Infants:
“Going for a ride” in a laundry basket. Put a pillow in a laundry basket, tie a belt around the
handle and say “All aboard!”. Pull your child around making train sounds.
http://sweetelder.blogspot.com/2009/07/hitchin-ride.html
Sound bottles: place different materials (beans, rice, etc) in a variety of small bottles. Make sure
the top is firmly sealed. One by one, shake the bottle to make noise and talk to your child about
the sound. http://www.ourmontessorihome.com/2009/09/sensory-activity-experiencing-differentsounds/
Exploring Nature: sit in the yard with baby and let them touch the grass, watch the shadows,
crunch the leaves, etc
What’s inside?: use a box with a flip open lid (like a cardboard box that held ziplocks or trash
bags) and put some toys inside. Let baby reach in and pull out the contents of the box!
Water Play: put a small amount of water in a shallow container. Let baby splash the water with
his/her hands. You can also float a small object in the water and let baby try to grab it!
Homemade Shape Book: Draw and label shapes on construction paper, 4 per page. Cut the
shapes apart so you’ve made 4 “pages”. Put the pages into sandwich ziplocks and then “bind”
the ziplocks together on the zip side with packing tape. Make sure to supervise this one, since
there are plastic bags involved!
Mountain Climber: stack pillows and let baby climb!
Wipes Pull-out Box: take an empty wipes box and stuff it with a long scarf or scraps of cloth
sewn together. Pull out one corner and let baby pull, pull, pull the rest!
Nesting Cups: you can let baby play with nesting cups from the toy store or just measuring
cups!
High Contrast Cards: draw simple designs and patterns on index cards with a thick black
marker. Show them to baby and talk about what they see
Wrap, Unwrap: use leftover wrapping paper or gift bags stuffed with tissue paper to let baby
unwrap whatever box or item you have laying around.
Flour play: put a few teaspoons of flour on a tray for baby to explore.
Animal poster: cut pictures of animals out of magazines and paste them on a large sheet of
paper. Look at each animal with baby, talk about what they are and what sounds they make.
Homemade Texture Book: Glue different types of cloth/textures to paper or a cut up cereal box
and label with a thick black marker. Bind with packing tape or string and let baby explore the
feelings!
Buzz to the body part: Put your thumb and first two fingers together and tell baby “I’m going to
buzz to your (knee, belly, arm, etc)” then buzz to that body part and give baby a tickle!
*All activities above come from the site http://www.thestay-at-homemomsurvivalguide.com/p/infant-activities.html unless otherwise noted
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------One Year Old
Stickers: help your child place stickers on a plastic lid and also let them work on peeling them
off again
Lids: Sit down with your child and a variety of empty containers with their lids removed. Help
your child match the lids with the containers, figuring out how to put them back on. Start simple
with 2 containers. This works best with push on lids.
*Above activities from: http://www.activity-mom.com/2012/06/activities-for-your-13-monthold.html
Contact paper butterflies: using contact paper and colorful tissue paper cut into squares, have
your child stick the tissue paper onto the contact paper. Cover with another sheet of contact
paper in the same shape and hang in the window!
Rainbow Fish handprints:
Glitter Heart art: just cut a heart out of paper. Let the child have at it with glue and then glitter 
If you do both sides, you can hang it from a string to see it twirl.
Making Music: using pots and pans with spoons, making shakers with rice or noodles in a wellsealed container, or store-bought instruments, this is always a crowd pleaser.
Tea Party
Float/sink experiment: With a tub of water and a variety of objects, see what floats and sinks!
