the activity room February s June s Activity Activity Plans Plans for for Toddlers Toddlers & Preschoolers Preschoolers H A N D S O N A S W E G R O W. C O M
February Activity Plan Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Weekend 0 Textured Tape Resist Heart Snowman Puppets 4/5 I Love You Scavenger Hunt Heart Garland Have a hot chocolate party! Re-commit! Write out your goal and why you want to do it. page 9 page 0 page page 6 7 Play Dough Name Tracing H is for Heart 8 9 0 / Love Banner Bang on Pots & Pans Go on a hike! Gear up! Find an accountability partner. Commit your goal to them to hold yourself accountable. page page 4 page 5 page 6 4 Textured Yarn Heart Frisbee Toss 5 6 7 8/9 Counting with Dice Drawing Under the Table Have a movie marathon today! Carve out time in your day (or week) to do something towards your goal. page 7 page 8 page 9 page 0 0 Living & Rainbow Non-Living Toy Hunt Collage 4 5/6 Block Patterns Rainbow Sponge Painting Make today a good deed day! Check in with yourself and your accountability partner. What did you achieve? page page page page 4 7 8 Loose Parts Patterns Rainbow Hunt 4/5 Paper Bag Mask Tupperware Match Read your favorite Dr. Seuss book for his Birthday on the nd. Tackle a child s room this weekend to go through, purge and organize! page 5 page 6 page 7 page 8 this month s theme: Stick to Your Resolution
February: Supply List Full Supply List In each week of activities, there s a supply list. You can quickly scan the list to see what you need for the week. Most items are supplies from the home (office, kitchen, kids toys, etc). Below is a list of supplies to do every activity in the month of February. Craft Items: white paper pink paper paper paper in rainbow colors colored paper scraps butcher paper card stock red or pink cardstock thin cardboard (from cereal box) paint white paint paint (rainbow colors) paintbrush school glue tape scissors hole punch marker colored pencils or crayons pen pencil beads / sequins / buttons / googly eyes Kitchen Items: water variety of tools, rolling pin, fork, etc kitchen utensils pots & pans muffin tin or egg carton large kitchen sponge plastic lids tupperware w/ matching lids Around the House: table paper clips or clothespins painter s tape paper bag cotton balls printer / printer paper Other: small objects loose parts (buttons, gems, rocks) magazines toys Lego or other blocks play dough dice
February Activity Plan: Week One 0 Monday: Tape a heart outline on a piece of card stock. Paint over it using a variety of tools, including combs, rolling pin, fork, etc. Remove tape to reveal the heart! Tuesday: Draw a snowman on thin cardboard, cut out and paint white. Stretch out cotton balls and glue to cover snowman. Glue beads on to make eyes and buttons, use yarn to make a scarf! Cut a 4-5 inch strip of cardboard and roll into a circle and glue on the back of the snowman to make a puppet! Wednesday: Cut out several hearts from paper. Write one thing you love about your child on each heart. Hide one heart per day until Valentine s Day and have your child hunt for it! Read it to them and hang on their bedroom door. Thursday: Fold a piece of colored paper in half and cut a half heart out, unfold, repeat to make a lot. Tape hearts onto a long piece of string. Repeat to make many. Hang them in a window! painter s tape card stock paint variety of tools, comb, rolling pin, fork, etc thin cardboard (from cereal box) white paint glue cotton balls beads / sequins / buttons / googly eyes yarn colored paper marker scissors colored paper scissors string or yarn tape Friday: Host a party for the family with hot chocolate and a bunch of mix-ins (like marshmallows, peppermint, caramel) for the family to get cozy with. 4/5 Over the Weekend: Recommit yourself to your New Year s Resolutions or a goal for the next 0 days. Write down your goal and also the benefits of achieving your goal, along with your Why and stick it somewhere you ll see every day. Download your Goal Sheet or visit http://room.handsonaswegrow.com/wp-content/uploads/06//sticking-to-a-goal.pdf this month s theme: Stick to Your Resolution
February Activity Plan: Week Two 6 Monday: Write your child s name on a piece of paper. Roll play dough into snakes to trace the letters in their with the play dough. paper pencil play dough 7 8 9 Tuesday: Cut a heart out of pink or red paper. Write in the middle H is for Heart. Write various letters around the edge of the object (with many of them being H or h). Find the letter that the object starts with and clip each with a paper clip. Wednesday: Cut 4 squares out of pink paper, cut the letters LOVE out of white paper and decorate and glue onto pink squares. Punch holes at top to thread yarn through and hang. Thursday: Bang on pots and pans! Grab some spatulas and spoons and make music! red or pink cardstock scissors marker paper clips or clothespins pink paper white paper hole punch scissors crayons or markers glue yarn pots & pans kitchen utensils 0 Friday: Gear up and go on a hike! If it s cold, bundle up! / Over the Weekend: Find an accountability partner. Commit your goal to them to hold yourself accountable. Don t be afraid to ask in The Activity Room Members Only Facebook Group for an accountability partner. this month s theme: Stick to Your Resolution
