Cool Toddler Summer Activites

[Melissa]

I work with Toddlers in a day care center and I am looking for some cool ideas and/or suggestions for fun things to do outdoors with my class. If anyone has ideas for me they would be greatly appreciated i need help! Are there any good Toddler resoruce books that I could get? Most the books we seem to have in our center gear towards more of the preschool age group and up. I sure love Toddler Toddler i was so excited when i found this site!!!

[Toddler Toddler]

Melissa,

I have a bunch of fun new outdoor toddler activities that I'm going to post up. I had a challenging week with a virus that took down my computer and backup files for a week. I'm now back up and running and will get the activities up soon!

~Jennifer

[Tanya]

1) Chalk! You can trace around them or just let them draw whatever they want.
2) Paint with Water on cement, walls, etc. Or they can go over their chalk art w/ a paintbrush and water
3) Nature jar - talk a nature walk and hunt for things like leaves, flowers, grass, acorns, small sticks, rocks, etc that they can put in their own jars.
4) Nature bracelets - take a piece of masking tape or contact paper and create a bracelet (sticky side out). Have them stick things that they find onto the bracelet.
5) Get a play tent and pretend you are having a campout.
6) Messy crafts are perfect for doing outdoors! They can also play with slime, goop, playdough, etc.
7) With the items they collected in their nature jars, they can create a nature collage using clear contact paper (sticky side up). Seal with a second piece of clear contact paper.
8) Sink or float? - Get a tub of water (you can use a large tupperware container) and put things into the water to see whether they sink or float. Talk about your predictions and you can make a chart with your findings to hang on the wall inside.
9) Rice pit - Fill a large container with rice and include lots of things to scoop, sift and pour with (cups, funnels, etc).

I have tons more ideas, but this should be a good start!