Activities for Children 24-30 Months Old
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Add actions to child's favorite nursery rhymes. Easy action rhymes include "Here We Go 'Round the Mulberry Bush," "Jack Be Nimble," "This Is the Way We Wash Our Clothes," "Ring Around the Rosey," and "London Bridge." |
Play Target Toss with a large bucket or box and bean bags or balls. Help child count how many he or she gets in the target. A ball or yarn or rolled up socks also work well for an indoor target game. | Wrap tape around one end of a piece of yarn to make it stiff like a needle and put a large knot at the other end. Have child string large elbow macaroni, buttons, spoons, or beads. Make an edible necklace out of Cheerios. | Children at this age love outings. One special outing can be going to the library. The librarian can help you find appropriate books. make a special time for reading (like bedtime stories). |
| Play a jumping game when you take a walk by jumping over the cracks in the sidewalk. You may have to hold child and help him or her jump over at first. | Take time to draw with child when he or she wants to get out paper and crayons. Draw large shapes and let your child color them in. | During sandbox play, try wetting some of the sand. Show child how to pack container with the wet sand and turn container over to make sand structures or cakes. | Add an old catalog or two to child's library. It's a good "picture" book for naming common objects. |
| Give child soap, washcloth, and a dishpan of water. Let child wash a "dirty" doll, toy dishes, or doll clothes. It's good practice for hand washing and drying. | Make "sound" containers using plastic Easter eggs or Leggs eggs. Fill eggs with noisy objects like sand, beans, or rice and tape the eggs shut. Have two eggs for each sound. Help child match wounds and put back in carton together. | Show child how to make snakes, balls, or roll-out pancakes with a small rolling pin using play dough. Add large cookie cutters to make new play dough shapes. | Children at this age love to pretend and really enjoy it when you can pretend with them. Pretend you are different animals, like a dog or cat. make animal sounds and actions. let child be the pet owner who pets and feeds you. |
| Your child will begin to be able to make choices. Help her or him choose what to wear each day by giving a choice between two pairs of socks, two shirts, and so forth. Give choices at other times like snack or mealtime (two kinds of drink, cracker, etc.) | Enhance listening skills by playing cassettes with both slow and fast music. Songs with speed changes are great. Show your child how to move fast or slow with the music. (You might find children's cassettes for this purpose at our local library.) |
Children can find endless uses for boxes. A box big enough for your child to fit in can become a car. An appliance box with holes cut for windows and a door can become child's play house. Decorating the boxes with crayons, markers, or paints can be a fun activity to do together.
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Play "Follow the Leader." Walk on tip toes, walk backward, and walk slow or fast with big steps and little steps. |
| Try a new twist to finger painting. Use whipping cream on a washable surface (cookie sheet, Formica table). Help child spread it around and draw pictures with your fingers. Add food coloring to give it some color. | Action is an important part of a child's life. Play a game with a ball where you give directions and the child does the actions, such as "roll the ball." Kick, throw, push, bounce, and catch are other good actions. | Make an obstacle course using chairs, pillows, or large cartons. Tell child to crawl over, under, through, behind, in front of, or between the objects. Be careful arranging so the piece won't tip and hurt child. | Collect little and big things (balls, blocks, plates_). Show and describe (big/little) objects. Ask your child to give you a big ball, then all the big balls. Do the same for little. Another big/little game is making yourself big by stretching arms up high and little by squatting down. |
