Activities for 3 and up Tods!!

Its not easy to engage the toddlers,especially 3yrs and up.. When I look back my last 2yrs journey, most of A's evenings filled with home activity. Summer is spent mostly outdoor and winter/wet/cold days are mostly indoor activities. It is always a challenge as a parent to keep up less tech-free/ TV time.

  

I thought it will be a good idea to compose activities, who knows it might help someone else..   G and I are big-time board game lovers, even before A came in to picture. So our family time is full of board games and Lego at home.. This is truly my activity list from past 2 years. I haven't included anything that I haven't played here or suggested something I haven't done. If it matches your list, its purely we are great people who think alike.. haha..Seriously!!

For easier viewing I categorized them as Indoor,Outdoor, crafts, house chores ,On the road and Out & about.I have added links to some activities for reference ONLY  just to show what I'm trying to say. I'm not suggesting or recommending the product.

Indoor Activities:

1. Lego – no need to elaborate on this. Kids love it.
2. Puzzles– right now A does 200 pieces puzzles. This still amuse me as how kids match the pattern more than the actual content of the picture.
3. Dominos – this is our recent fav game.
4. Sticks – toothpicks or stew wooden sticks thrown and take one at a time without shaking others
5. Jenga is another recent fav.. Started with traditional way of stacking but now moved on to build castles/stadiums. Get your imagination go wild. You can even use Lego wheels to build wooden cars/trucks.
6. 100 games of board games – this is a good investment.. It’s got all in one, some are just time pass. You get this for $15 in big-w/k-mart.
7. Charades
8. Finding small words(3 or 4 letters) from the mix of letters – word puzzle
9. Trying to solve maze puzzle  (get it in dollar shop)
10. Spot the differences - from two similar pictures
11. Find particular object in a busy picture
12. Connect the dots
13. Drawing/colouring
14. Guess Who? –   A still cannot read names. He recognizes letters and we just spell the name in the end..
15. Tangram Shape Puzzle  - It comes in 7 or 8 pieces and you need to create animals/objects using the shapes. It’s actually tough for even adults. But usually it comes with a book to start off.
16. Card game – A  just love to match the numbers/Shapes
17. UNO – another card game
18. Ludo – this is our all time fav 
19. Connect 4 – this is another fun game..
20. Chess – it’s still in learning stage.. but idea of getting the opponent is fun for A
21. Snakes and ladders
22. Chinese Checkers 
23. Play Dough - increase their motor skills and creativity
24. Roll-the-ball..A keeps a Lego-stump at one end of the hallway and try to roll the ball to hit it from other end. Trust me he can play this for hours without getting bored. He sometimes gives commentary too..
25. Memory/Match cards– A got memory cards from his cousin.. it has 70 pairs.. it usually go for an hour if we both play. You can do the same with playing cards too.
26. Maths flash cards – Make single digit number flash cards and start with simple additions.. like 1+1 = 2 ..
27. Finding letter/alphabet patterns – letters that looks similar in different angel – 3/W/M, 6/9/g/p etc.,
28. Monopoly – A gets excited about the rolling dice and he can buy/build bldg.. Simple version for kids with simplified rules.
29. Write/Spell rhyming 3 letter words - like CAT/RAT etc.,
30. Flags and Countries.. just start of simple Country names they know already. A recognizes India, Australia, Korea and Japan. But he still doesn’t get the City names and country names..
31. Planets and specialties – just name the planets and stars.. not to detailed. 
32. Reading story books - bed time stories
33. Play my fav pop hits (right from 90’s till today) and sing along.. A loves Spice Girls to Maroon 5 to Justins ..Thanks to me :)
34. Play any non-English songs and try to sing along- We listen to Spanish hits to Indian hits(Hindi/Tamil/Telugu). No idea what it means.. lol.. 
35. Help mommy choose a Nail polish.. I have to add this as last, A loves to choose colors and comes up with new combination for my nails.A loves nail polish, he thinks its not fair coz girls can only wear them. 

