Tummy Time Bounce This is a fun way to get your tummy time in, after baby can hold

their head up on their own. Especially engaging for those littles

who just don’t like tummy time on their own.

Lay on your back, with knees bent and to your chest. Place

baby on top of your shins, facing you face to face. Gently

bounce your legs up and down to a rhyme or song while

holding baby firmly.

There are lots of bounce songs and rhymes at Jbrary or VPL’s

The Roots of Reading

Pasta Challenge An easy activity to practice fine motor control. Warning: This

might get a little messy.

• Grab (uncooked) spaghetti noodles and a colander with

small holes (but big enough for the noodles to fit into)

• Give them to your child to play with. Some kiddos will

spend an amazing amount of time working at getting the

noodles into the holes and making fantastic designs.

Sensory Sandwich Bags This activity uses both gross and fine motor skills. It can be very

calming. And, it can smell lovely to play with.

• Fill 1 clean sealable sandwich bag half full with hair gel

(clear works best).

• Add in any of the following or similar: beads, small items like foam letters, google eyes, leaves, flowers, buttons, glitter

• Tape the bag shut with duct tape.

• Play! Write letters, squeeze it, throw it, smack it. How

does it smell? Feel? Sound? What if you freeze it?

• Just make sure this tempting thing stays out of little

mouths!

The Cupboard of Mystery The kitchen can be a place of fascination. All those doors! Your

baby will also likely want to be with you all the time, so it can

be practical and educational for them to have something to

safely explore in the kitchen.

If you have the space: dedicate one kitchen cupboard for

exploration. Transfer some baby and toddler friendly items to

this cupboard. Things like colanders, whisks, plastic containers

and dish towels can be amusing for hours. You can even

occasionally put a toy or two in there for them to rediscover.

Tape Toy Time Getting bored of all the same old toys? Tape them up! Use

painter’s tape or masking tape to attach a few toys to a wall, or

under a chair. If baby is crawling or walking try to make the

height a little bit of a challenge to reach. Baby may even be

inspired to get up on their feet! Make a big deal of celebrating

when one gets torn down.

Baby & Box Party Father any cardboard boxes for the week’s recycling in your

home and spend time playing in, on and around them. You can

stack them, line them up, knock them over, bang on them, hide

in them, play peek-a-boo behind them, or if they and baby are

big enough, gently push them around in a little box “car.”

Toy Trap Next time the box of facial tissues is empty – don’t throw it in

the recycling quite yet!

Try placing some of baby’s regular toys in the box for them to

get out. To make the task easier you can take the plastic out,

and to make the task more challenging, you can leave it in.

If you are willing to endure using tissues out of the box for a

while, letting baby have free reign of the tissue box can be

really exciting too!

Book Dominos Board books are not just for reading! They can also be an

excellent toy to set up and knock over. Place three or four

standing in a row and show baby how to knock them over. It’s

extra fun if you count them out while you place them. This

activity encourages big motor skills, demonstrates cause and

effect for baby and creates positive fun feelings towards

books. If baby is crawling, set them up away from where baby

is any watch as they scoot over to knock them down.

Baby & Bed Sheet Slalom If you have non – carpeted floors and a baby who can hold their

head up, take a bed sheet or a towel and spread it on the floor.

Lay baby down however they are comfortable. Gently pull

them around the house on the sheet. This is a great time to

pretend to be a choo choo train, a motorcycle or an airplane!

You can also sings some songs like She’ll be Commin’ Round the

Mountain or The Wheels on the Bus

Flash Light Fun Great for a rainy day when the sun is hiding, use the flashlight

on your phone to make shapes and movements on the wall or

ceiling for baby. You can encourage baby to play with the

beam of light by putting their hands and feet in it, pointing out

their whole body shadow against a wall. You can also use

stuffies, puppets or other toys and play with their shadows.

You can play with (and talk about) fast and slow, big and small,

back and forth, up and down. For extra fun put a sheer

coloured scarf or piece of tissue paper over the beam.

The Book of Huggles Print off some photos of special family, friends, neighbours

and pets. Put the photos in a small album that baby can hold

themselves, and that you don’t mind if it sees a little rough

and tumble. The full plastic sleeve type are best. You can use a

bit of clear tape to make sure that the photos stay in the

album and don’t end up in little mouths. Include photos of

baby interacting with these people if you have them. Look at

the album together and talk about the people who make up

baby’s circle of love.

Name Hunt This is a great activity for simple letter recognition. It uses your

child’s favourite word – their name!

• Grab paper pieces (post-its are great!) and a pen

• Write kiddo’s name on some paper pieces and hide them

around the house

• Write the names of everyday items like “table” “chair” or

“floor” on the remaining pieces of paper, and hide them

too

• Do a hunt for all the pieces of paper!

