Help with activities for 2 yo

[ZakareyasMama]

Hello!

I am a mom to a 3 month old and I'm going to be taking care of an easygoing 2 year old girl a few days a week. 

I would like to do some activities with her to develop fine motor skills, preliteracy and stuff like colors and numbers. I have lots of ideas, but I'm not sure what is age appropriate as far as activities or what her attention span may be (less than 10 min?). 

Some ideas:

Bubbles

Painting (water? finger?)

Using food color with water

Sand activities (tracing letters, filling up cups)

Some kind of Play Do material (is there a cheaper/homemade alternative?)

Fabric dye (Can anyone recommend a good/safe kind to use with kids?)

Also I am somewhat limited because of my own baby who is still nursing frequently. Any advice or suggestions?!

[Jenni1894]

When my youngest was born, my ODD was 2 and I was nursing also. 

Her favorite thing to do was make me cupcakes, tea or soup in the play kitchen.  She also liked to nurse her dolls while I nursed the baby.

Plain ol' coloring on a blank paper was and still is a huge hit.  I use brown paper bags (grocery bags) and cut them. 

Frequently my 18 mo nephew was with us too....luckily it was warm and I'd take them out in the yard and let them explore the yard, pick things up in buckets, treasure hunt style, run in the sprinkler or slip and slide, push the play mower around or other cars.  

We also went to a lot of places, parks, forest preserves, the zoo...etc.  Anything outdoors to tire them out and get them to sleep!!  lol 

ETA that we went on lots of walks too.   My 6 yr old would ride his bike, my 3 yo dd and 18 mo nephew in the double stroller and the baby in her sling!  I felt like mother hen with all my little ducklings!!! 

[bignerpie]

One of my son's favorite things to do is move things from one container to another. Get two bowls, a bag of dry rice or beans, and a scoop or spoon of some kind. Outside, the activity usually involves soil, planters, and a little shovel. I guarantee it will hold her attention for more than 10 minutes!

[curiouscanadian]

DS likes stickers and pinching/peeling them off the paper is supposedly a good motor skill activity.

You can totally make homemade playdough, just google for recipies. I've also heard of adding scent like vanilla or cinnamon or even KoolAid (colours and scent) to add another dimension to the activity. I tried making homemade fingerpaint and found what I thought at first was a great recipe online except it didn't keep very well at all (if we'd used it the same day it would've been fine but I made it the day before and it had gone gelatenous by the time we tried it ).

Ice cubes in a big tub of water. I've heard of laying a string in the ice cube tray before sticking it in the freezer and then you have a string of ice cubes to play with. You can also dye the ice cubes with food colouring for another added "trick".

Books, lots and lots of books. A great activity to do with her while you're nursing (she can even bring them to you & turn/hold the pages).

I don't know if girls are into them the same way boys are (I hate gender stereotypes but sometimes they have a vaild base ) but trains of almost any sort are a huge hit around here. DS can play with them forever!

A few (haha) other items from an ongoing "activities" list I've got on my computer:

(N.B. You may or may not want to do all of these if you find she still puts a lot of things in her mouth, and obviously some are going to need a lot more supervision than others. Some may be too advanced for her, but you may never know until you try.)

Eyedropper art onto coffee filters

Lacing cards and shoe laces

Magnet and paperclips, washers, a nail, etc.

Scissors, paper with large, straight black lines to practice cutting along

pipe cleaners and large pasta noodles to string

Move Pom poms with tongs/tweezers from one container to another

Button Snake (google "button snake activity")

Clothes pins & “laundry” cut out of construction paper to hang on a "clothesline"

Open/shut activity bag (just an assortment of small items with different types of closures)

Elastic bands on/off a round door knob

Necklace making (pipecleaner needle, pasta or wooden beads, washer end)

“Does it fit?” Cut an empty paper towel roll in half and gather a collection of objects that do and don’t fit through the roll. Ie. chap stick tube, a ball, some keys, a large and small crumpled piece of paper

Letter/Number magnets
Bubble wrap

Chalk on dark construction paper/sidewalk chalk

Bean bags to toss

Easy-to-use paper punch and strips of paper

A cup with non-toxic soapy water and a straw to blow bubbles. You may put it on a sheet of paper and add food coloring to the water.

Watch a bug! At the table, at an anthill, wherever.

a magnifying glass and misc. items to look at

Various sizes and colors of buttons to glue on construction paper (could be a colour matching activity)

Paint bag writing (To make your own paint bag writing tablet, put some finger paint or tempera paint into a sturdy freezer ziploc bag. Seal it well and smoosh the paint around the entire bag. You could even add a strip of packing tape across the top if you are worried about your child opening the bag! )

[ZakareyasMama]

BUMP

Any other ideas... these are great so far!

We did the marker and water on paper towels (didn't have coffee filters) and it was fun.

She looooves books. 

I find sometimes I have a hard time convincing her to "try" a new activity. I don't know if that's just what life with a toddler is all about or what! :)