Now that your baby is entering the world of the big kids, it's time to have some fun! Not that there wasn't a great deal of fun to be had watching your baby suck on her own feet, but now that she's starting to walk, talk and interact more, you can play too! Many games will spring up naturally between you and your little pal, but sometimes it helps to get an idea or two for new games to try.
1. Chase me!
This is the "Monopoly" of toddler games. You can play one-on-one or with a lot of friends, it can go on for a very long time, and depending on who you're playing with the rules might be slightly different. Basically, you either let your toddler get a little ways ahead of you, and then make a big deal about how you're going to catch him, or you can run away very slowly, shrieking about how scared you are that your toddler is going to get you. Whenever anyone gets "caught" kisses, hugs and tickling are the result.
2. Funny face.
This is a great one for a quiet Saturday when you just want to sit with your little jitter bug on the couch. How it works is, you hold her on your lap facing you. Then you poke your cheek and make your eyes cross as if there were a button in your cheek that made you cross your eyes. Then when she pokes your cheek you do it again. You can also touch your nose and stick out your tongue, pinch your chin and wiggle your eyebrows, or any other variation you might think of. This gets really fun when you bring in a mirror and watch your sweet little clown-bottom try some funny faces of her own.
3. Where did you go?
This is a good toddler game to play if you have missed the gym and need a workout. What you do is sit on the floor, and wait for your toddler to walk behind you. Then you make a big show of looking for him while purposefully missing where he is over and over. As your toddler tries harder and harder to show you where he is, you can actually pick him up to look under him. Then toss him onto your shoulder and lumber around the room turning quickly from side to side when you hear him laugh, saying "I know your around here somewhere, I can hear you laughing!" When you are out of breath, you can find your toddler again and tumble to the floor expressing to him how much you missed him and showering him with kisses and tickles.
4. 5... 4... 3... 2... 1... BLAST OFF!
This is also a good exercise game. This one is excellent for little climbers. In this game, you sit slightly forward on a chair, with a good sized space between you and the back of the chair. Then you encourage your little jaguar to climb up. As soon as she gets right behind you, reach back and get a good hold of her then start the count down. 5... 4... 3... 2... 1... BLAST OFF!! At which point you jump up and run around the room, giving your little astronaut a good bumpy piggy-back space ship ride, complete with the best sound effects you can produce. Dump her in a pile of pillows and cushions, or carefully on the couch, then return to your chair. Try to act like you don't know why she is laughing and climbing up behind you again until she gets all the way up, then repeat the flight around the room.
5. Wrong words.
This is one of my son's favorites. When he brings me a book that I have read a hundred times and I need to spice it up a little for my own sanity, this game comes in real handy. It's pretty simple, You start reading the book, but when you come to certain pivotal moments in the storyline, you say the wrong word instead of the one on the page. Most likely your little smarty pants will correct you on your "mistake". If he doesn't, you can pretend to try to correct yourself, substituting sillier and sillier words for the one you got wrong until your toddler either corrects you or turns the page. Then you can continue to make mistakes on the next page. If my son isn't enjoying the game when I substitute funny words, I will often change my strategy to substituting funny sounds. Sounds which toddlers find particularly funny are squishy sounds, ding-dong's, woo-woo-woo's and "stinky" sounds.
It is amazing how quickly playing a game with your toddler can transform a dull or frustrating afternoon into a fun and special bonding time for you both. It can seem like it would be hard to shift gears from grouchy and grumpy into giggles and grins, but it happens very easily when I hear my little guy laugh. I hope you find these tips helpful. Please forward them to any parents of toddlers you know who might also like them, and as always, questions and comments are welcome. Happy parenting!
By: Naomi Tripi
http://tripibabytips.blogspot.com
Showing posts with label activities. Show all posts
Showing posts with label activities. Show all posts
Monday, July 6, 2009
Monday, May 25, 2009
Toddler Tuesday: 5 developmentally stimulating games
Toddler Tuesday Tips!
So today I am introducing Toddler Tuesday! I may not be the first person to ever have this idea, but I still think it is a good one. Each Tuesday, my tips will be for the parents of toddlers! Today I thought I would share some of the fun and educational activities that are good for a toddler to do. Some of these will be easier and some will be harder, every child is different, so don't worry if one of these activities seems a little beyond your little finger-food fanatic.
1. Stacking blocks.
Just regular old run of the mill blocks will do for this activity. Padded blocks don't stack well, big card board box blocks are never really square and odd-sized blocks can be frustrating at first. Just a normal set of wooden alphabet blocks that are uniformly square are great for stacking. First let your baby look at the blocks and investigate them on their own for a little while, then begin to model for them the right way to stack the blocks. Count each new block with an excited voice as your tower gets taller, then say "time to knock it down!" and push over the tower. Your toddler will be most interested in knocking down the tower at first, but keep at it, and soon you'll see great stacking skills develop.
2. Throwing a ball.
For this I recommend that parents start with a soft ball. Your toddler might take a long time to figure out how to get the ball to fly through the air like you do, or the ball could come hurtling right at your head on the first try, so plan for the worst. This activity is a great one to do outside on summer days, or in the living room during the winter. Try sitting with your feet touching your child's feet so that your legs form a diamond shape, then tossing and rolling the ball back and forth.
