• Design a simple puzzle for your toddler by gluing an interesting picture to a cardboard and cutting it into five or six pieces. It’s easy and cost-efficient!
• Engage your toddler in playing with dress-up clothes with buttons and zippers.
• Allow him or her to enjoy tearing those scrap papers of yours. Over an empty basin or box, probably. It will make for easier clean-up!
• Make play dough that your toddler can roll, pound, and squeeze. Here’s how: mix together 2 cups flour, 1 cup salt, 1 cup water, and 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil. Put food coloring in the water if desired. Add more flour if the dough is sticky. Store in an air-tight plastic bag or container until it is not sticky anymore. Wooden popsicle sticks and cookie cutters may be used instead of real knives that may come out to be unsafe.
• Remember to keep safe all the time! Let an older toddler use safe kitchen tools–a wooden spoon, plastic knives and forks, to use with play dough.

Provide and allow the kids to do simple chores. Toddlers use the muscles in their fingers and hands to do things for themselves.

• Follow a basic schedule and stick to it. Planning your day allows time for your toddler to wash, dress, and feed him- or herself. The child may take longer to put on sneakers than you do, but him saying, “Me do it!” or “Ako na!” are markers of pride.
• Arrange your home in a toddler-friendly manner. A refillable pump soap dispenser is easier for your toddler to use than a bar of soap, and a small plastic cup fits in the toddler’s hand. Keep the child’s toothbrush where he or she can reach it.
• Oftentimes toddlers imitate chores such as sweeping or mopping the floor, mixing up a beverage or simply switching off the electric fan. Allow and not hinder their desire, for as long as it is safe. It will be easy to just say, “You’re too little to do that” or “Marurumihan ka!” But remember that words such as those are discouraging and spirit-dampening. Let them give it a try. Sure, the task will take longer to do but it is confidence-building for him or her.

Toddlers learn most experimentially. They learn about writing by scribbling, watching you write, and seeing words around them.

• Look for inexpensive large pads of paper and large, nontoxic crayons, and washable markers. Save scrap paper and paper bags. Keep a supply of drawing and writing materials where your toddler can reach them.
• Invite your toddler to get some paper and crayons so you can write together. The child will learn about writing by watching you make a list, sign a check, or do a crossword puzzle. The child might even begin to scribble after observing. His or her scribbles are a way of copying what you are writing.
• Point to written words around you and read them out loud to your toddler. “Here comes our bus. It says ‘Baguio‘ on the front. That’s where we’re going.” “The speed limit reads 40 kph. Forty is four-zero.”

The post How to Help Build Your Toddler’s Muscles For Writing appeared first on Wild Edisons.

Monitor your toddler very closely with this activity. Make sure that the bottle is always pointed away from their face and at the object they are supposed to be spraying.

Instruct your toddler to spray in batches of 3 and to count as they spray. That way, they practice their counting while keeping the amount of spray at a reasonable level.

To mix things up a bit, try trading places. Sometimes, they get to spray while you wipe. Sometimes, they get to wipe while you spray.

Your toddler can help you by…

• Spraying the glass cleaner while you wipe down the windows
• Spraying the dust polish while you wipe down the furniture
• Spraying air freshener
• Spraying odor eliminator on couch cushions and pillows

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From the Toddler App Developer

Welcome to Fish School HD – with letters, numbers, shapes, colors, matching, and more! Brought to you by the creators of Wheels on the Bus, an award-winning, educational iPhone app – featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, San Francisco Chronicle, Gizmodo, Discovery Channel, MSNBC.com, Wired.com, and Daily Candy.

Get Fish School HD Today!

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I quickly discovered a few things. First, I am not really into sugar cookies. Second, there is a reason why folks only make cookies on holidays. The mess, the time, the hassle. Did I mention the mess? After just a few cookie baking binges, the beautiful box of cookie cutters was relegated to a dusty shelf where it was forgotten until I had a toddler. Now, we use them a few times a week for all sorts of activities.

Play Doh
Play Doh is just great with cookie cutters. It does not require a lot of ingredients, mixing bowls, measuring cups, and spoons. It does not have to be carefully cut on a floured surface. It does not have to be baked and it does not have to be iced.

Give your cookie cutters new life by letting your toddler use them with Play Doh. Talk about the shapes and letters. Ask your toddler which color Play Doh would make a good star.

Sandwich or Pancake Fun
Turn meal time into learning time by cutting your toddlers sandwich, pancakes, etc. into letters or shapes.

Tracing Activity
Trace around some cookie cutters of trees, stars, etc. Then, let your toddler decorate the shapes.

