Summer Activities for Toddlers
Summer is in full swing and at this point there are basically two mindsets for parents:
1. Summer is flying by!
2. Summer is crawling by...
Whatever head-space you find yourself in, there are still several weeks left to enjoy and, subsequently, entertain our toddlers. We can all agree that we want our kiddos to all have the best summer ever - but during these last few waining weeks, we're all a little desperate to keep entertaining. Here are a few things we've been doing this summer and plan to keep doing all summer long!
1. Cook
I love to cook and bake and just be in the kitchen. And within the past year, my girls have shown quite the interest for anything I am doing in the kitchen. They'll walk in and ask what I am doing or making. Without fail, they'll always ask to stir something. So if I am making something that they can help with, I will include them with the prep!
At their age, they are a little too young to do too much with the stove or oven. Casseroles, pancakes, cookies, and muffins have been a great hit in having them help. I typically go ahead and measure all the ingredients out into individual measuring cups and bowls and have them pour in what I need when it's time. It's also a nice way for older toddlers to count, recognize numbers on measuring cups, or even start learning about measuring!
2. Chores
Toddlers are so interested in everything we are doing on a daily basis - and even though chores aren't exiting for adults, they are for children! Use that excitement to instill good habits! Plus they mostly just love helping and being included. My girls love nothing more than having a spray bottle (of water) and a paper towel to clean the windows, doors, and mirrors they can reach - and they don't do a bad job either! They also love carrying their clothes to the laundry room and starting the laundry. And using their toy brooms when I am sweeping. Now, if I could only get them to love cleaning up their toys.
3. Art
Watercolor paint, finger paint, coloring, drawing, making things out of Play Doh, painting bird houses, sun catchers, hand-print keepsakes, make slime, and the list goes on. And on. And on. Even just picking up a new coloring book or watercolor paint book at Target during a trip is thrilling to my girls! We found some fun Sun Catchers at the Target Dollar Spot a few months back. They've been so proud to paint them and hang them in the window (these are also great gifts for grandparents!).
4. Library
Our library offers a TON of activities and events throughout the summer. I know not all libraries offer this much, but definitely call yours and see what they do offer! Our favorite activity is Toddler Time. Once a week our library will have three different sessions (for three different toddler age groups) and the children get to sing, dance, play (crawl through tunnels and play with those parachutes from PE class back in elementary school, remember those?), read a story, do a related art project, and then get a snack afterwards! So much fun, learning, and interacting!
My girls thoroughly love it and we've also started going to the children's library afterwards and the girls get to pick out a few books each to check out and take home. We all look forward to it! They also have a movie night each week for kids!
5. Other Public (And FREE) Activities
Many large (and probably small too) businesses offer free things/events for kids during the summer. Michael's, Home Depot, Bass Pro Shops, Barnes & Noble, Apple Store, and Disney Store just to name a few. See if any art studios (you know, where you go and everyone paints the same picture) offer classes for kids too!
We've been going to Micheal's and doing their Camp Creativity - each week is a summer theme and it's available Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. It's about $2, but Fridays are free! There's also a Kids Camp on Saturdays.
Our Home Depot has an event in August for making wooden "Book Worm" book ends and Bass Pro has events during the weekends. There's so much out there! Ask around, check out business's websites or FB pages and take advantage of these freebies!
6. Organized Activities
Swimming, gymnastics, or dance. This summer we are doing swimming lessons, but last summer we also did gymnastics. Check out your local YMCA (you don't have to be a member) or your city's public services/events and I'm sure you can find something fun to do each week!
Just about every church has a vacation bible school every summer too!
7. Letter of the Week
Now, don't expect your toddler to recognize all 26 letters and identify the sound that each one makes by Labor Day, BUT you could definitely start introducing letters and sounds - especially the letters that are in their names! They don't need to learn letters in alphabetical order, that will eventually come. Letters s, a, m, and t are also very common in sight words and a good place to start - for my girls, their names start with /s/ and /a/ so we have been working on those so far this summer!
