Today’s blog will discuss a few fun activities you can plan for toddlers.
At Care Courses we have many courses specifically about caring for toddlers and the various activities to cater to their specific developmental needs. Today we are going to focus on some ideas from our course, Days with Toddlers: Curriculum Planning for Ages 12–36 Months.
Play dough
Play dough is a wonderful teaching tool for toddlers. Children start by poking and pinching the claylike substance and eventually start to try and mold it into various shapes. For an even more exciting and hands-on lesson, you can make your own homemade play dough with the following recipe:
You will need
- 1 cup flour
- ½ cup salt
- 2 teaspoons cream of tartar
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 1 cup water
- Food coloring or dry tempera (optional)
Steps
- Mix ingredients together
- Cook for three minutes stirring constantly in a nonstick saucepan
- Oil your hands and knead until smooth
- Store the play dough in a zip-lock plastic bag in the refrigerator – the dough will keep indefinitely
Movement activities
Toddlers also need a variety of movement activities to develop large motor control, muscle strength, motor planning, and coordination. Talk to toddlers as they practice the following motor activities:
- Crawling
- Cruising and walking
- Riding
- Dancing
- Rocking
- Climbing
- Jumping
- Rolling, throwing, and kicking
Want to learn about even more fun activities for toddlers? Enroll in our course, Days with Toddlers: Curriculum Planning for Ages 12–36 Months! After taking this course, you will learn about the nature of a developmentally appropriate curriculum for toddlers, your role in toddlers’ learning, and the importance of the indoor and outdoor learning space in a toddler curriculum. This course is offered in both our coursebook (with online component) and our fully online format. Click here to learn more about Care Courses’ training formats.
Topics covered in Days with Toddlers:
- The nature and purpose of a developmentally appropriate toddler curriculum
- Toddlers’ milestones of physical, cognitive, language, and social–emotional development
- Your role in toddlers’ learning
- The role of indoor and outdoor learning space in a toddler curriculum
- Curriculum strategies for supporting the development of toddlers’ gross and fine motor, cognitive, language, and social-emotional skills
- Strategies to prevent and respond to biting
- How to support toddlers through transitions
- Developing a toddler curriculum that strengthens toddlers’ self-care skills
Thank you for reading. Please let us know how we can be of additional assistance! Call us: 1–800-685‑7610, Monday through Friday, 9–5 ET, or email us days, evenings and weekends: info@CareCourses.com. We’re here to help!