3. Make-believe with stuffed animals.
You may have already had your baby pick up the remote control and hold it to their ear while saying "heh-woeh?", in which case CUTE!!! The next step is to get your child to use figure-type toys, like stuffed animals, dolls or action figures to model behavior that he sees around the house. Sit down together with some spoons and an empty cup and "feed" the stuffed bear, or use a brush to help the dolly comb her hair. The nice thing about this kind of activity is that it doesn't require you to always be around for it to be fun. The other day my son was making the penguin clap it's hands while reciting "patty cake". He was rolling on the floor laughing while I was tidying up the kitchen!
4. Sorting colors and shapes.
There are a million toys on the market that are made to help your child do this exact activity, so use whichever one you have handy, I don't have much of a preference here. If you want you can combine sorting with putting the shaped in the holes, or sorting colors by stacking the disks on the pegs. I really love when there are a couple of different ways to sort the same objects. Like first sorting them by color, then resorting them by shape. An advanced form of this game would include things like texture and sound, but move at whatever pace is comfortable for you and your child. Sit together at a small table and begin by modeling the type of sorting that you want your child to do first. If they try to participate, but are getting it wrong, simple kindly explain where that piece really goes and why, then move it there yourself.
5. Threading beads on a pipe-cleaner.
This is a great fine-motor coordination activity. The hardest part about this activity is the amount of concentration and attention span that it requires. I wouldn't push your child to do it with you, but perhaps if you sit and do it for a while near where they are playing, they will come and express some interest. Use large wooden or plastic beads, so there is less of a chance that they will break or be ingested, and attach one to the end of the pipe cleaners to start with so that the beads your baby puts on won't just fall off the other end. If you fill a couple of strands you can segue into a fun game of dress-up in which the beaded strands can be crowns, and necklaces! This is one of those activities that my son has to have mommy help him with and that requires some clean up afterward. No one wants to step on a bead in the middle of the night.
I hope you all like my new segment, Toddler Tuesdays!, the regularly scheduled 5 baby tips will be back tomorrow. Thanks for reading, and as always, if you have any questions or comments, I'd love to hear from you!
So today I am introducing Toddler Tuesday! I may not be the first person to ever have this idea, but I still think it is a good one. Each Tuesday, my tips will be for the parents of toddlers! Today I thought I would share some of the fun and educational activities that are good for a toddler to do. Some of these will be easier and some will be harder, every child is different, so don't worry if one of these activities seems a little beyond your little finger-food fanatic.
1. Stacking blocks.
Just regular old run of the mill blocks will do for this activity. Padded blocks don't stack well, big card board box blocks are never really square and odd-sized blocks can be frustrating at first. Just a normal set of wooden alphabet blocks that are uniformly square are great for stacking. First let your baby look at the blocks and investigate them on their own for a little while, then begin to model for them the right way to stack the blocks. Count each new block with an excited voice as your tower gets taller, then say "time to knock it down!" and push over the tower. Your toddler will be most interested in knocking down the tower at first, but keep at it, and soon you'll see great stacking skills develop.
2. Throwing a ball.
For this I recommend that parents start with a soft ball. Your toddler might take a long time to figure out how to get the ball to fly through the air like you do, or the ball could come hurtling right at your head on the first try, so plan for the worst. This activity is a great one to do outside on summer days, or in the living room during the winter. Try sitting with your feet touching your child's feet so that your legs form a diamond shape, then tossing and rolling the ball back and forth.
3. Make-believe with stuffed animals.
You may have already had your baby pick up the remote control and hold it to their ear while saying "heh-woeh?", in which case CUTE!!! The next step is to get your child to use figure-type toys, like stuffed animals, dolls or action figures to model behavior that he sees around the house. Sit down together with some spoons and an empty cup and "feed" the stuffed bear, or use a brush to help the dolly comb her hair. The nice thing about this kind of activity is that it doesn't require you to always be around for it to be fun. The other day my son was making the penguin clap it's hands while reciting "patty cake". He was rolling on the floor laughing while I was tidying up the kitchen!
4. Sorting colors and shapes.
There are a million toys on the market that are made to help your child do this exact activity, so use whichever one you have handy, I don't have much of a preference here. If you want you can combine sorting with putting the shaped in the holes, or sorting colors by stacking the disks on the pegs. I really love when there are a couple of different ways to sort the same objects. Like first sorting them by color, then resorting them by shape. An advanced form of this game would include things like texture and sound, but move at whatever pace is comfortable for you and your child. Sit together at a small table and begin by modeling the type of sorting that you want your child to do first. If they try to participate, but are getting it wrong, simple kindly explain where that piece really goes and why, then move it there yourself.
5. Threading beads on a pipe-cleaner.
This is a great fine-motor coordination activity. The hardest part about this activity is the amount of concentration and attention span that it requires. I wouldn't push your child to do it with you, but perhaps if you sit and do it for a while near where they are playing, they will come and express some interest. Use large wooden or plastic beads, so there is less of a chance that they will break or be ingested, and attach one to the end of the pipe cleaners to start with so that the beads your baby puts on won't just fall off the other end. If you fill a couple of strands you can segue into a fun game of dress-up in which the beaded strands can be crowns, and necklaces! This is one of those activities that my son has to have mommy help him with and that requires some clean up afterward. No one wants to step on a bead in the middle of the night.
I hope you all like my new segment, Toddler Tuesdays!, the regularly scheduled 5 baby tips will be back tomorrow. Thanks for reading, and as always, if you have any questions or comments, I'd love to hear from you!
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