It's important that they recognize the letter AND the sound the letter makes! I plan a lot of our activities and foods around the letters too - for the week of letter A we ate apples, applesauce, almonds, avocado, and asparagus. Find airplanes in the sky and ants on the ground. And any time you say a word that starts with the letter, make sure you put a ton of emphasis on the sound in makes - "A is for aaaaaaaaapple". Stay consistent and they'll catch on!
7. Read
I know this seems like an obvious thing to do with your child - year round - but sometimes life gets so busy, a couple days will pass by, and I realize we haven't read one book! Now, my girls look at books daily, but I'm talking about designated time when the television is off and we are on the beanbags or in the tent reading books together.
Remember my library recommendation earlier? Read those books! My girls have no problem reading a book fives times in one sitting (which makes me want to lock myself in a closet, but we do it!) - you could also read books that correlate with the Letter of the Week.
8. Play in the Rain
Possibly cliched, but hear me out! Sweet summer times provides endless afternoon rain showers! Usually when the rain starts coming down, everyone runs in the house. Instead, stay outside! Show the kids how to look up and open their mouth to catch drops, let them jump around and splash in puddles, and let them dig for worms or make mud pies.
When you're done, rinse them off with a water hose, and dry them off. They'll think it's the best thing ever (I promise!) and it's also a great way to introduce the earth's water cycle to those interested minds! Once you go inside, you could do this fun experiment.
9. Garden
I don't know about your toddlers, but both of mine could play and dig in dirt all. the. day. long. Kids are just drawn to it! Feed that interest and let them pick out a few flowers and vegetables at your local home improvement store. They can plant them in the yard or in pots (that they could pick out and/or paint themselves). Each day they can check on the plants, water them, and watch the fruits of their labor. If a garden isn't something you can do, I've seen super cute Fairy Gardens you can buy on Amazon or at Target.
10. Nature Walk
Going on nature walks have been the best things for my girls! They get their buckets and shovels and we walk the block! For our first walk, I talked to them about looking for rocks, leaves, sticks, bugs, flowers, butterflies, and anything else they might see in their path. I mean, this really rocks their world - we will get only three houses down the block and their buckets are overflowing! They are exerting lots of energy and learning! We talk about different colors, shapes, and sizes of the things they pick up. We've learned a little about bumble bees and the life cycle of a caterpillar. There are so many benefits to walking and exploring!
11. (Bonus!) Christmas in July
We've been wearing our Christmas jammies pretty much all month long. We've also watched Olaf's Frozen Adventure and A Charlie Brown Christmas. We've checked out a few Christmas books from the library and earlier this week we went into Hobby Lobby and looked at all the trees and ornaments. I've pulled a few Christmas blankets too! I imagine before the month is over we will do some sort of Christmas hand/foot print craft as well.
Other things my girls have just loved this summer:
Water Table - they could literally play all day with this thing. Sprinkler are great too!
Ice Cream Truck - see if you have one locally and ask them to come by your neighborhood.
Sidewalk chalk and bubbles - obviously, but it never (ever!) gets old.
Flying a Kite - pray for the Lord to send some wind your way!
Help with washing the car - they'll end up just playing in the suds, but they'll love it either way.
Lemonade Stand (if they're big enough)
Make a bird feeder - we haven't made one, but we have one by a window and they love watching.
Go feed ducks at a local park/pond
At some point, we are all just grabbing for straws to entertain the kiddos on these hot summer days. Some afternoons we watch a movie - other days we are outside.
I hope this list can give you the boost you may need to get through the rest of the summer without too much stress or anxiety around what are we going to do today? Good luck, mamas! I'm throwing up my Katniss three-finger salute to you!
Let me know what else you've been doing or plan to do for the remainder of the summer!
