No Materials Required: 15 Things To Do with Twos and Threes that Only Require Your Mind

The great thing about helping your child learn or practice new skills is that sometimes it doesn't even require materials.

No materials means no money either, which is an added bonus.

I've compiled 15 fun things to do with twos and threes that only require your mind!

1. Play I Spy. We like to practice our colors while playing I Spy.
2. Pretend to play musical instruments. We like to do this to the tune of All Around the Mulberry Bush and sing "This is the way we play our trumpet [insert other musical instruments here], play our trumpet, play our trumpet; this is the way we play our trumpet, all through the town."
3. Play Simon Says. 
4. Have a pretend tea party.
5. Sing a song. Baby bookworm loves Wheels on the Bus, the alphabet song, and Jingle Bells.
6. Identify parts of the body. I ask baby bookworm, "Can you show me your ankle?" "Can you show me your elbow?" Of course, this would be a great game to play with a baby too if you keep it simple. Sometimes we even play this game in another language.
7. Clap the number of syllables in words (or your names). For example, Ap-ple - two syllables (and two claps). This one might be difficult for some twos and threes, but with some practice they might become quite skilled at it.
8. Get moving! Dance, skip, jump, run, climb stairs, tip-toe, leap, gallop. We are currently working on gallop and skip.
9. Play follow the leader. Do something and see if your child can mimic you. I try to start out my doing one movement. Then two movements together, then three, and I see how many movements she can follow in a row.
10. Make and bake a pretend cake. Ask your child to name the ingredients you'll need, and then go through the steps to make a cake. This is great for sequencing. 
11. Play a color game. What we do is sing the following song to the tune of The Farmer in the Dell..."Spaghetti sauce is red, spaghetti sauce is red, I can think of lots of things that are the color red." Then the child names something else that is red such as a strawberry. You follow along with other objects and colors.
12. Play a naming game. I pick a category and ask baby bookworm to name as many things as she can that fit the category. For example, "Things You Find at the Beach"....  (think Family Feud for kids).
13. Count. As high as you can. Backwards, or by 2's, in another language, by 10s. You can make this one as easy or as challenging as you'd like.
14. Make up a story. Baby bookworm likes stories that begin, "Once upon a time there was a little girl..." I often ask her, "What comes next?" and she'll add something to our story.
15. Play hide & seek. Now, chances are if your child is hiding, he'll jump out to reveal himself, but it's still super fun.  

So put away your fancy toys, your iphones and ipads, and turn off the TV. Use the best learning tool you've got - your mind!

Here are some of my favorite books with kids who are quite imaginative. Maybe read one of these and tell your child you're going to "be" like Harold and Max!

Click on the images to find more info on Amazon about these books.

Book-Based Crafts and Activities to Promote Learning

Pairing books with crafts or activities is one of our favorite learning strategies.

WHY?

• it can motivate a child to read; after doing an activity, a child may be more interested in reading the book again and again, or other books on the topic.
• it helps to build connections between a child's knowledge base and new learning
• it helps with the transfer of knowledge; learning concepts and skills in different contexts will help your child transfer his knowledge from one situation to another
• it aids learning through repetition of concepts and ideas 

Today I'm sharing some of the book-based crafts and activities we've been having fun with over the past few weeks.

Spring has been at the top of our list of reading topics, and we've done some gardening and garden-inspired crafts. Although.....I hope I haven't confused baby bookworm, as the seasons have been a little quirky recently.

Last I checked the calendar it was April. Almost May, in fact. But, this is the view outside our window today.

Snowy APRIL day

We've also made our very own Rainbow Fish, and played a super fun game that uses memory skills.

Check it out...

My Garden
by Kevin Henkes

A book that can be enjoyed by both babies and toddlers about a little girl who dreams of her own special garden where jelly beans and seashells might grow.

My Garden is a good book to introduce this topic in a fun and imaginative way.  I hope it inspires you to do some gardening of your own, like it did for us.

Watering our flower garden

Have an infant or young toddler who isn't quite up for the task of gardening yet? You might want to try this craft instead.

Tear multi-colored construction paper into small pieces

Get out your glue stick and paste them in a random fashion
on to white paper

Add a few stems with green crayon - and you have
your very own indoor garden!

What's Missing?
by Niki Yektai and illustrated by Susannah Ryan

In this interactive book, the child looks at the picture and guesses what is missing.  For example, on the cover of the book, the answer to the title's questions is the dog!

Baby bookworm enjoyed this "game" - even though she needed help in some instances.



Inspired by What's Missing?, we played our own what is missing-memory game...

First, I lined up four of baby bookworm's animal figures and had her point to and name each one.

Next, I told her to cover her eyes (and no peeking).

I removed one of the animals, and she had to guess which was missing!  Below she is pointing to where the rhino used to be. After a few practice runs - she got to be a pro at this game.  So simple, and yet kept us entertained for awhile!

The Rainbow Fish
by Marcus Pfister



A tale that celebrates inner beauty and sharing, your child will grow fond of this fish and his shiny scales.

To make your own rainbow fish like we did you will need: cardboard, aluminum foil, paint in hues of green, blue, and purple, and a googly eye.

Simply cut out your cardboard into the shape of a fish and cover it with aluminum foil.

Turn it over and paint.  Add a googly eye and Ta-Da - you have a rainbow fish.

For more book-based crafts and activities check out these previous posts:

Books and Activities Round-Up

Winter Word Activity

Pair a Book with an Activity

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