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Tips and instruction on games
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Consider a bicycle a means of transportation and not a toy for your child
Teach your child to ride it safely, requiring a helmet EVERY time. Make sure your child’s first bike has coaster brakes. Don’t buy a bike for your child to grown into. Forbid night riding. Enroll your child in a safe-rider training program and, if warranted by local conditions, agitate for more and safer community bike paths.
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Play ‘sticker search’ with your toddler
Buy some interesting, self-adhesive paper stickers. Put them on various items in the playroom in plain view. Tell him to look for the stickers. If he needs help give him hints, using "hot" or "cold" as he gets closer or farther from an item. Have him stick the stickers to his shirt as he finds them.
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Make silly stories up for your toddler
Select one of your toddler's favorite picture storybooks. Begin to read the book as you always have. After a few pages, change the story into something silly. Stop for a moment after you say the silly part, to see their reaction. Read it correctly for a few more pages and then surprise her again, and again, with another silly change.
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Play a game of tightrope walk
Make room for lots of floor space. Make a straight line along the floor with masking tape, making it twist and turn, ending with a spiral. Challenge your toddler to a tightrope walk. You go first (stepping on the tape). Let your toddler have a turn to see if he can stay on it better than you can.
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Create a ‘play’ from a favorite story with your toddler
Lay a blanket in the middle of the room to create a stage. Read the story to your toddler. Get out masks, props, and costumes and dress yourself and your toddler as the characters. Act out the story together, using the blanket stage.
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Play a game of letter search with your child
Hide cards around the house on which you’ve printed the alphabet (or buy alphabet cards). Your child will have fun running around looking for letter them. Every time he finds a letter, have him say it aloud. Reward him with a treat when he finds all the cards.
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Play hopscotch using the alphabet
Fill the sidewalk squares with letters instead of numbers. It’s a great way to introduce the alphabet.
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Play ‘unscramble the letters’
Take one set of upper case letters and another of lowercase letters and mix them all up. Have your child put together the upper and lower case letters that match one another. Be sure to brag on them whenever they find a ‘set’.
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Play tic tac toe using the alphabet
Choose any two letters that give your child difficulty and use them instead of an ‘x’ and an ‘o’. Or, if your child has favorite letters, use them.
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Play ‘guess’ the letter
Write a letter in the air with a finger and have your child guess what it is. Then let him write a letter and YOU guess what it is.
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Play ‘disappearing’ letters
On a small blackboard, dip a Q-tip in water (or use a small sponge) and write a letter. Let your child identify the letter as fast as they can before the letter ‘disappears’ (dries). Then let them take a turn drawing the same letter. Let your child write the next letter and you do the identifying.
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Play the ‘guessing’ game
Play a guessing game where you name something in the room, giving a basic description. “I am thinking of something with legs on it (this could be a piece of furniture or even the family pet if it’s in the room). Take turns.
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Play ‘silly animals’
Cut out several pictures of different kinds of animals including sea animals. Cut them in half. Put them in two separate piles, mixing each pile up. Have your child mix and match the halves. They can either create a ‘new’ animal by mismatching or else correctly match the two halves.
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Play ‘what is it?’
Collect textured or shaped items and put them in a paper bag. Blindfold your child or ask her to close her eyes and not peek. Take an item from the bag and put it in her hands. Ask her to feel the item carefully and guess what it is. Provide hints if she has trouble guessing correctly.
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Play musical letters
Make plenty of room on the floor to form a circle of alphabet cards. Put some up beat music on and have your child walk to the beat as he steps on them. Stop the music unexpectedly and have him tell you which letter it is. If he is correct, remove the letter. Repeat until only one letter is left.
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Sidewalk chalk for kids
Charcoal makes a great sidewalk chalk for kids.
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Clean smudges off plastic playing cards
A quick swipe with a baby wipe removes food from plastic cards when you’re smudging them while you’re playing cards.
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Keep playing cards from sticking together
Powder your playing cards lightly with baby powder. The shuffling will also be easier.
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Make surprise craft kits
Make surprise play kits or craft kits out of baby wipe tubs to amuse your kids in the car or while waiting at the dentist, doctor, etc.