1. Summer is flying by!
2. Summer is crawling by...
Whatever head-space you find yourself in, there are still several weeks left to enjoy and, subsequently, entertain our toddlers. We can all agree that we want our kiddos to all have the best summer ever - but during these last few waining weeks, we're all a little desperate to keep entertaining. Here are a few things we've been doing this summer and plan to keep doing all summer long!
1. Cook
I love to cook and bake and just be in the kitchen. And within the past year, my girls have shown quite the interest for anything I am doing in the kitchen. They'll walk in and ask what I am doing or making. Without fail, they'll always ask to stir something. So if I am making something that they can help with, I will include them with the prep!
At their age, they are a little too young to do too much with the stove or oven. Casseroles, pancakes, cookies, and muffins have been a great hit in having them help. I typically go ahead and measure all the ingredients out into individual measuring cups and bowls and have them pour in what I need when it's time. It's also a nice way for older toddlers to count, recognize numbers on measuring cups, or even start learning about measuring!
Making cookies with their cousin.
Eating the batter off the mixers.
Helping make this casserole.
2. Chores
Toddlers are so interested in everything we are doing on a daily basis - and even though chores aren't exiting for adults, they are for children! Use that excitement to instill good habits! Plus they mostly just love helping and being included. My girls love nothing more than having a spray bottle (of water) and a paper towel to clean the windows, doors, and mirrors they can reach - and they don't do a bad job either! They also love carrying their clothes to the laundry room and starting the laundry. And using their toy brooms when I am sweeping. Now, if I could only get them to love cleaning up their toys.
3. Art
Watercolor paint, finger paint, coloring, drawing, making things out of Play Doh, painting bird houses, sun catchers, hand-print keepsakes, make slime, and the list goes on. And on. And on. Even just picking up a new coloring book or watercolor paint book at Target during a trip is thrilling to my girls! We found some fun Sun Catchers at the Target Dollar Spot a few months back. They've been so proud to paint them and hang them in the window (these are also great gifts for grandparents!).
4. Library
Our library offers a TON of activities and events throughout the summer. I know not all libraries offer this much, but definitely call yours and see what they do offer! Our favorite activity is Toddler Time. Once a week our library will have three different sessions (for three different toddler age groups) and the children get to sing, dance, play (crawl through tunnels and play with those parachutes from PE class back in elementary school, remember those?), read a story, do a related art project, and then get a snack afterwards! So much fun, learning, and interacting!
My girls thoroughly love it and we've also started going to the children's library afterwards and the girls get to pick out a few books each to check out and take home. We all look forward to it! They also have a movie night each week for kids!
Many large (and probably small too) businesses offer free things/events for kids during the summer. Michael's, Home Depot, Bass Pro Shops, Barnes & Noble, Apple Store, and Disney Store just to name a few. See if any art studios (you know, where you go and everyone paints the same picture) offer classes for kids too!
We've been going to Micheal's and doing their Camp Creativity - each week is a summer theme and it's available Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. It's about $2, but Fridays are free! There's also a Kids Camp on Saturdays.
Our Home Depot has an event in August for making wooden "Book Worm" book ends and Bass Pro has events during the weekends. There's so much out there! Ask around, check out business's websites or FB pages and take advantage of these freebies!
Making slime at Michael's! They do this every Friday and it's FREE!
6. Organized Activities
Swimming, gymnastics, or dance. This summer we are doing swimming lessons, but last summer we also did gymnastics. Check out your local YMCA (you don't have to be a member) or your city's public services/events and I'm sure you can find something fun to do each week!
Just about every church has a vacation bible school every summer too!
7. Letter of the Week
Now, don't expect your toddler to recognize all 26 letters and identify the sound that each one makes by Labor Day, BUT you could definitely start introducing letters and sounds - especially the letters that are in their names! They don't need to learn letters in alphabetical order, that will eventually come. Letters s, a, m, and t are also very common in sight words and a good place to start - for my girls, their names start with /s/ and /a/ so we have been working on those so far this summer!
