Tag: activities

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Spring Activities

Spring in the Pacific Northwest doesn’t always mean great outdoor time. If you are looking for some good indoor activities to do with your little ones, here are a few suggestions.

Coloring Pages

Coloring is always more fun when you have new and interesting pictures to color. Check out these printable coloring pages for some fun.

Coffee Filter Flowers

Feeling crafty? Give these coffee filter flowers a try.

Hand Print Daffodils

Hand print daffodils are a great way to preserve your little one’s hand print with a festive twist.

Fingerprint Sheep

While you’ve got the paint out, why not make a cute sheep with your child’s fingerprints?

Coffee Ground Fossils

For your budding archeologist, give these coffee ground fossils a try.

Bean Bag Buddy

You just need some old socks, beans or peas, yarn and maybe some googly eyes to make these fun bean bag buddies.

Baby Food Jar Gardens

These miniature gardens are so cute and easy to make with little ones.

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Building Skills – Paper Mache

Paper Mache

Paper MachePaper mache is yet another excellent activity you can do with your child. Paper Mache can teach your child a number of skills.

Large Motor Skills

  • Tearing paper
  • Stirring glue
  • Applying paper to base

Social Skills
Children talk about the progress of the sculpture, taking pride in their work through conversations

Emotional Skills
The labors that such a project take will connect child with finished project

Cooperative Skills
Children share materials. This is a group effort where children construct together.

Language Skills
Books and illustrations about final outcome promote language.

Sensory Skills
The texture of the glue, cold, wet, sticky. The roughness of the dry paper.

Cognitive Skills
The process of paper mache: The glue changes from a liquid to a solid state.

Paper Mache is a great way to work with your child on completing an interesting project.

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Building Skills – Tempura Ice Cube Paints

Paint Ice

Paint IceThere are loads of great activities to do with kids. Today, we’re looking at tempura ice cube paints. They help your toddler develop a number of skills.

Fine Motor Skills
Using finger to pick up and control ice cube

Social Skills
Expressive language used while interacting with you and other children

Cognitive Skills
Matching colors to cubes builds sorting skills

Sensory Skills
Things that are frozen feel cold to the touch

Language SKills
Gives children a chance to verbalize cause and effect of what is happening to the tempura paint cubes

If you’re looking for a fun activity to do with your kids, give tempura paint ice cubes a try.

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Building Skills – Dauber Painting

Dauber Painting

Dauber PaintingContinuing in our series of great activities for kids, we have dauber painting. Dauber painting is a great activity to do with your toddler because it encourages a number of skills.

Large Motor Skills
Using upper arm muscles to lift paints up and control movements down

Fine Motor Skills
Uses palmer grasp

Emotional/Language Skills
Children can talk about the colors and share the excitement of the activity.

Cognitive Skills

  • Learning about shapes as each circle appears
  • Counting
  • Connecting
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Building Skills – Scarecrows

Scarecrows

ScarecrowsCreating scarecrows is a great activity for kids for a number of reasons.

Large Motor Skills

  • Stuffing straw into leg and arm holes
  • Lifting body parts
  • Reaching and stretching

Fine Motor Skills

  • Picking up small pieces of straw
  • Buttoning shirts and pants

Language Skills
Labeling child’s actions, such as:

  • Describing the scarecrow
  • Creating stories about the scarecrow

Emotional Skills
Creating something that will be part of their garden or outdoor space for an entire season builds an attachment to this project.

Social Skills
In a group, children will be sharing materials and common space. You can lead in conversation what each child is doing.

Cooperative Skills

  • Lifting together
  • Sharing materials
  • Building near each other

Cognitive Skills
Children decide what final outcome of scarecrow will be. This develops abstract thinking.

Imaginative Skills
Children build the scarecrow based on visual perceptions they remember or have seen in stories.

If you’re looking for a great activity to do with your child, try building a scarecrow.