Category: Activities

Materials       
Ball of brown play dough
A few pieces of uncooked spaghetti
Chocolate Cheerios

Directions       
Make a ball of brown play dough to act as a base for the spaghetti.  Insert the spaghetti pieces securely into the play dough.  You can break the spaghetti so that some pieces are shorter than others.  Show your child how to thread a piece of the cereal onto the spaghetti and push it down to the bottom.  Our rule is that if you come across a piece of broken cereal, you have to eat it!  (But plenty will get consumed even without the rule!)

This is a great fine-motor skill, and requires both hands to be successful.  And using the chocolate cereal makes it a fulfilling activity for your child!

Materials       
Tub of pristine freshly fallen snow
4 or 5 simple items for your baby to grab
Bath towel for your baby to sit on

Directions       
We recently had the first snowfall of the season, and the novelty of it inspired me to introduce snow indoors to Baby C., who is 9 months old.  I spread out a bath towel on the floor for Baby C. to sit on and to absorb any melting snow.  I also put a few colorful plastic geometric shapes, halfway hidden in the snow to pique Baby C.’s interest.  She reached out to touch the snow, then patted it, as if she wasn’t too familiar with the stuff.  Then she picked up a small amount and it went right to her mouth, which was not surprising.  Babies are very sensory creatures and make connections with their world through touching, smelling, examining closely, hearing and of course, mouthing/tasting. After Baby C. had tasted some of the snow, she went for the half-hidden shapes, and proceeded to pull them out of the tub and put them into her mouth, licking the snow almost like she would from a spoon.  I’ll be interested to try this experience again when it snows, and she’s a little older, to see what she does!

Materials
1 empty plastic bottle (Voss water bottles work well!)     
Acorns 
Small bowl or basket

Directions
Place acorns that you and your child have gathered into a small plastic bowl or basket. Provide an empty plastic bottle. Invite your child to pick up one acorn at a time using the pincer grasp (thumb and index finger) and drop the acorn into the plastic bottle. Continue until your child loses interest. Pour the acorns out and count them with your child before placing them back into the bowl or basket.

Materials
Tempera paint (orange, red, yellow, brown)
Bundle of Q-Tips
Large piece of construction paper
Paint brush
Paper plate

Directions
Help your child paint a large bare tree with a trunk and bare branches. While the paint is drying, bundle about 10 Q-Tips together using a rubber band. Place a small amount of yellow, orange, and red tempera paint on a paper plate.  Once the painted tree has dried, invite your child to use the bundle of Q-Tips and dip them into one of the colors of tempera paint. Press the Q-Tips onto the paper. Choose a different color and continue painting “leaves” on the tree and on the ground. This makes a beautiful fall tree apinting. Display.

Materials
Dried kidney beans
Pine cones
Acorns
Leaves
Magnifying glass

Directions
Fill a large container with dried kidney beans and materials found outside on a fall nature hike. Invite your child to pour, touch, and use a magnifying glass to observe all the natural objects in the bin.

Materials
Leaves gathered from a nature hike
Various colors of tempera paint
Construction paper
Sponge dish wand
Paper plate

Directions
Place a small amount of different color paints on a paper plate. Using the sponge dish wand, invite your child to dab the wand in the paint and paint the backside of a leaf. Assist your child by holding the leaf. Encourage adding different colors of paint. Once the leaf is painted, help your child turn the leaf over and press onto a piece of construction paper. Lift the leaf to see a beautiful leaf print. Continue using different leaves. Allow to dry and display.

Ingredients
Can of Pillsbury Crescent Rolls
Container of Nutella
Small knives for spreading
Cookie Sheet

Directions
Invite your child to help you unroll the crescent roll dough from the can.  Gently pull apart where perforated to make triangles. Place a glob of Nutella on the dough and ask your child to carefully spread the chocolate on top of the dough. Help your child roll the tirangular shape into a crescent shaped croissant, starting with the wide end of the triangle.  Place rolls on a cookie sheet and bake as directed.  Enjoy as a special snack or dessert!

Materials     
1 sheet of white construction paper
1 sheet of black construction paper
Glue stick

Directions      Tearing paper is fun and a great way to practice fine motor skills!  Ditto for using a glue stick to glue the torn paper down!  Take the black sheet of construction paper and show your child how to tear the paper from top to bottom width-wise. Let him try it!  You may have to assist at first by holding the paper at the top so he can tear it.  It doesn’t matter if the torn pieces are uniform or not.  When your child has finished, let him use the glue stick to glue the pieces to the white sheet of paper, with a little space between each strip.  When he’s done, his paper will look like the side of a zebra!

Materials       
White paper
Pizza box
Black tempera paint
2-3 marbles
Plastic spiders from a dollar-type store
Sticky dots, double-sided tape or a drop of Elmer’s glue

Directions       
Cut your paper to fit inside the pizza box.  Squirt (or spoon) a small amount of black tempera across the paper.  Let your toddler drop 2–3 marbles into the box and close the lid securely.  Show your child how to shake the box from side to side, or in a circular direction.  Listen for the marbles rolling around inside.  When your child is done shaking the box, open it carefully and remove the marbles with your fingers or use a spoon. Determine where your child wants to stick the spider, and put your adhesive of choice there.  Let your child place the spider on the spot.  You’ve got a spider on his web!

Materials     
Kitchen whisk
Pompoms

Directions     
Stuff a regular kitchen whisk with pompoms.  Show your baby how to pull a pompom out of the whisk.  Hand the whisk to your baby and let him try to get the pompoms out.  When I did this exercise with Baby T, 7 months, he happily took the whisk from me, looked at it and waved it around.  A couple of pompoms fell out.  He hit his leg inadvertently with the whisk and a few more fell out.  He dropped it at one point, and one or two more fell out.  He waved the whisk around, holding it by the wire end and all the rest fell out except for two jumbo pompoms.  He did not attempt to pull them out.  He just continued waving the whisk around, occasionally mouthing the handle. 

I’ll be interested to try this activity with Baby T in a few months.  As his fine motor coordination develops, I anticipate that he’ll be more inclined to actually pull the pompoms out of the whisk.