Can we have an activity idea for 2 yr old thread?

[~Meeshi~]

Alright! Just a few more ideas, before I hit the shower!

~We love to play with marbles and different lengths of cardboard tubing. She rolls them down and like to guess which will come out first.

~We do a lot of running and tumbling and jumping on the couch cushions set up on the floor.

~We also do a lot of dancing and drumming and making music.

~We have a big crate of dress up stuff, and a big mirror set up beside it.

~Kaya spends a lot of time just looking at books. We also get 4-6 new books a week from the library, and at least one book on tape. She also loves sticker books.

~She likes to play tea party.

~I have a big cardboard box that has a slit cut on one side, and a door cut into the other and I give Kaya envelopes (from junk mail and bills we pay online) and she puts paper in them, sticks stickers on them for stamps and mails them.

~I give her the wand part of the vacuum cleaner (it comes off the vacuum) and let her vacuum the carpets.

~We sing lots of songs and say verses throughout the day.

~She likes to play "basketball", her version being felt balls and bean bags tossed into a bushel basket on the floor.

~We make little ramps out of scrap wood, to roll cars down.

~She loves to do worksheets with shapes, numbers and letters. We're doing really simple stuff, but she loves it and asks to do them every day. She also asks me to write letters so she can trace them.

~During the warmer months, we spend lots and lots and LOTS of time outside!! Hiking, picnics, camping, swimming in the gullies... We stay inside a bit more in the winter, but we still get out there and sled and hike if it's not too frigid!

Ok, that's it for me tonight! I've got some yummy lavender soap calling my name!

[jacNal'smom]

He likes to:

Thread beads on pipecleaners

pick out differnent buttons and thread them on a string (I sanded the tip of the needle to blunt it...)

sort differnent tiny objects in an ice cube tray using tweezers

set up dominoes in patterns and then knock one down to see the rest fall... He sort of needs a little help with this one...

He's also pretty active...

We walk around trying to balance bean bags on our heads

have ping-pong ball fights...they're light and o.k. to throw in the house if supervised

flashlight tag

[lillaurensmomma]

Oh, Lauren LOVES to string beads on pipe cleaners. They then become bracelets usually I gave her a bunch of beads today while I was working on a project and she had a great time pretending they were peas lol. She must have dropped them and picked them up 20 times. They're currently all over my living room floor, but she's asleep and I was able to finish my project!

j

[dawnygirl]

these are all great suggestions!! I gotta print this thread out!

Connor likes to...

-"paint" on the shower door with shaving cream
-finger paint, paint with brushes, ect.. any type of painting really
-playdoh.. lots of it, we have lots of accessories for it, that's the one thing he really enjoys and will spend a long time doing
-coloring
-we draw shapes on his magna-doodle
-race his cars around
-play with the animals from his LP Noah's Ark, he likes me to feed them and put them night-night
-he loves playing simon says, well without "simon says".. stand up, sit down, jump, roll, turn around, dance, run, ect.. he loves doing this
-we watch blues clues together b/c he loves it, he points out the clues for me and tries to sing the songs
-music and dancing
-read lots of books
-puzzles
-artsy/crafty stuff, we play with glue sticks, glue, construction paper that I've cut, and so on..


I'm gonna make some lacing cards out of fabric scraps for him, that's a great idea, definately have to use some of these other ideas too!!!

[mamabear]

Some great suggestions on this thread! My youngest is almost 3.5 yo but still into the 2 yo activities like most mentioned here.

Ok, I'm really a Northerner in disguise, so I know this suggestion isn't feasible now for most of you up there...but it's so good, it's worth remembering for a warm day. My kids love to get a small pail of water and an old paintbrush and "paint" the house, the car, the walk, everything, with it! The water looks shiny and darker than the rest of the surface so they really feel like they are "painting." This will keep them busy for at least an hour.

Ooh! Magna-Doodle! Katie LOVED it at 2 yo, and it was nice for me because it required less supervision than crayons or markers or paints. She loves to draw, and used to make probably 10 or 15 Magna Doodle creations a day.

We're about to take some huge, clean boxes I have left over from a co-op, and put them on their sides, tape them and attach them together and make a maze/house/fort for them to play in. Then I will give them markers and let them decorate the outside. We'll use box flaps for doors for most of it, and if I'm adventurous I'll get out the box cutters and cut out windows.

Stickers were a favorite at 2.

For laundry, I gave Katie socks and washcloths to play with, in a basket next to me. I also talked w/a parenting counselor and mentioned the whole "Mommy folds and Katie rips through it all and unfolds" syndrome we went through at two. She talked about how kids at that age need power, and that is one way of getting it. She suggested turning it into a game - yes, even if it means folding the same laundry a few times. So let the child come through and wreck the folding. Laugh and say, "oh no! You unfolded everything! Oh dear," in a lighthearted way. Then fold again...let the child work it out and the need will dissipate. This did work for Katie, in conjunction with gently redirecting her to her own small basket of socks & washcloths to play with.

I really need to save these threads for spring/summer when it gets hot here. Some great ideas even for older kids!