February Activity Plan: Week Three Monday: Draw a large heart on a piece of cardstock. Mix glue with a bit of water in a bowl. Dip yarn in the glue mixture to coat. Cover drawn heart with coated yarn completely and let dry. cardstock paper various yarn glue water 4 Tuesday: Tape lines of tape on the floor about a foot apart. Stand back and toss the lids like a frisbee to land on the tape line! plastic lids painter s tape 5 Wednesday: Roll a die (or dice) and count the dots. Then count out kernels of corn (or other small objects) into a muffin tin. Roll and count again. dice small objects muffin tin or egg carton 6 Thursday: Tape a large piece of paper on the underside of a table. Set out colored pencils or crayons. Lay down underneath the table and create to your heart s content! paper table colored pencils or crayons tape 7 Friday: Turn on the movie channels, or grab the DVDs, and snuggle up together under warm blankets for a movie marathon! 8/9 Over the Weekend: Carve out time in your day (or week) to do something towards your goal. Fill out the Finding Time To Do Sheet (it says activities, but scratch that for your goal). this month s theme: Stick to Your Resolution
February Activity Plan: Week Four 0 Monday: Cut living and non-living things out of magazines. Glue onto two separate pieces of paper to classify them and make a collage. magazines scissors school glue paper Tuesday: Draw a large rainbow on butcher paper. Go on a hunt to find toys in the matching colors to place on the corresponding color of the rainbow! markers butcher paper toys Wednesday: Create different patterns with blocks, such as ABAB, ABCABC, AABBAABB. Line them up, or see how high of a tower you can make! Thursday: Rainbow painting! Paint a sponge in rainbow colors for the kids to paint a rainbow with one swipe! Lego or other blocks butcher paper markers paint (rainbow colors) paintbrush large kitchen sponge paper 4 Friday: Make the entire day today about doing good deeds for others. What can you go out of your way to do something nice for someone else today? 5/6 Over the Weekend: Check in with yourself and your accountability partner. What did you achieve? this month s theme: Stick to Your Resolution
February Activity Plan: Week Five 7 Monday: Gather up old buttons, gems or even rocks and create patterns on paper! Create different lines on paper that they may trace with the loose parts. loose parts (buttons, gems, rocks) paper marker 8 Tuesday: Print off the rainbow clues, cut apart and tape onto strips of rainbow colored paper and a white cutout cloud. On each clue, circle the color to look for next and fill in the box with an object where to find it. Hide the next clue on that object! Hunt for the clues and tape them on a piece of paper to make a rainbow! Wednesday: Make a paper bag mask by cutting two holes around the eyes. Decorate with paper and glue! white paper paper in rainbow colors printer / printer paper pen tape paper bag colored paper scraps school glue Thursday: Open up the Tupperware drawer. Find the matching lids to the bottoms. Or nest them in one another. tupperware w/ matching lids Friday: Read your favorite Dr. Seuss book for his Birthday on the nd. 4/5 Over the Weekend: Tackle a child s room this weekend to go through, purge and organize! NEXT month s theme: Clean Up Together
Textured Tape Resist Heart painter s tape card stock paint variety of tools, comb, rolling pin, fork, etc Tape a heart outline on a piece of card stock. Paint over it using a variety of tools you have, such as a comb, fork, rolling pin, etc. Remove the tape once the paint is dry to the touch to reveal the heart! Use delicate surface painter s tape if at all possible and remove immediately after paint is dry to the touch. Be creative with the objects you use, think about textures they could make. For added texture, you could add a bit of flour to the paint.
Snowman Puppets thin cardboard (from cereal box) white paint glue cotton balls beads / sequins / buttons / googly eyes yarn Draw a snowman on thin cardboard, cut out and paint white. Stretch out cotton balls and glue to cover snowman. Embellish with beads and yarn to make eyes, buttons and a scarf. Cut a 4-5 inch strip from the cardboard and roll it into a circle. Glue it onto the back of the snowman to make it a puppet. Stretching cotton balls is great for little fingers! This is a great job for young kids to do while you re prepping snowmen. Younger kids likely won t be able to add the embellishments themselves, you can use markers to draw them on instead. When making the rolled cardboard for the puppet, keep in mind the size of your child s fingers and make it big enough to easily slide on and off.
