Feely Bag

If you've only got ten minutes to spend doing something with your child and you're looking for an activity that's easy to set up, this is it! I got four items of different textures in a little platter: a flower hair clip, a foam block, a glass perfume bottle and a wooden train. I showed them to Eden and gave the items to her to feel, one at a time. We talked about different words that could describe that item beyond just describing its appearance. For example, the perfume bottle was cold, hard, had straight bits and round bits and smelled 'pretty'. This will give your littlie more words to add to their ever-expanding vocabulary, helps them to think about other properties of an item (beyond only using visual cues) and primes them for the next part of the game.

Counting Cards

Numbers is one of those things that many toddlers pick up quite easily. I used to count everything I could from when Eden was less than one year old; cars on the street, letters in the mailbox, books on my bedside table, cans in the cupboard...everything. The upshot of this was that Eden knew how to count to ten when she started speaking, because she had heard me count so often. So now, I'm trying to extend her numeracy knowledge.
I made four cards, wrote the numbers at the bottom of each card (always slipping in literacy whenever I can!) and marked each card with dot/s to represent the numbers.

Tops 'n' Tails

Another easy game to set up, although Eden found it a bit too simple. I did some basic drawings of animals on bits of cardboard, all facing the same way, coloured them in and cut them in half. It was her task to match top and tails. I'm going to try to do this game again, but maybe I'll cut the animal pictures into thirds, or leave the pictures uncoloured (to rescind a visual cue).

Have a bit of fun with your littlie and turn mistakes into an opportunity to create your own animal: a turtle-lion combo could be a turtion or liurtle (Eden loves doing this). Make up a story with your new creature as the star!

You could also slip in some other information into the game, like what sounds the animals make, what colours they are, what type of environment they live in, etc. Laminate the cards, and you can use them again and again, and make up new games too!

Nursery Rhyme Sequencing

If you're tight on time, this is a cinch to prepare. It took me less than five minutes! All I did was take one of Eden's fave nursery rhymes, Incy Wincy Spider, and break it down into four 'events'; Incy Wincy climbs the water spout, gets rained out, the sun dries him off, and then Incy Wincy climbs the spout again. Draw simple illustrations of each scene onto cardboard, cut into cards, and presto! You're done! 

Your child's task is to put the pictures into sequence. To make it simpler, you could begin with only two scenes; or, you could sing the song with your tot as you help them put the scenes on order. To add a bit of difficulty, you could add more scenes; or, you could choose a longer/more difficult nursery rhyme; or, you could have two rhymes (2-4 scenes each) and mix up the pieces so that your child has to sort the cards by song, and then by sequence. I put the pieces into a ziplock bag, and take it with us when we're out and about.

Another Paint Chip Game!

I took eight of our spare paint chips which were the same size but different colours, and drew some basic pictures on them in pairs. I chose pictures that could lead to other activities, like singing or pretending games. We will be laying the paint chips out on the table, coloured side down, and playing the memory game as before. An alternative game is to shuffle the cards, offer them to your child coloured side down, and ask them to pick one. Sing a song that corresponds to the card. 

Our cards have pictures of:

• Rabbits: "Miss Bunny" or "Little Peter Rabbit"
• Ducks: "3 Little Ducks Went Out One Day" or "Ducks Like Rain"
• Frogs: "Mr Frog Went Out" or "Frogs Go 'La De Da De Da'"
• A Face: "Eyes and Ears and Mouth and Nose" or "If You're Happy and You Know It [touch your eyes/ears/mouth/nose]" - the latter adapted to include facial features

Another idea is to get your child to choose a two different cards, and you make up a (very) simple story about them. For example, your tot chooses a rabbit card and a frog card. You could say, "One day Mrs. Bunny wanted to make a cake, but she didn't have any flour left. So she took her basket and went for a walk to visit her friend, Mr. Ribbity, who lived nearby. Mr. Ribbity said, 'Of course you can borrow some flour, Mrs. Bunny!' Then Mrs. Bunny replied, "Thank you Mr. Ribbity! Would you like to come to my house and share some of the cake with me?" And so, the two friends shared a delicious cake for supper. The end." 

I'm really looking forward to playing these games with Eden. I hope you (whoever you are) are finding these ideas helpful! Ciao for now! ~ L.

Paint Chip Memory Game

I love paint chips, they're so versatile! I won't go into it here, but expect to see a few games/activities in future featuring these chips, 'cause they've got about a dozen uses. Best of all, they're free, and recyclable!
My hubby went to Bunnings and grabbed a stack of various paint chips, and the ones that he got duplicates of, I'm going to use as a memory game. Simply get two or three matching pairs of paint chips, turn them coloured side down, and get your toddler to turn them over two at a time. The aim is to find the matching pairs.

If the game turns into something else (like pretending the paint chips are play money, or cakes, or important paperwork, etc), then go with it. If your child isn't ready to play a memory game, don't push them, as that will only put them off even more. Eden has a memory like a steel trap, so I'm thinking she's ready for this. I'll only start out with two pairs, and go from there.

Peg Matching Game

I'm a bit excited about this one! I made a wheel with some basic images on it, drew a few lines across it to portion off each image, stuck it to cardboard and cut it out. Then I got some wooden pegs, drew the same images onto little stickers and stuck (and sticky-taped) them to the pegs. I made the images very basic so that they would be easy to draw.

The game is that your child has to attach the peg to the board so that the pictures on the board and on the peg correspond. I put the pegs and the 'board' into a ziplock bag and plan to take it with us when we go out tonight. Eden really enjoyed playing this game, it required enough concentration to keep her stimulated but not so much that she lost focus and moved on to something else.
If you like this idea, you can download it from our Happy Little Munchkins Printables site, where there is also a version with the letters 'A, B, C, D' and the numbers '1, 2, 3, 4' on it.
Happy Matching!

Heads and Shoulders, Knees and Kisses!

I used to play this game with Eden when I was teaching her about body parts, and now I love watching Ava enjoy it. If the room is warm enough, have your baby just in her nappy - maybe before a bath? - and name parts of her body over and over, whilst kissing that part. "Look, this is Ava's leg *kiss, kiss*, and this is Ava's tummy *kiss, kiss* and I see Ava's hand! *kiss, kiss*", and so on. Babies just giggle and squeal! After all, they're getting three of their favourite things; your time, your attention and your affection. For more on the importance of affection for your baby, check out this book.
For older tots, play the game the same way, except every now and again, deliberately misname something, to see if they pick up your mistake. This checks their comprehension skills and you may be surprised at how much they've understood. If they do pick up your mistake, pretend to be confused and give more kisses to 'check'; [kissing the arm] "This is Ava's leg....no? Are you sure? *kiss, kiss* hmm, I think it's Ava's head *kiss, kiss*...oh, I was wrong, it's Ava's arm! *kiss kiss*". I don't know if this game actually helps your child to learn body parts, but hey, any excuse to smooch our little bubbas!