During this past year with the pandemic, I found myself setting up a lot more activities for my kids. My daughter normally goes to preschool and she wasn’t anymore. I was now working from home, my husband has already been working from home — not to mention my two year old son being in the mix of everything — it was a lot of bumping heads and chaos.
There were a few reasons why I decided to up the activity amount. One, I wanted my kids to be able to get some hands on learning throughout the day since they weren’t in preschool any more and it didn’t look like my husband was going to take on a teacher role anytime soon. Two, the kids were home so much during the day that they were getting bored frequently so I needed something to keep them intrigued without buying any more toys. And lastly, we needed something to occupy them during parts of the day so that we can get things done.
Creating activities for your child doesn’t have to take a whole lot of time. Nor does it have to be elaborate or break your pocket. Here are 7 quick and easy activities for your children that are budget friendly. Some of these activities have small parts so supervision may be required for kids under three. In all cases use your judgement.
Color Sorting Hearts
I got these cute adorable favor/treat containers and a pack of foam stickers for sale at a craft store around Valentine’s Day. My kids loved placing the stickers in the containers, closing the lids, opening them up again — and they did this over and over. I plan on using the stickers for another activity later on as well.
Rubber Bands Dino
Do you have elastics, rubber bands, a dinosaur toy, or even a longneck bottle? Then you have yourself an activity! Pulling and stretching those elastics will give the fine motor skills a work out!
Color Flash Cards with Toys
Bring out some color cards or construction paper, find some toys to match the colors and set up a little color matching activity for your kiddo. You can grab the ones we’re using here for free!
Wooden Stars Size Sorting
I got this pack of wooden stars on sale at a craft store. I originally intended on using it to make small wands but thought I would use it for a size sorting activity first instead. I printed out plain black stars to have a control labeling to show where they go, but you could easily just trace the star and use that for the control as well.
Fizzing Cubes
This was made from baking soda, water, food coloring — and then used with vinegar and a dropper to create a fizzing effect. I used materials that I already had at home. If you don’t have a muffin tin, any tray would work as well. Also, if you don’t have a dropper or pipette on hand, simply use a spoon to make it a transferring activity and it will still create the same results.
Bead Lacing
A small pack of pony beads with some craft laces and we have a fine motor threading activity! This could be substituted with some string or yarn and pasta noodles if you don’t have any beads on hand.
Dot Sticker Activity
You can find a pack of these dot stickers almost anywhere including Target or the dollar store. Draw some lines on a piece of paper and have your child stick the dots onto the lines. Or grab a marker and draw some circles with the corresponding color and have your child stick on the matching colored sticker. Super easy to set up!
I hope that some of these ideas will help you set up some quick and fun activities for your little one!
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