Gross Motor Fun with Tape

Lay out six or more strips of painters tape on a large floor area with a foot of space in between each line & have your child try the following:

• Jump from one line to the next
• Jump backwards – count as you go
• Jump on one foot through the “ladder”
• How far can they stretch your body placing one foot on the front line
• Measure your body by laying across the tape to see how tall you are

Moon Sand Fun

Recipe:

• 8 cups flour
• 1 cup oil
• A few drops of food colouring

Mix the flour & oil in a large bowl.  Once smooth, add food colouring bit by bit, until you reach the colour you want.

Mix this recipe up with your child & give them cookie cutters & small rollers to add to the experience. This sensory activity will encourage creative expression & scientific connections.

Counting Fun

Numbers, colours and shapes in the bottom of muffin cups can make a great activity to support your child’s cognitive learning.

Try beads, Cheerios, fishy crackers, rocks, blocks, pom poms or other small
objects that can be used to sort, count, and fill the cups.  Add different utensils (tongs, chop sticks, etc.) to make this more challenging!

Coffee Can Button Drop

Fine Motor Fun – have your child work on their small motor sills as they sort & drop buttons or other small flat objects through a slit cut in the top of the lid.

No coffee cans? You can use Pringles cans, baby formula cans or any small containers with removable plastic lids. Encourage counting & colour sorting as they play.

To make it more challenging, decorate different cans for different objects or colours.

Sidewalk Chalk Fun

Create a fun obstacle course of shapes and colours which your child can hop, twirl, skip & jump through.

Adding colours & shapes to the course reinforces your child’s cognitive development.  Play music to play a freeze shape activity.

Sidewalk Chalk Recipe:

• 1 cup of Plaster of Paris
• ¾ cup cold water
• Tempera
• Powder Paint

Mix & pour into molds or paper cups to form chalk.  Let stand until completely dry.

Sensory Bags

Sensory Bags are a great activity to keep your child busy. Having this tactile experience develops colour recognition, language skills, fine motor skills & more and it’s tons of fun!

Fill a Ziploc baggie with hair gel & a few drops of food colouring to create the bag. You can add sequins, sparkles or bead for your child to create designs by touching, squeezing & drawing on top.

Extend the activity by taping the baggies to the window so your child can see the light filter through the coloured gel.

Tip:  Secure the edges of the bag with a strip of packing tape to avoid spills.

Rainbow Treasure Hunt

This fun Treasure Hunt can get your children moving indoors or out to find a rainbow of items.

Older children can practice their letters and sounding out the words of the treasures they discover or by using clues to describe the colours they are looking for.

Nature Walk Crowns

While enjoying a walk around the neighborhood or playing in the backyard, have your child create a nature crown. Cut a strip of Bristol board or card stock to fit around your child’s head & apply a strip of double sided tape around the crown. While getting some fresh air, your child can collect nature treasures to add & stick to their crown, therefore creating a memorable piece.

Can’t get outside? Use fabric flowers & leaves! Older children can look up & read about the different types of plants they find when they get home

Blow Painted Creations

Provide your child with a set of water colour paint & a straw. They can use their imagination to create a masterpiece by dropping water colours on their paper & using their straw to blow or manipulate the paint around the paper.

After the paint dries, your child can complete their painting by adding to it using markers or crayons to draw in stems for flowers, body parts or hair & other imaginative ideas to complete their work of art.