I Love You Scavenger Hunt colored paper marker scissors Cut out several hearts (at least one per day until Valentine s Day) out of colored paper. Write one things you love about your child on each heart. I love. Hide one heart per day until Valentine s Day. Have your child hunt for it and then read it to them. Hang the collection on their bedroom door as they find them. You can do one per day, and also one big scavenger hunt today. Just do extra hearts! Be sure to do one heart per child. If more than one child, make the hearts different colors so you can tell them which color to find. Be creative in the things you love, be sure to include behaviors they do that you love!
Heart Garland colored paper scissors string or yarn tape Fold paper in half and cut a heart out, repeat to make lots of hearts. Tape the hearts onto a long piece of string. Repeat to make several lengths of these. Hang in a window! Stack the hearts one above the other to hang the garlands in a window from top to bottom. Otherwise tape them so they re side by side to string across the window. Trace a half of heart onto the folded paper for young kids to cut. Use -4 different colors of paper and have older kids pattern the hearts on the garland.
Play Dough Name Tracing paper pencil play dough Write your child s name on a piece of paper, as big as you can so it fits on the paper. Roll play dough into snakes. Trace the written letters of the name with the play dough. Rolling the play dough is the major part of this fine motor activity, the name and letters are secondary. Remember to tell them what letter they re working on, to make their name! It s okay to use several pieces of snakes to make one letter! Younger kids may need help forming the letters Instead, you can try straight and slightly curvy lines.
H is for Heart red or pink cardstock scissors marker paper clips or clothespins Cut a heart out of pink or red cardstock. Write in the middle H is for Heart. Write various letters around the edge of the object (with many of them being H or h). Clip the edge of the shape with paper clips on every one of the letters that the object starts with. (Clip the letter Hs.) Paper clips are tricky and take practice and teaching. They take a lot of fine motor control. Clothespins are easier for younger kids and are great for strengthening hands. Do all upper or lowercase for younger kids, or you can just do shapes on a square or circle. Mix upper and lowercase together for older kids.
Love Banner pink paper white paper hole punch scissors crayons or markers glue yarn Cut 4-5 squares from pink paper and cut the letters LOVE from white paper to fit on cut squares. Decorate letters to your desire and glue each letter onto pink squares. Punch holes at top of each square and thread yarn through to hang. Let older kids create their own funky letters to cut out. With younger kids you can draw the letter for them to cut, or cut for them. Add extra holes at the top of the letters for extra threading practice! This can be done all year long for birthdays and other special occasions!
Bang on Pots & Pans pots & pans kitchen utensils Dig pots and pans out of your cupboards and kitchen utensils out of the drawers! Bang on them! Make music or just noise. Do the different utensils sound different? Don t dismiss this activity for older kids! They ll love pounding and making noise as much as a one year old or baby does. The sounds the pots make are fantastic sensory. See how many different ways you can make sounds. Flip over the pots, stack them up. Use metal, plastic and wooden utensils. They ll all have different sounds.
Textured Yarn Hearts cardstock paper various yarn glue water Draw a large heart on a piece of cardstock. Mix glue with a bit of water in a bowl. Dip the yarn into the glue mixture to coat. Cover the drawn heart with coated yarn completely and let dry. You can cut out around the heart once it s dry and glue onto another piece of cardstock if you desire. You may need to add more glue to the yarn once it s in place to make it stay. Use this as an opportunity for cutting! Hold yarn taut and let your child snip it at varying lengths!
Frisbee Toss plastic lids painter s tape Tape lines of tape on the floor about a foot apart. Decide on a point to stand behind. Toss the lids like a frisbee and try to land on the line of tape! If you don t have any plastic lids, you could also use paper plates or little plastic toy Frisbees. Don t want to put tape on the floor? Take this to the stairs and have each stair be another point! Have older kids tally their points on a piece of paper and work toward to number (like 0).
Counting with Dice dice small objects muffin tin or egg carton Set out a die, muffin tin (or egg carton), and small objects. Roll a die. Count the dots. Put that many of the small objects into one section of the muffin tin. Counting as you go. Repeat. Small objects that work great for this: toy cars, pom poms, buttons, corn kernels, leaves, etc. If you don t have dice, you can use a deck of cards instead. Add multiple dice for older kids. Either count them all together, or separate and add them together (write the equation on a piece of paper).
