Interactive Daily Activities For Toddlers
When it comes to daily activities for toddlers, the important thing to remember is to have a daily routine. With a daily toddler schedule that is not only filled with fun activities, physical activity, effective routines and basic skills that will enhance their learning environment. It’s a good idea, in fact great ideas that you include their favorite thing in the daily schedule. You want them to have a great time through a fun way of learning toddler activities. Only consistent routines meet children’s needs and the child’s learning experience the best way possible.
So what are some typical activities that children would engage in? A lot of time, it depends on the age group of the children on what the daily activities look like. Older children might have more sense of control of what they are doing versus a new baby or one year olds. The good news is that most activities can be modified to each age group so that it is more accommodating to each. Daily activities for toddlers will vary in every way.
Morning Routine
Wake up time varies on each child and the age group. The older kids and the big kids will wake up a little later than the little kids because they tend to sleep a lil later. While the younger ones might wake up earlier but might need a nap time throughout the day.
A good morning routine to start the day off is to eat breakfast well so that it goes a long way. A healthy breakfast might include some eggs, cereal, pancakes, sausage, biscuits, fruits, milk, or juice. For the young ones, the menu might be slightly different too.
For our young toddlers, a morning nap is sometimes needed. It depends on how their sleep patterns are, how they slept the night before, or if there is a long day ahead. They may need to squeeze in a nap or two during the day.
New things are continuously introduced to kids on a daily basis. It can be a new activity, new song, new words, or even stories. Adding onto a the daily routine can be beneficial for children, so that they get used to different scenery.
Outdoor Activities
Outdoor time creates activities for gross motor skills that involve bigger movements. Riding bicycles, jump ropes, hopscotch, swings, and are some of the best activities to help with their gross motor skills.
Sensory Activities (especially during the warmer weathers) is water table for water play. Kids love all types of water play in general, so having a water table to engage in is a great way of fun. Sensory play is a lot of hands on learning experiences that helps with their motor skills.
Sidewalk Chalk is a great way for children to explore their drawing/writing skills. Different colors are utilized with the chalk, allowing them to a learning experience as well.
Bubbles are a huge hit for all age groups, sometimes even to the adult age groups too. Having an activity involving bubbles of some sort would be highly recommended.
Sand is a hit or miss among the parents but a favorite among the kids. They love playing with sand creating their own creations and being able to work with that type of texture.
Scavenger hunt is something that can be done in a hour or even in a school setting. Having children search for an item is a great fun way of recognition and following directions.
Activities with big or small handballs would be a great way to help with movement as well. Possibly soccer or catch and throw is a plus.
Indoor Activities
Picture Cards are a great way to learn letters, numbers, shapes, colors, and even short site words.
Simple activities like musical chair or dancing together can also enhance children’s social skills.
Quiet Time time can be something that includes reading, relaxing, and calming before moving onto different activities. Little time is spent quietly if you’re a toddler for sure.
Music time is a great way to use in between activities as a wait time. Songs like head, shoulders, knees, and toes can help them learn about body parts.
Pretend play is one of the activities that is extra fun because it creates a scenery for children to explore their skills. They pretend to be someone, be somewhere, or act out something that they want to be or do.
Screen Time PBS Kids with limited time is a good online learning time for these little friends. PBS kids has games and activities that allow kids to explore many different aspects of their daily lives.
Fine motor skills can be utilized with an activity with pom poms. Learning to grip small objects
Communication skills are displayed throughout the day, in all of the daily activities for toddlers. It’s crucial that the kids are communicating their needs, verbally or non-verbally. It can be to get their needs met or to meet a request.
Play-dough is a huge favorite for toddlers within all age groups. Because of the soft texture, even our youngest toddlers can engage in play-dough activities with supervision of course. There are so many modifications that can be done with play-dough, even making your own as well.
Scavenger hunt and clean up can be done at the same time. By asking the children to search for an item and then having them put it back in the right place is a duo activity.
Painting activities would bring out the inner artists among these young ones. By providing paint brushes, paint, and a piece of paper, you can see what type of creations they come up with.
Building blocks can teach young children to set patterns as they build. Cardboard box blocks, Jenga, wooden blocks, Legos, or anything that can stack, connect, or build towers would work the best. Indoor and rainy day activities also help children with enhanced learning skills.
Predictable Routines
Nap Time, normally an hour nap or so, is a good idea for younger children because they need that rest time to move onto the next activity. For the older toddlers, 45 minutes to an hour might be a good time slot. Nap time usually involves power struggle because when they are having so much fun, much time is not wanted in the nap area.
Snack time is such an important time for young friends because they need that break to recharge and refresh with nutrients. Snacks should be provided throughout the day whenever they need or want it.
A group activity like circle time is a great way for children to gather and sing/learn together. Independent playtime throughout the day is important but learning to work together in a group is also crucial.
Free play comes in many time throughout the day as children choose to play/engage in an activity of their choice. Free time is a
Imaginative play would be something with dress-up, puppets, creating an imaginary scenes form what the child pictures.
Meal times are a good way for family members to gather at the dinner table for family dinner. Each family has their own special time for dinner that fits them.
In between activities, there will be diaper changes for the younger ones. Sometimes it’s a tough time having to disturb an activity to get the diaper changed but it’s necessary indeed.
Sample Schedule or daycare schedule can be found in child care center sites if you want to use as a reference on how to manage a good routine. At the end of the day, a great way for young children to finish their busy day is to have a good bedtime routine as well. Each families has their own bed time routine that is fit for them. The times will vary and the actions will vary as well too. So after a long day of daily activities for toddlers, a good night sleep is necessary for the next day special events to begin.
Related: Toddler Activities