Category: 18 to 24 months

Dance Ribbon

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This easy dance ribbon made the perfect rhythmic accessory for Veronika’s at-home music class today! I put it together just before class, and she continued to play with it long after the Zoom session had ended.

First, tie lengths of colorful ribbon to a ring that your toddler can easily hold. I used a canning ring for this, but a shower curtain ring or even key chain would work, too!

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I alternated strands of green and pink ribbon. You can make your dance ribbon with one color, two, or a full rainbow!

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I handed the ring to Veronika and showed her how to wave it through the air to the rhythm.

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A lilting, slow tune felt just right for making big beautiful ribbon circles. Your toddler can take it from there!

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She loved waving the ribbons around and dancing with them, and requested a tutu to be a ballerina!

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She also later found other uses for it, like pretending it was her doll’s swing on the playground! I always love watching the way toddlers can invent worlds of imagination from just a few simple materials.

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Paint Dancing

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I love throwing in a sensory project for the feet now and then, such a different experience for toddlers than working with their hands! All you need for this project is an old crib sheet (or similar large piece of fabric), and a willing pair of toddler feet.

I squirted two colors of washable paint onto a baking tray and added a little dish soap to each color, which will make clean up easier in case any paint goes off the fabric.

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Fill a second shallow tray with warm soapy water, and have a towel handy. Then tape your old sheet down to the floor securely at all four corners. I put on some tunes (Walking on Sunshine felt just right!) and Veronika immediately started bopping and dancing before the paint was even involved.

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Then I dipped her feet into the paint and set her painted soles down on the fabric. “Let’s dance!” I said.

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She was initially hesitant when the paint was thickest, but as she began to move around, a big smile formed.

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We dipped her toes and repeated a few times, and mixed up the tempo for a little music lesson, too!

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Arguably her favorite part was washing off in the sudsy water at the end. At first she just dipped in her toes, but then I turned around and found her sitting completely in the soapy tray like it was a mini bathtub. Well, time for an outfit change!

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Five, Six, Pick-Up Sticks

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Nature is the perfect playground for children to learn in, which is a no-brainer because, of course, we evolved and learned to learn in… Nature! I was reminded again today that it’s all right there: sensory concepts, numbers, shapes, and so much more.

The first step of our project today, then, was simply to head out with a little bucket and collect anything that caught Veronika’s eye.

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We paused at intervals to discuss her collection or to organize it in various ways. She loved lining up sticks on this log, for example!

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Or playing with various sizes of pine cones.

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Don’t worry about curating your child’s collection. Simply add anything that he or she wants to the bucket, whether that means little pebbles (one of Veronika’s favorites), seed pods, sticks, leaves, grass, or anything else.

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Once home, we didn’t even have our shoes off before she dumped the collection on the floor.

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But that was just fine with me! I sat down with her to talk about everything we’d brought home. First we concentrated on size as I lined up the sticks. Could she find me the longest one? Yes!

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The shortest stick? Yes! I was really happy to see her mastery of this concept.

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We played around by subdividing her findings in different ways, whether by item, by color, by texture, and more.

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You can also use the opportunity to count. How many pebbles did we bring home? “One, two!” she told me.

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How many acorns? “Just one!” Then of course your toddler is simply going to want to play with all the treasures that have come home.

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Climbing Practice

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We couldn’t get to the real playground this morning because of rain, so turned the living room into an indoor playground instead! If you’re helping your toddler learn to climb and navigate playground structures (which can be tricky for toddlers!), pillows are an excellent learning opportunity.

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I set up all the couch pillows in such a way that Veronika could crawl from pillow to pillow and make her way up to the top of the actual couch. She was so excited she threw herself into the mix!

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Her favorite was the squishiest pillow from the back of the couch, which could be crawled up…

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…slid down like a slide…

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…and more. Then she said, “Let’s walk!” “Good idea,” I complimented her, and she was so proud.

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“Good idea!” she parroted, and danced and pranced from pillow to pillow.

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Amazingly, we had no bumps or bruises! I was really happy when she used the pillows as I’d intended, like stairs to reach the top of the couch.

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We did a big round of “hip hip hooray” to celebrate.

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You’ll notice big brother Travis wanted in on the action, too.

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A big heap of pillows is fun no matter how old they get.

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Edible Sno Cone Creation Station

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Here’s an activity that will a) cool the kids off; b) provide sensory play; c) fire up the imagination; and d) give them a yummy snack! I told the kids they were going to open up their own sno cone stand, and the excitement began.

I set out a tray of crushed ice (an easy task thanks to our fridge filtration system, but a blender can do this for you, too), then added ice cream scoops.

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For “cones”, we folded conic shapes from craft foam. These turned out to be very easy to break, so next time I would probably stick to little plastic bowls.

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All they needed now were fruit syrups to flavor the ice! For these, I simply pureed fruits in the blender. We had pink from strawberries and deep purple from a mix of blueberries and blackberries.

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If you have condiment squirt bottles, those would be perfect to use here! I gave the kids paper cups filled with each syrup instead, along with plastic spoons.

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As with a recent nature soup activity, I loved that this game could engage both my toddler and 1st grader in different ways. For Veronika, it was all about the sensory aspects. First she just loved spooning through the ice.

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When she tasted plain ice, she copied big brother and said, “It’s yummy!” but I don’t think she really thought so.

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“It’s cold!” she added instead, looking confused. So we showed her how to spoon the berry syrup on top of her ice. Well now she couldn’t be stopped!

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In retrospect I would have done this activity in just a diaper to avoid berry stains, but it was worth a few purple splotches. She was having such delicious fun I let it be.

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Travis, meanwhile, enjoyed the role-play aspect of the game. He loved using the ice cream scoop to properly fill a “cone,” and then asking me for my order, adding strawberry or purple berries on top accordingly.