Drawing Under the Table paper table colored pencils or crayons tape Tape a large piece of paper to the underside of a table. Lay down underneath the table on your back and draw on the paper! Set out colored pencils or crayons to have handy. Markers aren t a good choice to use upside down, stick with crayons or colored pencils. Paint would be fun, but prep for a mess! This is a fantastic sensory experience by just focusing on the process! For added fun, throw a blanket over the table and make it a fort to create in!
Living & Non-Living Collage magazines scissors school glue paper Collect your recent magazines. On a piece of paper write Living and on another write Non-Living. Find and cut living and non-living things out of the magazines. Sort the living and non-living things apart and glue them onto separate papers to make a collage. You may need to find a couple examples of living and non-living things to show your preschooler. Talk to your child about what makes something living. They breathe, they see and hear things. They need food to eat, and so on. You can classify different things too. Cut out colors and sort. Cut out girls and boys and sort. Cut out flowers and animals and sort. It just depends on what kind of magazines you have!
Rainbow Toy Hunt markers butcher paper toys Draw the colored lines of a rainbow on a large piece of paper. Go on a hunt through the house to find toys in every color of the rainbow. Place the toys on the lines to create a large rainbow. Have some ideas for toys of each color ready. Do you have blocks in several colors? Or letters? What about cars or even markers? The hunt is much of the fun, but you can also do this with torn up pieces of paper! Be sure to leave space between the colored lines to fit toys on it.
Block Patterns Lego or other blocks butcher paper markers Trace different shapes of blocks, or different colors, in a pattern (ABAB, ABCABC, AABBAABB for example) on a large sheet of paper. Have your child continue the pattern with the blocks. Reverse it, have your child start a pattern and you finish it! You can also stack the blocks in a pattern and build a tower (this works great with Lego blocks)! Start with simple patterns for your child to get the hang of it. Red, green, red, green. And then move on to harder patterns, such as AABBAABB. Make sure you have enough blocks of the colors and shapes you re making the pattern with to continue the pattern through at least twice.
Rainbow Sponge Painting paint (rainbow colors) paintbrush large kitchen sponge paper Paint a sponge with stripes of paint in the colors of the rainbow. Swipe the rainbow-painted sponge onto a piece of paper to make a rainbow. Re-paint the sponge and swipe again! An adult will likely have to paint, and reapply, the stripes of paint onto the sponge. Don t get discouraged when your child swipes over the paper several times and turns the paint brown. Remember its about the process. Not in the mood for a rainbow? Just do two primary colors to see what they mix into!
Loose Parts Patterns loose parts (buttons, gems, rocks) paper marker Gather loose parts from around the house, buttons, gems, rock, etc. Draw a simple pattern on the paper. Trace the lines on the paper by placing the loose parts on top of them. This can also be done with dry pasta from your pantry too! Be careful of young kids mouthing the small pieces. You could try this with snack foods if you re concerned. Have older kids draw their own design and glue the pieces along the lines for a more permanent craft!
Rainbow Hunt white paper paper in rainbow colors printer / printer paper pen tape Print off the rainbow clues that are found here. Cut them apart, and tape onto strips of rainbow colored paper and a cutout cloud. On each clue, circle the color to look for next and fill in the box with an object where to find it. Hide the next clue there! Hunt for the clues! When you find one tape them onto a piece of paper to make a rainbow! Don t put a clue on the violet strip of paper. Since that s the end of the rainbow, it s the end of the scavenger hunt and there are no more clues. If your child is beginning to read, you could put words in the clue box, otherwise draw the object! The order of the rainbow is ROYGBIV, Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet.
Paper Bag Mask paper bag colored paper scraps school glue Put the paper bag over your child s head and make note of where their eyes land on the bag. Remove and cut two large holes around the eyes. Have your child decorate the paper bag with paper scraps and glue. Put the mask on for hours of pretend play! Your child can also use paint, markers and crayons to decorate the mask. Cut out around their shoulders so the bag sits better, if needed. This is a great opportunity to talk about emotions, facial expressions, and just facial features!
Tupperware Match tupperware w/ matching lids Empty your Tupperware drawer! Have your child find and match up matching lids and bottoms. Or nest the bottoms together, biggest to smallest. Snapping the lids onto the bottoms is great practice and also strengthens their hands. Use this as an opportunity to organize your Tupperware drawer! You may want to remove all lids and bottoms that don t have matches so your child doesn t get frustrated when they can t find a match.