Hellobee

My nearly-two toddler is all about sensory play and being OUTSIDE, which means it’s almost time for the best part of the year for both of these activities: Spring! I’m looking forward to all the typical tasks: blowing bubbles, coloring with chalk, hanging at the playground but I want to also do some intentional tasks that have a goal and allow me to feel like we’ve got something ‘purposeful’ to do as we wander around outside (or are trapped inside with all the April showers!).

I’ve rounded up some of my favorite ideas for indoor and outdoor activities that also help my toddler’s motor, verbal and cognitive skills develop!

Outdoor: Create a duck pond with lots of different textured items for sensory play! I love how this allows Will to be outside with a semi-purpose and gets him playing with some things he knows (water, ducks, sticks) and others he may not (colored rocks, pieces of wood). Lots of opportunities to learn new words and discuss how all the items feel different in our hand, and do different things in the water (float, sink, absorb).

Indoor: Create our own suncatchers to put on the window. Will loves art projects, and these seem appropriate for small hands – big squares of paper and we could use a glue stick OR tape!

Indoor: Coloring Carnations is an activity I remember from my own youth, and while it might be a tiny bit out of Will’s age range, I may try this out with a few adjustments. I plan to pick up a bunch of white carnations, “plant” them so Will can dig them up, and have him help me mix the cups of colored water. We’ll likely do this outside so if he spills, no worries!

Outdoor: Nature BINGO/scavenger hunt for all the things Will loves most: squirrels, trees, airplanes, birds, flowers, bees, and more! The link provided has a printable BINGO sheet, and I think I’ll help Will ‘track’ what we’ve found with some big stickers (something to do as we wander around our neighborhood or playground, too!).

Indoor: Fingerprint art of the flowers, trees, birds and whatever we can see! Will has yet to finger paint at home with me, and I think it would be fun to help him see all the cool things we can create using our thumbs and fingers.  It will likely derail quickly, but that’s ok! It’ll be fun.

Outdoor: Garden! We plan to give Will the tools and space to make his own garden.  His Easter basket includes a little shovel and rake (with Mickey Mouse on it!) and we can’t wait to hunker down in the dirt to ‘plant’ our hearts out!  Mr. Milk LOVES gardening and I can already imagine that this will be a nice bonding activity for the two of them together.

Indoor: Create our own flower garden using household products! And for the days when rain (or my desire to keep his pants clean) prevent us going to the garden outside, I plan to pick up a few inexpensive fake flowers to ‘plant’ using our colander and practice those fine motor skills!

Outdoor: Play in ALL the puddles, and teach this  kiddo how to make mud pies (or cookies, his current favorite sweet treat!)  Will already has a penchant for walking through every.single.puddle he can find, and I think I’m going to embrace that love AND teach him some fun things to make by mixing dirt and water.  I spent hours of fun making mud pies growing up and I can’t wait to get incredibly dirty with my kiddo.

Indoor/outdoor: Stamp using elements of nature! This activity seems PERFECT for Will because we get to first go outside and THEN use all the cool things we find outside to play with salt dough (or Play Doh!)

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What’s your favorite indoor or outdoor Spring activity to do with your kiddo? Bonus points if you can share a link!