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Organize your child's small toys
Use baby wipe tubs to hold Barbie accessories, puzzle pieces, crayons, markers. You can also cut the lids off and use them on a shelf as baskets to hold your child’s toys, socks or other smaller items.
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Collect memories with kids instead of ‘stuff’
To cut down on kids’ clutter, work on accumulating memories instead of possessions. Consider taking the children to the zoo, a natural history museum, or the theater instead of buying them a video game.
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Let the kids hold a toy garage sale
If toys are taking over your home, hold a toy garage sale and let your kids keep the proceeds from everything they choose to sell. Who knows, you could have a young entrepreneur in your home.
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Bright red wagon helps in toy clean up
A good way to get children to round up toys is to keep a bright red wagon on hand. Wheel it out and watch your children race to clean up; when the wagon is full, it’s easy for even small kids to pull the whole load back to here it belongs.
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Sorting toys minimizes ‘toy’s takeover’ of the floor
Sort toys into brightly colored laundry baskets. The open weave lets the children see what’s inside, minimizing the need to dump everything out. Another option is to sort toys into small dishpans.
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Telling a tale with a flannel board to your toddler
Make a flannel board. Cut out shapes of favorite storybook characters from various colors of felt. Add detail to characters using felt-tip pens. Sit with your toddler facing the board. Place the felt characters on the board as you tell the story. Then, retell the story and let your toddler put the characters on the board.
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Storytelling time with your toddler
Hold your toddler along with a picture book. Turn on a kids’ portable cassette recorder. Record your voice. Read the storybook. Turn recorder off. Rewind. Place her in a comfortable area with book and tape recorder nearby. Teach her to turn it on and off. Have her look at the book and turn the pages as the story plays.
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Bowling with your toddler
Set up unbreakable "bowling pins" in a triangle pattern, just like a bowling alley. Take several steps back. Mark a line with tape. Have your toddler stand behind the line. Give her the ball. Tell her to try to knock down all the objects by rolling the ball. Let her keep rolling until she knocks them all down. Repeat.
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Encourage artwork with your toddler by scribble scrabbling
Put washable non-toxic felt-tip pens and paper on table. Sit with toddler at table. Scribble on paper together. Encourage him to make a variety of marks such as dots, lines, curves, and circles. Ask him to tell you about his artwork. Try not to make designs for him to copy. Instead, just let him scribble whatever he wants.
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Dancing with your toddler until you ‘drop’
Tape-record a few minutes of different types of music, allowing enough time to enjoy the tune and do a little dance. On the first song, dance to the music. Encourage your toddler to dance with you. When the music changes, change your dance to match, and encourage your toddler to also change. Dance until you drop.
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Having a ‘dress-up parade with your toddler
Put a variety of fun clothes in a box. Set it in the middle of the room. Let your toddler explore the clothes with you. Try on some of them together, then look at yourselves in the mirror. After you’re all dressed up, have a Dress-Up Parade. Walk around the inside of your home modeling your new clothes.
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A game to identifying emotions to your toddler
Draw a variety of faces on paper plates expressing different feelings. Hold your toddler in your lap. Read him a story that expresses some emotions. When an emotion arises, pull out the appropriate paper plate face. Hold it up to your face. Explain to him what vocabulary words go with the emotion and let him make a similar face.
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Play ‘hide the music’ with your toddler
Wind-up or turn on a musical toy. Hide it somewhere in the playroom. Have your toddler come into the room and try to find the toy, just by listening. When he finds it, praise him. Have him step out of the room. Hide it again. Don't hide it too well. He should be able to find it relatively easily.
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Toddler learns how to “paint” the house!
Collect child-safe cleaning items in a bucket. Let your toddler carry them from place to place. Fill another bucket with water. Take him outside. Teach him how to "paint" the house with the brush and water. Let him explore the other cleaning items and use them the way he’s seen you use them. Praise him on a great job!
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Playing the silly game of ‘what's wrong’ with your toddler
Collect items that can be turned around, upside down, or made to look different than usual. Have your toddler figure it out. Hold a picture book upside down. Put a shoe on his foot, then the sock. Put toothpaste on the back of the toothbrush instead of the bristles, etc. See if your toddler makes the corrections.
