So. What DO you Do with toddlers all day? If you're anxious to start homeschooling, or you've agreed to take on the toddler class for your homeschool co-op, here are some ideas to get you started.
Divide up your day.
- 15 minute increments are great at the toddler stage. You could have an activity/lesson ready to switch every fifteen minutes or so.
or………
- On the half hour. You could have something planned to start on the half hour, then if your child begins to lose interest they can play with toys until the next half hour starts. You could also plan each thirty minutes with a different subject. For instance, 9:00 would be Bible and play with Bible toys; 9:30 would be science and play with science toys, etc.
- Repeat this over the course of the week: Kids this age don’t get tired of the same thing over and over, so a recurring “theme” each week would be fine. Also, there is a lot the kids may not understand at this age, but it plants the seeds of learning to hear things and have them repeat things.
- Just use discretion with the activities. Some toddlers are still putting things in their mouths, so just keep that in mind.
Subjects and Ideas
Bible:
Most importantly for this age is just to hear scripture repeated and Bible stories. For Bible you could do the same simple verse each day for a week, and week two add on the second verse with the first, and so on. If your toddler isn't talking, they can still hear you telling them the verses!
-simple verses
-Bible storybooks and felt boards
-songs/finger plays
Math:
You could also do a weekly theme with math. Colors and shapes are great at this age. All week you could reiterate “This is round. Can you find something that is round, etc.” Also, you could have a special bag that contains items you found around the house with the shape or the color of the week. Each day bring out that bag and go over the fact that “This is round, etc.” or “All these things are blue” and let the kids have time to look at all the things from the bag. The next week choose a different shape or color.
Other math activities:
-dried beans in a container with plastic spoons, etc. to scoop and sort the beans (you could also use rice, but that’s harder to clean up. And, make sure they're not eating them.)
-gather about ten things and use them to count to ten- you could do this everyday.
-lacing shapes and beads….With the beads you can talk about patterns, “Here is a red bead, then blue, then red, what comes next?”
Science:
Check some books out of the library that have pictures of animals. Go through the book and talk about each animal “Look at this, it’s a tiger. God made tigers. They go roar. Can you roar like a tiger?" (Can you hop like a bunny? Can you crawl like a turtle? Can you jump like a kangaroo? ,etc. Point out features on the animals, Does this one have feathers? Does this one have fur? Where does this animal live? (In the jungle, in the desert, etc.) You can also check out books and do this same thing with bugs, butterflies, birds, fish, etc. "Look at these fish, it has orange and yellow. This bird has a small beak. This bug has six legs, etc."
Fun Science Fingerplays.....
Five Little Ducks
Five little ducks that I once knew (hold up five fingers)
Big ones, little ones, skinny ones too (make big and little hands)
But the one little duck with the feather on its back (hold up one finger)
He led the others with a quack, quack, quack
He led the others with a quack, quack, quack.
Down to the river they would go
Widdle, waddle, widdle, waddle to and fro (waddle like a duck)
But the one little duck with the feather on its back (hold up one finger)
He led the others with a quack, quack, quack
He led the others with a quack, quack, quack.
Up from the river they would come
With a ho, ho, ho and a hum, hum. Hum (waddle like a duck)
But the one little duck with the feather on its back (hold up one finger)
He led the others with a quack, quack, quack
He led the others with a quack, quack, quack.
Did you ever see a bunny? (To the tune of “Did you ever see a lassie?”)
Did you ever see a bunny, a bunny, a bunny
Did you ever see a bunny that hops so slow?
He hops and hops, and hops and hops.
Did you ever see a bunny that hops so slow?
(Also, hops backwards, fast, on one foot, etc.)
(Also, change the animal –Did you ever see a tiger…..He growls and growls, etc.)
Hop Little Rabbit
Hop Little Rabbit, won’t you hop, hop, hop?
Hop Little Rabbit, won’t you stop, stop, stop?
Hop Little Rabbit, one, two, three
Hop Little Rabbit, hop to me.
(can change this to run, march, crawl, tiptoe, etc.)
-God made dinosaurs, they were on Noah’s ark
Five Enormous Dinosaurs
Five enormous dinosaurs letting out a roar
One went away and then there were four
Four enormous dinosaurs munching on a tree
One went away and then there were three
Three enormous dinosaurs didn’t know what to do
One went away and then there were two
Two enormous dinosaurs having lots of fun
One went away and then there was one
One enormous dinosaur afraid to be a here
He went away and then there were zero.
The Caterpillar
A caterpillar crawled to the top of a tree, (index finger of left hand moves up right arm)
“I think I’ll take a nap,” said he.
So under a leaf he began to creep (wrap right hand over left fist)
To spin his chrysalis and he fell asleep.
All winter long he slept in his chrysalis bed, (keep right hand over left fist)
Til spring came along one day and said,
“Wake up, wake up little sleepy head.” (Shake left fist with right hand)
“Wake up, it’s time to get out of bed!”