• When all the pieces are gathered again, divide them into

two piles: “Kiddo’s Name” and “Not kiddo’s name”

Pasta Challenge An easy activity to practice fine motor control. This one might

get a little messy.

• Grab (uncooked) spaghetti noodles and a colander with

small holes (but big enough for the noodles to fit into)

• Give them to your child to play with. Some kiddos will

spend an amazing amount of time working at getting the

noodles into the holes and making fantastic designs.

Sensory Sandwich Bag This activity uses both gross and fine motor skills. It can be very

calming. And, it can smell lovely to play with.

• Fill 1 clean sealable sandwich bag half full with hair gel

(clear works best).

• Add in any of the following or similar: beads, small items like foam letters, google eyes, leaves, flowers, buttons, glitter

• Tape the bag shut with duct tape.

• Play! Write letters, squeeze it, throw it, smack it. How

does it smell? Feel? Sound? What if you freeze it?

• Just make sure this tempting thing stays out of little

mouths!

The Cupboard of Mystery The kitchen can be a place of fascination. All those doors! Your

little one may also want to be with you all the time, so it can be

practical and educational for them to have something to safely

explore in the kitchen.

If you have the space: dedicate one kitchen cupboard for

discovery. Transfer some baby and toddler friendly items to

this cupboard. Things like colanders, whisks, plastic containers

and dish towels can be amusing for hours. You can even

occasionally put a toy or two in there for them to rediscover.

Bathtime Soccer Star For a messy but fun time, with grown-up supervision, have

kiddo lie on their back in a very shallow bath and attempt to lift

their bath toys out of the water using their hands and their

feet. This works gross motor skills.

Can they launch them over their head?

Can they launch them out of the bath?

Can they launch them without splashing?

Disco Bath With grown-up supervision, fill the tub with water, and if you

are OK with the mess, a couple drops of food colouring, tinted

bubble bath, or a sparkly bath bomb.

Give kiddo a few glow sticks and turn out the lights. Put on

some of your favorite tunes and have a bath party while you

get clean!

Photo Stand Fun Take some scrap cardboard and cut out a circle. Using a dark

marker, draw the body of an animal, robot, fish, character or

whatever inspires you!

Take photos with your own face and your little one’s face

peeking through. Maybe even get the pets in there! Look at

and talk about the photos together. It’s also fun to play with

this in front of a mirror for funny pretend play.

Image: https://www.sadanduseless.com/cardboard-cat-dinosaurs/

Animal Play Get up and get moving! Pretend that you are an animal and

move around a large space the way that animal would. You

could even turn on some music and move to the music the way

your chosen animal would move.

• For example: Flying birds, jumping frogs, hopping

flamingos, running cheetahs, walking elephants, etc.

• For younger children, read a book with animals and ask

them to move like the animals in the book.

(Activity from https://physicalliteracy.ca/)

Friendly Fruit Faces Take a non-toxic marker and draw some funny faces on your

bananas and oranges. You could very easily turn this into a

discussion on feelings for added social-emotional learning. For

an added literacy bump you can then read I Just Ate My Friend.

Shaving Cream Shenanigans

This is both messy and FUN! Take a plastic tray or cookie sheet

and spray some shaving cream on there. Add a couple of drops

of food colouring or paint in different colours. Mash and mix

and mess around with this texture. Talk about what happens

with the colour. Talk about how it feels on your hands. For

easier clean up, try doing this in the bathtub with no water or

outside.

Alphabet Soup Put some foam, plastic, or magnetic letters in a container full of

water. Using a marker, write the letters on a piece of

cardboard (or, if using magnetic letters, on the back of a cookie

sheet, or even chalk on the sidewalk on a hot day). Have kiddo

fish the letters out of the water and match them up with the

written version. This one can get messy, so a towel on hand is

ideal.

The Book of Huggles Print off some photos of special family, friends, neighbours

and pets. Put the photos in a small album that your child can

hold themselves, and that you don’t mind if it sees a little

rough and tumble. The full plastic sleeve type are best. You

can use a bit of clear tape to make sure that the photos stay in

the album and don’t end up in little mouths. Include photos of

little one interacting with these people if you have them. Look

at the album together and talk about the people who make up

your child’s circle of love.

Stuffie Hide and Seek This is a great game to play while you are folding laundry. Set

a few stuffies (or any other toy) around the space, and cover

them with a towel, tea towel or face cloth. Help baby “find”

the stuffies. This is a fun way for baby to learn about object

permanence: the idea that things exist, even if you cannot see

them. You can also extend this activity by playing peek-a-boo

with the stuffies.