandages on them, lay them down to rest in a bed and give them food and water as well as ‘medicine’. If you have a play medical kit, it’s the perfect accompaniment to this activity so you don’t have to buy anything new or use up what you have lying around.
Decorate their initials: You can draw a large outline of their initials or their whole first name and ask your little one to decorate it with paint, crayons, glitter, pompoms- whatever they have in their craft box and then, once it’s dry you can display it proudly on the fridge!
‘Feed’ the colander: A simple yet effective exercise to help with your toddler’s coordination skills is to give them an upturned colander and some pipe cleaners. Demonstrate how to ‘post’ the pipe cleaners through the holes in the colander and encourage them to copy you. Once they have completed this task, take them all out and start again!
RELATED: Parenting: Seven activities to do with toddlers in lockdown
Go camping: If your toddler already has a tent you are halfway there, but if not you could always drape a sheet over the top of your dining room table or peg a bath towel between some chairs to create your tent. Then go outside and collect some sticks for your campfire. If you don’t want to venture out into the cold anything long can give the impression of firewood- some train tracks or uncooked spaghetti could work just as well. Toss some cushions and a blanket in your tent for your sleeping bag and pretend to cook marshmallows or snuggle up inside until the ‘storm’ passes, turn off the lights and take in a torch with you to make hand puppets. While you may not be able to go camping for real, you can still pretend you are in the middle of a giant field ready for your next adventure… to read more click HERE