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Play ‘what happened’ with your toddler
Select a picture book in which events happen that your child can anticipate. Sit together and begin reading the story. As you proceed, ask her what she thinks is going to happen next. Let her guess and then turn the page to read the next part of the story. See if she was right! Continue to the end.
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Play ‘recognize the noise’ with your toddler
Use a tape recorder to record a variety of interesting sounds: a dog barking, a familiar children's song, musical toy, Daddy’s voice, telephone ringing, keys jangling, etc. Allow some time between each noise. Play the tape for your toddler and see if he can guess each sound. Play the tape again. This time, demonstrate the source of each noise.
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Play ‘copycat’ with your toddler
Bring your toddler into the playroom and set him on the floor. Sit down next to him, imitating his exact body position. Every time your toddler moves or does something, do exactly what he does. See if you can tell when he catches on to what you’re doing!
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Play ‘scrambled pictures’ with your toddler
Find four pictures focusing on a particular family event with a beginning, middle, and end. Sitting at the table with your toddler, spread them out. Remind her of the event. Ask, “What happened first?” See if she can figure out the sequence, with a little prompting from you of ‘then what?’ Continue until all pictures are in order.
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Play ‘match the pictures’ with your toddler
Find pictures that represent items in your home. Collect real items to match the pictures. Set out the real items in a row. Seat your toddler next to you, facing the items. Hold up a picture of one of the items and ask him to find the matching real item. Repeat until he matches all the items.
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Playing with sand and water
Set a large wooden or cardboard box in the yard and fill it at least one-foot deep with fine sand. Set out a bucket of water, sand toys, and kitchen items for discovery play. Let your toddler enjoy the sand, pretending she’s at the beach, using her imagination as she sifts, pours, buries, and plays.
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Playing the shell game with your toddler
Seat your toddler at the table where you have turned three colored bowls facedown. Set a bite-sized treat in front of one of them. Cover it with a bowl. Slowly move the bowls around. Ask "Where's the treat?" Let her pick up the bowl to check. If she guesses correctly, let her eat it. Play again!
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Dangers of zippered bean bag chairs
Kids can crawl inside, zip themselves up and choke on the loose beans or pellets. If you buy one, make sure it's not a zippered one.
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Be careful of toy chests without spring-loaded supports
The heavy lids can fall on head/neck or suffocate a child inside.
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Children's creative paintings
Give to your children cotton balls, old sponges, etc. and encourage their artistic creativity.
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Making finger puppets
Cut the fingers off an old white cotton glove and help the kids create finger puppets. Decorate with markers, yarn and trimmings.
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Homemade puppets
Don't throw your perforated socks away. Use them to make puppets by sewing buttons, felt, paper and other types of items on them.
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New use for old tents
An old tent repainted according to the tastes of your child will make a pretty tepee for hours of playtime!
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Safe toy box lids
Practical ideal protects children’s fingers. To ensure that children don’t hurt their fingers when closing the lid of their toy box, glue a cork stopper in the two corners. No more smashed fingers!
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Stuffed animals
To wash stuffed animals so they remain fresh and clean, place them in a pillowcase to wash.
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Toddler bathtub toy
An old colander makes a great bathtub or sandbox toy for toddlers.
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Children and storage
Keep a shoebox and let your child decide whether it is the bed for Barbie or the barnyard farm animals.
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Child's travel toy bag
To keep children from being bored while on the road, fill a travel toy bag with some of the children’s favorite (but reasonably smaller) toys that will preoccupy much of their time while traveling. Happy children equal happy travels.
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Children's homemade puzzles
To make homemade puzzles, keep your postcards and cut out reasonable sized pieces, then mix. Or, stick a photograph on a paperboard and plasticize, cutting sizes to age appropriate. The kids will love it.
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Entertain children
Prepare a toy box of playthings that are reserved for special times only, such as when you need a small break or rest. Plastic bowls with dry munchies can also accompany these special times.
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Instant bowling pins
Transform plastic soda bottles into bowling pins. Fill with sand to keep them stable.
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