Mommy, I'm bored!

Here is a long List of things that are sure to keep your Child busy for a while!
Happy Picking,
Nadine




Fun activities for your toddler

by Jenny Wanderscheid


Toddlers love to draw, paint and experiment. ChildFun's Jenny Wanderscheid offers these fun activities for your toddler, using materials you probably already have at home. Now, you'll have something to give them whenever they cry, "Mommy, I'm bored!"

Tracing your child
Have the child lie on his back on the paper. Trace around the child. Then each child colors in his face, clothes etc. Don't forget freckles, jewelry, etc. Then cut it out for them.

Contact paper
Go for walk with children. Let them pick leaves, daisies, etc. Bring them back and arrange their treasures on contact paper. Then cover with second contact-paper, smooth out air bubbles. Trim contact paper into a shape like circle, etc. Hang their treasure project in window so sun can shine through it.

Science experiment
Do balloon -- static electricity. Inflate a small-medium balloon. Rub balloon on child's hair for about 10-15 seconds. Then place balloon on wall(it will stick because of static electricity). Rub balloon again in hair & lift up slowly so that hair will stand on end. The little children just kept on laughing & having fun with this.

Finger painting
Finger painting is the "classical" art activity for toddlers-and a very good place to start. They enjoy it as much for the feel as for the cause and effect designs they make.

Shaving cream
Many toddlers will not like to get their hands messy with paint, but they will almost invariable love to finger paint with shaving cream. A soft, billowy, good smelling mound of shaving cream is almost irresistible. It has the advantage of being easy to clean up, and leaving everything, including the artists, cleaner and sweeter smelling than before.

Make sure to rinse their hands afterwards to avoid skin irritation. Let children paint right on the table top. You could also give children "cafeteria trays" or cookie sheets to paint on to minimize a mess. For variety you could add a few drops of food coloring to the shaving cream to create pretty pastels.

Heated shaving cream
It's a wonderful treat, and very soothing, to fingerpaint with heated shaving cream. To heat the shaving cream you can use one of the small electric appliances designed for that purpose. If you cannot locate on of these, simply place the can in hot water for a few minutes. It works!

Window painting
Toddlers love to fingerpaint on a low window. When the paint dries they can use their fingers or a cotton tipped swab to scribble designs through the paint. Mix detergent or powdered window cleaner with the paint so it will wash off easily.

Do a group fingerpainting
Tape a long piece of shelf paper to a table top and let several children paint at once. They'll enjoy the social aspect.

Scribble d飯r
Tape a large sheet of butcher paper to a table top and make that known as your scribble table. It can stay on the table several days, even a week or two. Put different things on the table for toddlers to scribble with freely. When the paper gets all filled up, simply remove it and replace it with a clean sheet. This could become a permanent fixture in your room.

A scribble easel
Tape a large piece of paper to an easel. Tie a piece of yarn about 2 feet long around a fat crayon with a notch in it so the yarn doesn't slip off. Tie the other end to the top of the easel. This is now a "scribble place" where a it so the yarn doesn't slip off. Tie the other end to the top of the easel. This is now a "scribble place" where a child may make a mark whenever she pleases, without waiting for an adult to set out the materials. You could attach several different colors of crayons.

Paint with roll-on deodorant bottles
By pressing your thumb hard against the plastic collar and prying underneath with something metal you can pop the ball and collar off roll-on deodorant bottles. Wash out the inside and fill it with liquid tempera paint. Snap the ball and collar back on. You've just made a "giant ball point pen" that's a very effective scribbling tool for toddlers. Bright swatches of paint appear on the paper with minimal mess.

Straw painting
Put spoonfuls of paint on paper and have toddlers blow the paint with straws. This will be appropriate only for children who have mastered blowing rather than sucking.

Paint boxes
Paint boxes with small paint brushes. The boxes can be turned into boats, buses, houses, mailboxes, spaceships, etc, depending on the theme you are using.

Chalk
You can use colored chalk, large pieces of sidewalk chalk Draw on a chalkboard, sidewalk, cement wall, wet paper, dry construction paper. Draw roads and lakes to use for playing with cars, trucks, and boats. You can leave your chalk drawings for the rain to wash off, or let the children use squirt guns or squirt/spray bottles to wash off the artwork.

Collage
Put a piece of sticky contact paper on a table with the sticky side up and tape down all the sides. Model putting on collage items such as feathers, leaves, shapes/objects cut from paper, and any small you can place sheets of construction paper on it and cut it into sections for pictures to take home. If the objects are all flat, the sections can be used for place mats.

Fingerpaint with food
Depending on the developmental level of the child, I have successfully fingerpainted with chocolate pudding, applesauce, and stained baby food fruits with little ones that still put everything into their mouths. You can also seal fingerpaint into a Ziplock bag and tape the seal. Even very small children enjoy mixing colors together safely this way. For children old enough not to mouth the paint, I use a washable fingerpaint as a base and let each child chose two colors of paint to paint and mix together. Just before we end the activity, we do a handprint on another sheet of clean white paper.

For these older toddlers, you can fingerpaint on a mirror with shaving cream or whipping cream that is in a spray can. This is a good activity for fine motor skills-let the children try to squirt out the cream.

Gluing
Glue sticks, paper or cardboard, things to glue (noodles, feathers, pieces of torn paper, Kleenex ?, tissue paper, leaves, flower petals).

Caution: Gluing is often a difficult activity for toddlers since they maybe more interested in exploring the feeling of the glue than sticking objects on paper. Before you begin, consider what your limits will be in the ways the children will be allowed to use the glue.

Select paper to be use as the background. Select materials to use as picture. The number of items used at one time will probably depend on the age/interest level of the child. Most children will do better with one or two items at a time.

Have children put one or two spots of glue on paper. You may need to demonstrate how to use the glue if this is a new activity. Put things to be glued on top of the spots of glue and push down. Just do as much as each child is interested in. The process is more important than the product.

via: http://geoparent.com/family/fun/imbored.htm