It's important that they recognize the letter AND the sound the letter makes! I plan a lot of our activities and foods around the letters too - for the week of letter A we ate apples, applesauce, almonds, avocado, and asparagus. Find airplanes in the sky and ants on the ground. And any time you say a word that starts with the letter, make sure you put a ton of emphasis on the sound in makes - "A is for aaaaaaaaapple". Stay consistent and they'll catch on!
I put our letter of the week on our chalk board wall so the girls will constantly see it.
7. Read
I know this seems like an obvious thing to do with your child - year round - but sometimes life gets so busy, a couple days will pass by, and I realize we haven't read one book! Now, my girls look at books daily, but I'm talking about designated time when the television is off and we are on the beanbags or in the tent reading books together.
Remember my library recommendation earlier? Read those books! My girls have no problem reading a book fives times in one sitting (which makes me want to lock myself in a closet, but we do it!) - you could also read books that correlate with the Letter of the Week.
8. Play in the Rain
Possibly cliched, but hear me out! Sweet summer times provides endless afternoon rain showers! Usually when the rain starts coming down, everyone runs in the house. Instead, stay outside! Show the kids how to look up and open their mouth to catch drops, let them jump around and splash in puddles, and let them dig for worms or make mud pies.
When you're done, rinse them off with a water hose, and dry them off. They'll think it's the best thing ever (I promise!) and it's also a great way to introduce the earth's water cycle to those interested minds! Once you go inside, you could do this fun experiment.
9. Garden
I don't know about your toddlers, but both of mine could play and dig in dirt all. the. day. long. Kids are just drawn to it! Feed that interest and let them pick out a few flowers and vegetables at your local home improvement store. They can plant them in the yard or in pots (that they could pick out and/or paint themselves). Each day they can check on the plants, water them, and watch the fruits of their labor. If a garden isn't something you can do, I've seen super cute Fairy Gardens you can buy on Amazon or at Target.
This is a huge garden at my parent's house and the girls go to pick some cucumber and tomatoes off the plants. Here at home, they've helped plant flowers and a few veggies/herbs in the yard.
Going on nature walks have been the best things for my girls! They get their buckets and shovels and we walk the block! For our first walk, I talked to them about looking for rocks, leaves, sticks, bugs, flowers, butterflies, and anything else they might see in their path. I mean, this really rocks their world - we will get only three houses down the block and their buckets are overflowing! They are exerting lots of energy and learning! We talk about different colors, shapes, and sizes of the things they pick up. We've learned a little about bumble bees and the life cycle of a caterpillar. There are so many benefits to walking and exploring!
11. (Bonus!) Christmas in July
We've been wearing our Christmas jammies pretty much all month long. We've also watched Olaf's Frozen Adventure and A Charlie Brown Christmas. We've checked out a few Christmas books from the library and earlier this week we went into Hobby Lobby and looked at all the trees and ornaments. I've pulled a few Christmas blankets too! I imagine before the month is over we will do some sort of Christmas hand/foot print craft as well.
Other things my girls have just loved this summer:
Water Table - they could literally play all day with this thing. Sprinkler are great too!
Ice Cream Truck - see if you have one locally and ask them to come by your neighborhood.
Sidewalk chalk and bubbles - obviously, but it never (ever!) gets old.
Flying a Kite - pray for the Lord to send some wind your way!
Help with washing the car - they'll end up just playing in the suds, but they'll love it either way.
Lemonade Stand (if they're big enough)
Make a bird feeder - we haven't made one, but we have one by a window and they love watching.
Go feed ducks at a local park/pond
At some point, we are all just grabbing for straws to entertain the kiddos on these hot summer days. Some afternoons we watch a movie - other days we are outside.
I hope this list can give you the boost you may need to get through the rest of the summer without too much stress or anxiety around what are we going to do today? Good luck, mamas! I'm throwing up my Katniss three-finger salute to you!
Let me know what else you've been doing or plan to do for the remainder of the summer!
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