So,he opened his eyes that sunshiny day (Shake fingers and look into hand)
Lo-he was a butterfly and flew away! (Move hands in a flying motion)
The Insects (to the tune of Wheels on the Bus)
The bugs in the air fly round and round, round and round, round and round
The bugs in the air fly round and round all through the day
The spiders on the bush spin a web, spin a web, spin a web
The spiders on the bush spin a web all through the day.
The bees in their hive go buzz, buzz, buzz, buzz, buzz, buzz, buzz, buzz, buzz
The bees in their hive go buzz, buzz, buzz all through the day.
The ants on the mound crawl all around, all around, all around
The ants on the mound crawl all around all through the day.
-Go through all the body parts, “God made my eyes so I can see. God made my ears so I can hear. God made my legs so I can jump”, etc. This would be a great time to sing “Be careful Little Eyes what you see” and the Hokey Pokey (Put your left arm in, put your left arm out, put your left arm in and you shake it all about, you do the Hokey Pokey and you turn yourself around, that’s what it’s all about.)
-Bring some leaves, twigs, flowers, rocks, etc. in and talk about them. Let the kids touch each thing and feel if it is rough or smooth.
-You could get a special bag of different food packages for your child to look through and talk about how God provides good food for us to eat to keep our bodies healthy. (Hold up the packages, “We need milk to keep our bones healthy-who likes milk? Me! Me!, etc.)
Here We Go Round the Blueberry Bush
Here we go round the blueberry bush, blueberry bush, blueberry bush (Hold hands and walk in a circle)
Here we go round the blueberry bush so early in the morning.
Pick the blueberries small and round, small and round, small and round (pretend to pick blueberries)
Pick the blueberries small and round so early in the morning.
Taste the blueberries ripe and sweet, ripe and sweet, ripe and sweet (pretend to eat the blueberries)
Taste the blueberries ripe and sweet so early in the morning.
Help mix up the muffin batter, muffin batter, muffin batter (pretend mixing)
Help mix up the muffin batter so early in the morning.
Now let’s share the muffins, share the muffins, share the muffins (pretend to hand muffin to someone)
Now let’s share the muffins so early in the morning.
-What do we do when the sun is high in the sky? We skip, run, jump, etc. God put the sun in the sky to give us light during the day. What do we do when the moon and the stars are in the sky? We sleep. (Kids pretend to sleep.) God gave us the moon and stars for light at night time. (Twinkle, Twinkle little star...)
-Talk about each season and what the weather is like, what you would wear in each season and have children pretend to put on clothes for each season. (Or you could raid the closet and bring in one type of season’s clothing each week for the kids to try on like all hats scarves and gloves for winter,etc.)
What would you do in each season? Pretend to swim for summer, pick and smell flowers in spring, pretend to swim in summer, etc.
-Talk about different kinds of weather. Can you whirl around like a tornado? Can you stomp softly like little rain drops? Can you clap loud like thunder?
Reading/Letters:
-Opposites: Everybody stand up really tall, now shrink down really small; the block is on top, now it’s on the bottom, can we run in place fast, now slow, etc.
-Use the play mat (or if you don't have a play mat, you can just write the letters on card stock) to find the letter A, now let’s find the apple. A says “a” and apple starts with “a”; You could do one letter every week, or just spend a few minutes going over different letters.
-sing the alphabet song
-“Signing Time” Dvd’s (Maybe from your local library?)
-This is the letter that your name starts with….write with chalk on construction paper.
Social Studies:
-Talk about families and how God gives families moms, dads, brothers, sisters, grandpas, aunts, etc.
-Talk about how we live in Oklahoma. Can you say “Oklahoma”? Oklahoma is in the United States of America. Can you Say “America”? Our president is President Obama. Etc.
-Walk through a typical day with the kids. When we wake up we stretch (kids stretch) then we brush our teeth (pretend brush teeth) then we put on our clothes (pretend to get dressed), etc. ending with pretending to go to bed/sleep.
-What kind of vehicles do we see in our neighborhood…talk planes, cars, trains, big trucks and what each would do.
Row Your Boat
Row, row , row your boat (act out rowing the boat)
Gently down the stream
Merrily, merrily, merrily
Life is but a dream
(Drive, drive, drive the car, fly, fly, fly the plane, etc. acting out each action)
Art:
-shaving cream on construction paper. Could use dollar store paint brushes and let them “paint” the shaving cream onto the paper. Pretty easy clean up.
-playdough with cookies cutters
-sidewalk chalk on construction paper
-cut out people from magazines, paste on construction paper and glue to large popsicle sticks for puppets
Music:
-Get an inexpensive supply of musical instruments from your local store, (or you could even make your own with beans and cans).
-Play different types of music: classical, jazz, hymns in the background.