*Above activities from http://rainydaymum.co.uk/activities-for-18-month-old-and-younger
Pom poms and muffin tin: Sit with your child, a muffin tin, and a bowl full of colorful pom poms
(sold at Target or craft stores). Your child can simply fill the different sections of the muffin tin
with pom poms. Once you feel your child is ready, you can encourage them to sort by color or
size. http://www.activity-mom.com/2012/05/learning-with-your-one-year-old.html
Dropping Poker Chips: Cut a slit into the top a plastic lidded container (like the puffs snack
container). Let your child drop poker chips inside! http://www.activitymom.com/2012/11/learning-with-your-18-month-old.html
Sensory Tub: fill a shallow container with some dry rice or noodles. Hide some small
toys/colorful objects inside. Let your child hunt through to find them! http://www.activitymom.com/2012/11/learning-with-your-18-month-old.html
Bean bag fun: kids can practice special reasoning by playing with bean bags. Words like on, in,
under, over, beside, behind, in front, etc. can all be practiced with bean bags. If you don’t have
actual bean bags, you can use ziplock bags filled with stuff (rice, quinoa, or flour work well).
Blocks: There is so much to do with different types of blocks! Duplos (the big legos), wooden
blocks, foam blocks or the big cardboard blocks are all great fun to work on with friends!
Two Year Old
Homemade Playdough- easy to make a store in a ziplock or airtight container
http://fun.familyeducation.com/sculpting/recipes/37040.html
Playdough Tool Kit- add large buttons, dry pasta, found items from nature into the playdough
fun. Don’t forget cookie cutters, rolling pins, and spoons/containers!
Threading beads onto a pipecleaner
Fun with threading and slots
Stringing dry pasta-you can paint the dry pasta first to make colorful jewlery
Threading pipecleaners through the holes of a colander
Scooping and pouring flour/dry rice/ dry pasta with containers of various sizes
Lego Patterns- color a simple pattern on a piece of white paper. The child tries to match the
pattern on top of the paper or in front of the paper with the same color legos
Pom Pom drop game- write a number on an empty plastic bottle or small cup. Give child a
bucket/pile of pom poms. Help them count the number of pom poms to match the number on
the container.
Painting with Q-tips- a more disposable way to do water colors with your kids!
Tape resist painting- have your child put a design with painters tape on the paper before they
begin painting. Have them paint the WHOLE paper over the paint. Then let them peel off the
tape and see the design
*All activities above can be found at http://theimaginationtree.com/2013/09/40-fine-motor-skillsactivities-for-kids.html
Three Year Old
Playdough letters- Give your child a pancake of playdough. Draw one letter in it. Let your child
go over the lines of the letter with straws cut in half or any other object (prewriting activity)
Make a telescope- decorate a paper towel roll or toilet paper roll and put a string through so
your child can hang it around their neck and then go for a nature walk to see what they can see!
Wax rubbing- peel the wrapper off a crayon and grab some white paper. Show your child how to
lay the paper on something textured (sidewalk, bark of a tree, anything really) and rub the
crayon over the paper.
Milk Carton houses- using a quart or half gallon milk or juice container (that’s empty, of course),
use markers, paper, and collage materials to turn the carton into a house
Yarn laced notecards- take 3x5 cards and randomly punch some holes in them. Give your little
one colorful yarn and have them lace a design through the holes
Tape road- For an indoor activity, use painters tape on a tile/hardwood floor to create a road for
your child to navigate (either walking or with a push toy or ride on toy)
Musical chairs (with or without taking the seat away)
Alphabet squirt- give your child a spray bottle. Have the letters of the alphabet written on either
a chalkboard or with sidewalk chalk outside. Call out a letter and have the child “spray it away”
Wind/Rain game- put a drop of water on a piece of waxed paper. Help your child blow through a
straw to move the drop along the paper
*all activities above from http://spoonful.com/family-fun/20-activities-3-year-olds#carouselid=photo-carousel&carousel-item=2
Four Year Olds
Learn to Add with Playdoh-
Lego Tic Tac Toe
Crayons under watercolors- if you color on paper with crayon and then paint over it, the paint
resists the crayon and creates a really cool look!
Make a Lego instruction book- the kids create their own Lego creations and then photograph
them. Print the photos and bind them together so they can recreate each other’s designs!
http://kidsactivitiesblog.com/9739/diy-lego-instruction-book
Paper plate wall art!