Outdoor Activities: 

1. Play sports esp Cricket. A is ready to roll even on a cold winter day
2. Beach /sand time
3. Parks/some footy time
4. Pack a picnic and go to a garden/City/Park
5. Cycling
6. Skipping
7. Water gun - Kids love it.
8. Bubbles
9. Marbles – recent addition as well..its hard to play in our tiled floor..Best to play in garden on grass or sand floor.
10. I fill water in one bucket and give A a cup to water the plants.
11. I give water in a bucket and ask A to fill another bucket/big bowl with a cup.
12. Chalk time - Draw on the pathway/garden pathway..Its easy to wash off with water or when it rains..lol..
13. Take train or bus or tram to City.. 
14. Ride Scooter
15. B-day parties
16. Visit Temple.
17. Circus time.. Check your local area for Circus shows..I’m just lucky I have one close to our house and they have shows all through the year..We go once a year.. 
18. Visit Zoo (Become a member and you can visit as many times as you want)
19. Visit museum  ((become a member and you can visit as many times as you want)
20. Visit Aquarium (I used to have membership when he was 1 to 3 yrs, take him almost twice weekly esp in winter days)
21. Watch a match (Cricket/Tennis/Footy/Soccer etc.,) at the stadium or local ground.
22. Feed the birds – It’s our daily routine to keep some grains/fruits in the garden for birds to eat.
23. Stage plays eg: Hungry caterpillar – lovely way to engage kids with live-show. Check ticket master/try booking/Eventbrite for local event updates.
24. Watching movies in theatre. A loves it.  
25. Hang out with our adult friends..he loves to catch up with my girlfriends and loves the attention he gets from them..
26. Kids activity places like bounce/skating both hard floor and ice/rock climbing 

Crafts: 

1. I watch youtube videos for crafts. I follow paper magic in youtube/FB.
2. Paint – I hate mess but I take extra step to cover the floors before I open the paint bottle. However, it is fun to use paintbrush.
3. Paper cutting and stories. I try to draw some characters and we create stories by cutting it in shape

Indian Board games:

We love Indian classic board games..Links to my previous post on this..

1. Thayam – Indian version of Ludo, which takes longer time to finish. It is a strategy game, improves counting/numbers.
2. Pallanguzhi – Indian board game.. Improves counting/numbers and logical thinking.. 

On the Road: 

1. Car Logo game- identify car logos.
2. Car number plate game – While on the road, we all choose a number each and have to count how many cars cross us has that number. Who ever gets more numbers - wins. For smaller kids , they can recognize one number to start off.
3. Another number plate game is to count the numbers in a car plate.
4. I bought this magnetic pen with alphabet board..It is really good.
5. Create a story.. We all play this game forming one sentence each and the game continues with next person saying next sentence..
6. Play mind maths.. eg:  how do you get 12 – A responds with 3+2+5+2 ..its really amazing if u let them explore the possibilities for each number.. Without writing it in paper..just mind maths. But it all started with simple 1+1.. He is come long way now.

Kids love to do ‘big people’ chores 

1. A helps me with any stirring/cleaning.Example: Washing rice,I will give him a stirrer to cleanse rice. He loves it.
2. Beat the egg – he enjoys breaking the egg & I let him add salt and pepper and beat it..  
3. Dough making – I use the processor to make dough but in the end when I take out the dough. He loves to punch it more and give that final touch..  
4. Make shaped rotis – A loves to press the rotis and give them shapes. I let him press 2 or 3 rotis.  
5. Set up table(plates/spoons/glasses) for dinner.  
6. Laundry fold – I get him involved in his cloth folding , easy ones like towels and putting his socks/panties on the box etc.,  
7. I have a small lightweight hand vac for him. He vacuum the mess he makes near the dining table sometimes. Not every day once a while.

Kids and Restaurant: 

We always carry one of these to engage A to reduce phone/app time. we will be lucky if there is no phone viewing.. :( 

1. Drawing/colouring
2. Finding words from the mix of letters – word puzzle 
3. Trying to solve maze puzzle  (get it in dollar shop) 
4. Find difference in two pictures 
5. Find particular object in a busy pictures
6. Mini puzzle. 
7. Connect the dots

Puff!!!!! thats a longgg list!!! I think I summarized it all, hope this helps someone out there..  

Happy Family Time!! Happy Parenting!!

Adios fellow parent Amigos!!