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Toddler ActivitiesActivities to promote positive child development
The best toddler activity that you can engage your child in is simply spending
time with him. Absolutely nothing is more beneficial to a toddler's healthy development
than time he spends with someone who loves him. Even if this is nothing more than reading a book or taking a trip to the park together.
Time spent with someone that has his best interests at heart is invaluable for a child, because this relationship
has positive effects on the brain's limbic system
(the brain's center of emotions).
The more one-on-one time he gets, the more varied experiences he'll encounter. The more varied experiences he encounters,
the easier it will
be for him to learn new things because his frame of reference is broader. At this age any positively experienced
activity will benefit his educational development.
Free or low cost toddler activities
- Give your child a spray bottle with water in it and a dish cloth, then let him clean your bathtub.
- Take a large sheet and spread over a small table and you have an instant tent.
- Pack a lunch and eat it out in the backyard.
- Make homemade play-dough, use cookie cutters, rolling pins, a potato masher and other kitchen items and utensils to play with it.
- Make a homemade bubble solution and a variety of items to dip in it to form bubbles from things you have around the house.
- Keep a bottom kitchen drawer full of things safe for him to play with. He can pull things out and play with
them while you're fixing dinner.
- Fill a dish tub with rice, dry beans or macaroni. Give your child different size containers to fill and pour back and forth. Toddlers really like the tactile aspect.
You have to watch them carefully so they don't put them in their mouth as these are choking hazards.
Christmas present ideas
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Personally, one of the best things you can buy that will last a long time and are always enjoyed by toddlers are Duplo Construction Blocks.
These are a large version of Legos. We still have a tub of these blocks that we pull out when we have guests with toddlers over. This is the only toy we have saved over the years. They'll still be there when
we have grandchildren. Even older kids (up to about 6 or 7) enjoy them. |
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Other of our family's favorites:
| Almost anything by FisherPrice. As toddlers, my kids expecially liked the barn and animals and anything that made noise.Their products are very
durable and are safe for little ones. I've found a number of Fisher-Price "Little People" toys at garage sales.
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| Another brand that is worth the money is Little Tykes. Their outdoor toys are really good and will hold up a long time. The turtle sand
box was one of the best things we ever purchased and it's very reasonably priced (about $40). It has an easy to remove cover to keep the sand clean.
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I also highly recommend the Little Tykes High Back Swing, it can easily be hung from a swing set. It attaches and unattaches easily so you could take it to a park or grandma's house. If you get an extra set of
hooks at a hardware store you could hang it from a tree limb or from a back porch. It sells for around $20. |
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