Toddler Activities for a Rainy Day

Well after a beautiful day on Saturday, it looks like we're expecting some early April showers this week out here in Ogden...so here's some ideas for INDOOR activities to keep the boredom bug at bay.

MIXING COLORS (idea found at The Hippie Housewife)
 When I first saw this idea, I liked that is was a clean and mess free to teach your kids about primary and secondary colors. I pulled up a few short clips on YouTube about primary and secondary colors to help my kids understand what they were. Then we headed to the table and I gave them each a ziplock bag with the primary colors, plus white (so we could make pink).






We tape the edges down with painters tape and then they started mixing the colors together with their fingers. I gave them mini rolling pins as well, just for fun.



After they'd mixed their colors and we had talked about the new colors they made, my girlies wanted to DECORATE their bags. I have no idea why they have a Sharpie--must have been the closest marker lying around and I conceded this one time. Living on the edge...When they were done, we pulled off the tape and hung their artwork in our art display frames.  

NUMBER SEARCH

This game was resurrected from my files recently to help my three year old learn her numbers and start some simply math problems with my four year old. When I made it for St. Patrick's Day last year, we reviewed colors with my younger daughter and numbers with my oldest. There's a lot of variations to this game.

I cut out ten shamrocks (you could do shapes, flowers, EGGS for Easter, etc.) and numbered them. Then I put a piece of tape on the back of each one and stuck it all over one of the girls. Mine love it when you put one on their forehead or their tushie (sp?). I ask the other, non-decorated child, to put the numbers in order for me. I ask them to look for the number one and once they find it (usually the other kid helps out a little bit, unless it's in a spot on their body that they can't see), they race to a wall and tape it up. We do this until they've found all ten numbers.

With my four year old, I asked her to find the number you get when you add 1 + 1 and other simple math problems. This is always fun and it can easily entertain two kids at once, even if they're at different learning levels.

WINDOW PLAY (Are these not the most non-creative titles?? Made them up myself.)

If you have a large window that is NOT close to any upholstery or any kind of fabric, this is a great and simple activity to entertain your kids. We have a white board that has lost it's excitement over the years, so when I gave my four year old a dry erase marker and told her to practice writing her numbers on the WINDOW, that sounded a lot more fun.

Regular dry erase markers leave a vicious stain, so do use with caution, although there is a washable brand by Crayola that you can find at Walmart or Target. I was so happy to find them. P.S. This activity is a great way to introduce an easy CHORE for your toddler or preschoolers to do around the house. Give them a wipe or wet rag and ask them to wash the window when they're done.

 

BIRD FEEDERS

And the classic peanut butter and bird seed activity! This is a favorite around our house and birds will come flying. Plus you get to sneak some peanut butter along the way...

Spring is just around the corner. I'm so excited!