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And of course he did lots of tasting, too!

Special Tree

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This post is really the beginning of an adventure that I hope will be with us for quite some time. I’ve long wanted to plant a tree with my children, but we’ve never had a yard of our own in which to do so. At last I found a solution: a bonsai cutting that can grow and bloom with our family!

You can plant a tree any time of course, but it’s also nice to time it around a special event or birthday. With our 9th (willow) wedding anniversary in July, planting a willow bonsai felt just right.

The kids loved helping scoop potting soil into a large pot and arranging the tree cuttings, root sides down. Veronika seemed particularly interested in the feel of the trunk, and we talked about the various textures (bark versus soil, etc.).

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Make sure to read a book about trees, too, like The Giving Tree, to round out the day.

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Watering the tree has already turned out to be a big hit.

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Both kids want a turn with the watering can!

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Here are some future plans we have for our tree: To compare the kids’ growth with the tree’s (who will grow more inches in a year?); to name the tree (right now we’re thinking Wendy); to play and sing around the tree; and to take lots of pictures along the way. Does your family have a special tree? Please share in the comments!

 

Rotating Picture Tale

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Here’s a fun way both to teach the notion of story as narrative and to ensure it’s tailored to your toddler’s interest.

First, I sat down with Veronika in my lap to go through a few old catalogs and magazines. The idea was to pause whenever something caught her interest rather than to lead or guide her. Of course, I knew there would be lots for her to like, having selected a toy catalog to flip through first!

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She definitely had favorites, zeroing in on faces. “Baby!” she said with delight, looking at the images of dolls.

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“Baby’s having a diaper change!” I made note of whatever she liked the most, then cut these out with scissors and glued each picture onto a square of white paper.

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Once the glue dried, we had a story we could tell over and over. I let chance dictate, shuffling the cards and then laying them out one by one. Each card was a new element of the story.

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As a result, there were lots of parades and tea parties and stories about animals blasting off in rockets to outer space, thanks to the particular pictures we had to work with. When the first story finished, I shuffled the cards and we did it again!

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She loved curling up in my lap for this, making it a special bonding moment, too. She also would grab for her favorite pictures and hold them as the story unfolded. “Horse!” was a big favorite.

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Older siblings might want a turn weaving a tale for a little sib, too, which will in turn hone those creative writing juices!

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Water Balloon Catch and More

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It isn’t summer until you’ve pulled out the water balloons! Today Travis and Veronika both wanted in on the action, so we included both toddler-friendly and bigger kid ways to play.

For Veronika, it was all about introducing this fantastic summer activity, since she was too little last summer. She was amazed watching me fill the balloons, and squished one around in her hands with delight as soon as the cold water filled it.

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Try and teach your toddler to catch with gentle tosses back and forth. A hot morning means it’s no problem if one explodes in the process!

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Then try a little target practice. I drew a chalk target on the patio, and encouraged Veronika to toss her water balloons right on top of it.

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She wasn’t exactly on target, but she sure loved the splat they made no matter where they fell!

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Big brother Travis needed something a little more sophisticated. Cue the water balloon pinata! I had envisioned making this out of five or six water balloons, filled and strung up from a tree.

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But he was so impatient for the fun to begin we only had a two-balloon pinata. Take a whack with a baseball bat and watch the explosion!

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After that I simply made Travis a big pile of filled balloons to do with as he saw fit.

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He squished them, he squeezed them, he bounced them, he imagined they were a water balloon family, he smooshed them between his toes. And more!

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What’s your child’s favorite water balloon activity? Please share in the comments!

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Nature Sensory Bags and Suncatchers

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I hadn’t made Veronika a sensory bag in a while, and she seemed due for some squishy fun.

Normally for a nature-themed activity like this, the first step would be a nature walk! But we needed to stay close to home this morning so ended up just walking around the neighborhood. The kids still found plenty of treasures!

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“I found a baby pinecone,” Veronika told me proudly, as she added leaves and pinecones and other finds to the bag. I also made sure to add a few pretty flowers, knowing I’d want them for the suncatcher.

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When we got home, I filled both a gallon-sized zip-top bag and a snack-sized zip-top bag with clear gel. (Either hair gel or aloe vera gel work well; use whichever you can find that is largest and cheapest!).

For the small bag, I added only the flower petals, spaced nicely apart. I then taped this to the window. An instant suncatcher!

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Veronika poked at it curiously, but I think the sun hurt her eyes because she didn’t linger as she has with previous sunlit projects.

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Then I added everything else into the goo of the larger zip-top bag. This version, a more classic sensory bag, received way more of Veronika’s attention. Through the gel, she could feel all the various textures.

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Prickly pine needles, hard pinecones, soft flowers. She needed to show it to her doll, of course!

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She loved picking it up and squishing it, especially around the firm pinecones.

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I love to leave bags like this out where a toddler can return to them over the course of a day or two, interacting with it slightly differently each time.

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For security, use hot glue along the zipper when you seal the bag shut, and you won’t have to worry about any unexpected messes disturbing the fun!

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Baby Soccer

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Veronika has shown an early interest in balls: bouncing them, catching them, kicking them, you name it! So today I decided we should play a classic round of baby soccer.

I set up orange cones as the goal posts then lifted her from under the arms and swung her legs toward a bouncy ball. “Goal!” I said with excitement.

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She squealed with delight! We continued to play, alternating kicks from up in my arms…

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…with chasing the ball around to kick it with her sturdy little legs.

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Each time she got the ball through the cones, I repeated “Goal!” earning more big smiles of excitement. She knew she’d done something right!

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Of course you can play this game outside, too. Simply set up a make-shift goal with sticks or rocks for markers. Your toddler will love chasing after the ball!