Category: Activities

Ingredients
Brownie mix
Vegetable oil
Eggs
Bowl
Spoon
Baking pan

Directions
Follow the instructions on the box. Invite your child to pour the mix into a bowl, crack the eggs, add the water and oil, mix the batter, and pour it into the baking pan. Talk about the measurements, the changes observed in the batter as new ingredients are added. Bake the brownies. Serve when cool.

Materials
Play gym
Blanket

Directions
On warm days, take the play gym outside and place it on a larger blanket or quilt in the shade. Encourage your baby to reach for items on the play gym.  Moving activities outdoors adds novelty to the experience. 

Materials
Shaving cream
Tempera paints
Straws
Glitter (optional) 

Directions
Cover the bottom of the tray or shallow dish with shaving cream. For a more even surface, spread shaving cream with a rubber spatula.  Add various colors of tempera paint to the shaving cream. Invite your child to help choose the colors.  You can even make simple patterns with the paint.  Encourage your child to use her fingers to swirl and mix the paints. Observe what happens to the colors. If you child doesn’t care to place her hands in the cream, invite her to explore color mixing by using straws, silverware, twigs, etc. Try adding a sprinkle of glitter for a sparkly effect.

Sensory shaving-cream painting was so much fun! The children created interesting patterns that were intriguing and kept them engaged.

For the courageous, you might try having your child paint with their feet!

Materials
Large popsicle sticks
Dot stickers
Pompoms

Directions
Place dot stickers that match the colors of the pompoms on large popsicle sticks in simple patterns. Place pompoms in a small container. Invite your child to place the pompoms on top of the dot stickers to copy the patterns.

Materials
Playdough
Plastic recycleables

Directions
Invite your child to roll playdough out into a pancake shape. Using a variety of plastic recyclables with interesting shapes, encourage your child to make prints with them into the playdough. What fun impressions and patterns than your child make?  Have fun!

Materials
Patterned paint rollers
Construction paper
Tempera paint
Paint tray or paper plates

Directions
Pour tempera paint in paint trays or on paper plates. Tape a piece of construction paper onto the table. Invite your child to roll the foam paint rollers in the paint and then onto the construction paper. Allow the paint to dry. Display.

Materials
One type of object in two different colors—for example, yellow and blue buttons, small table blocks of two different colors (We used yellow and blue unifix cubes.)
Strip of white paper (approximately 3″X12″)
Markers that are the same color as the objects

Directions
Draw a simple pattern on the white strip of paper using the two colors of markers. Invite your child to copy the pattern by building right on top of the pattern on the paper. Say the color as she copies the pattern—blue, yellow, blue, yellow. Continue learning about patterns as your child copies various simple patterns. Let your child know it is a pattern by saying out loud the colors and pointing out how they repeat—blue, blue, yellow, yellow.

Materials
Pipe cleaners
Straws (cut into 1-inch pieces)
Pony beads

Directions
Place pony beads and small cut straws in small bowls or containers. Invite your child to string straws and pony beads onto a pipe cleaner, make a repeating pattern. Fit pipe cleaner onto wrist and twist ends together. Adjust sizing as needed by cutting down the pipe cleaner to the appropriate size. Great fine motor work and a wonderful way to reinforce patterns.

Materials
Two different colors of objects (we used blue and yellow unifix cubes)

Directions
After introducing simple patterns to your child and having him copy the simple repeating pattern, he may be ready to create his own patterns. We supplied a container of yellow and blue Unifix Cubes and encouraged the children to create repeating patterns. Simple patterns might be yellow, blue, yellow, blue (ABAB), blue, blue, yellow, yellow (AABB), yellow, yellow, blue, yellow, yellow, blue (AAB).

Once your child is generating his own simple patters with two objects or two different colors, you can increase the level of difficulty by adding three or four objects.  Children will begin to see patterns in their environment!  Being able to recognize patterns is an important skill for reading and math.

Materials
Duplo blocks in two different colors
Strips of white construction with patterns drawn to represent the same color of Duplos

Directions
Place two different colors of Duplos in a small basket or container. Invite your child to copy the pattern drawn on the paper strip. Once your child understands that patterns repeat, invite your child to extend a pattern that you have drawn. Encourage your child to create her own pattern once she is confident in recognizing patterns.