Sand Shapes
Press cookie cutters into wet sand. Stamp out the alphabet or a scene and then erase it and start again.

Sponge Painting
Trace the cookie cutter shapes on to sponges. Cut out the shapes and let your toddler use the sponges to stamp out fun pictures.

Felt Scenes
Find some shapes that go together and trace them on to appropriately colored felt. Use a piece of felt as a background and let your toddler create scenes with the shapes.

Lacing Cards
Trace larger shapes on to cardboard. Then, use a hole punch to make holes along the edges. Give your toddler a shoe lace and let them practice their lacing.

Cinnamon Dough Ornaments
Do a quick internet search for a cinnamon dough ornament recipe and make crafty ornaments that smell good enough to eat.

Greeting Cards
Trace cookie cutters on to construction paper and use the shapes to decorate cards for any occasion.

The post Toddler Activities with 101 Cookie Cutters appeared first on Wild Edisons.

Target fine motor skills: Toddlers have the energy and curiosity to make trying new more advanced activities fun. These are the years when learn hand to eye coordination, so seek out activities that help them practice fine motor skills. Activities like stacking blocks, finger painting, or working a simple puzzle will help your child expand her fine motor skills. While this type of play doesn’t look like much, your toddler is developing the muscles and coordination that will later help her to hold a pencil and eventually write her own name.

Keep it simple: Activities that keep your toddler healthy and engaged don’t need to be complex or elaborate. Most toddlers will play with just about anything! Most toddlers explore enough on their own to provide them with the exercise they need to stay healthy. All they need is the opportunity, and a safe place to play. Encourage your toddler to explore by offering a safe environment and a selection of interesting objects to explore. If you baby-proofed when your child was born, it is probably time to take a fresh look at your home—toddlers can get into more trouble, and reach more areas than infants can!

Play with others: Children who don’t have others to play with are less likely to be active. Consider joining a play group, or visiting a park or playground. The change of scenery will give your toddler lots of time to explore, and you may make a few new friends as well!

Play with your toddler: A bonus to taking on the position as your toddler’s fitness guide is that you can reap the benefits as well. Toddler love to play tag and you can enjoy a quick game of tag with your toddler every day. You don’t have to be able to run fast to play and your toddler will love the individual time that he or she gets with you.

Practice gross motor skills: Another way to keep toddlers on the move is to have a ready assortment of balls of all sizes. Provide age appropriate basketball goals, plastic bats, and any other sports equipment you can find. They will spend hours throwing, kicking, and hitting things across the back yard. The movements that your toddler will make will keep him fit—and help him develop the gross motor skills he will need as a “big kid”.

Work together: Avoid the temptation to put your toddler on the back of the bicycle or in the stroller and take off for your own exercise routine. Find healthy activities for your toddler’s benefit and yours as well. It may take a little longer to make it around the block, but if you let your toddler lead the way, a simple trot around the neighborhood will do you both a world of good.

Adopt healthy attitudes and habits yourself, and bring your toddler along for the ride. The healthy habits you instill in her today will stick with her, and foster a lifelong love of fitness and exercise.

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The game is simple. The screen shows a word with a picture and then your toddler drags letters onto the word to spell it. When your toddler is finished, the picture makes a noise and moves so that they know they did it right. I am not doing it justice. You just have to try it out yourself. All I know is that my son can happily spend an hour playing this toddler app, and that is worth its weight in gold.

From the Toddler App Developer
The best-selling reading game for kids is now available with more words than ever before! First Words: Deluxe provides endless fun for the toddlers in your life, all while giving your child a head start on learning their letters and learning to spell words.

First Words: Deluxe is toddler-tested and approved, with a user-interface designed specifically for the littlest of fingers. The game includes 147 words, including:

== 44 animals
== 35 vehicles
== 14 colors
== 22 shapes
== 32 words from around the house

A wide range of options let you tune the game to match your child’s current skills and abilities.

If your child is old enough to ask for your phone, they’re old enough for First Words: Deluxe!

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I have seen activities where you write on a piece of paper, cover it with plastic wrap, and then have your toddler use a dry erase marker to trace what you wrote. If that method works for you, great! It never really came out as planned for us. Things slipped and slid, and we ended up getting marker all over the place.

So, I started using a chalkboard. Just hold a piece of chalk sideways and use it to coat the entire board. Then, use your finger to draw letters of the alphabet. Give your toddler the chalk and have them trace the letters. When they have finished, just use the chalk to scribble over it and do it again. Easy cheesy…

Be sure to check out this other WildEdisons.com post: Alphabet Tracing Activities for Toddlers and Preschoolers

Products Relating to Alphabet Tracing

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