8 Toddler & Child friendly activities for Spring

The sun has been shining, and the daffodils are really making themselves known. This can only mean one thing (unless we are super unlucky and hit with another late snow)- Spring is right around the corner!

Spring really is a wonderful time for children, especially since it means after a long cold winter, they finally get to go outdoors more and take it all in. Newborn animals, flowers, seeds, baby birds, Easter... I've compiled a little bucket list of all the things we are going to do this season to both have fun and teach them about the changes in the world around them.

Toddler & Child Friendly Activities for Spring

1. Flower Planting

I've been explaining to Isla, that after everything has died or "gone to sleep" in nature during Winter, Spring is the time when everything gets it's colour back! Blossom, new leaves on trees, and new flowers! I want to get some seeds and bulbs and teach her how to plant them so she can see this for herself.

2. Making birds nests

Spring- the birds are tweeting as the sun rises earlier, and the trees are absolutely stuffed with nests ready to hatch the first chicks of the year. A simple craft activity that can be done with twigs, yarn, straw (or anything else you have to hand really!) and some glue. Get it all moulded around something round and non-stick like an inflated balloon, and once it's dry you pop it off and your little ones can display their nest with pride! Throw in some of those cute plastic eggs from the poundshop and they'll be so pleased.

3. Go on a nature walk

It sounds simple, but Spring really is a great opportunity to get outside as the weather warms up. Head outdoors and point out all the changes you can see happening, smell the flowers and take it all in together.

4. Jump in puddles

Spring isn't all sunshine and picnics- in England especially, it's often wet and rainy! Let your little ones throw on their wellies and jump in as many puddles as they can. At least it will be warmer so other than laundry, you don't really need to worry too much about anyone catching a cold and it's a great way for them to use up some energy.

5. Flower Printing

If you have any flowers around that are looking a little sad and limp, why not give them a final purpose? Let your little ones dab paint on the petals and stalk, and use them to print shapes on paper to make a Spring picture or collage! Let them glue petals on or even dip them in paint and just splat with them. Just make sure they know not to pick wild flowers or they'll be hoping to paint with whatever they see outdoors!

6. Pack a Picnic

Isla is obsessed with picnics, she loves eating outdoors and taking a football and all sitting together with sandwiches. It's such a simple thing but something kids of all ages enjoy, and a great way to get away from screens and distractions and get some good fresh air and a bit of vitamin D.

7. Visit a local farm

If you're lucky like us, there'll be plenty of farms around you with baby animals coming any time soon... We were lucky enough to catch some lambs being born last Spring and the children absolutely loved seeing all the baby animals and learning about it all. Most are pretty cheap and it makes a great day out!

8. Go on a bug hunt

With all the flowers and warm (often moist) air, it's the time when all the bugs come out to play. Take your kids out in the garden with some spades and help them look for worms. Or take a magnifying glass and see what you can find in the flowers. It's fun, dirty, and potentially educational- perfect for this time of year.

What do you plan on doing with your little ones this Spring?

Spider Grab- Toddler Friendly Activities

Carrying on the theme of Halloween, we've been playing a new sensory game this week- Spider Grab!

The whole thing only cost around £2.50 and took less than five minutes to put together, and Isla has been playing with it for days now.

I found this small storage basket in Poundland, as well as the crochet wool/string and some spiders. I weaved the string through the holes and then placed the spiders in the bottom of the basket.

The idea is that the string makes it quite challenging to collect the spiders as they get tangled, and with it being pulled taut Isla had to weave her hand around to reach the bottom. It's a lovely activity to help develop fine motor skills and to develop problem solving skills.

With the spiders and the string "web" it's a lovely themed activity for the season. We've also tried putting conkers in the bottom, and doing it timed! You can also make it harder by adding more string or using tweezers instead of fingers.

Halloween is getting so close now!

Steph xo

Autumn Soup Sensory Bin- Toddler Friendly Activities

Autumn is finally here! Besides the fact that it means the spiders are also here, it really is my favourite time of year.

I've been trying over the course of the year to tell Isla all about the seasons we are in. She knows that in Spring, the flowers all come out, baby animals are born and it starts to get warmer. She also knows that in Summer the sun is hot and it's holiday time, and now it is Autumn I want to teach her about the changing leaves, harvest and cooler days.

We took a walk to playgroup on Monday, and on the way back I decided to start telling Isla about the leaves and conkers and she was fascinated. She started to pick up the leaves and tell me all about the colours- red, orange, brown... we took them all home and tried to think of something to do with them.

Lately, I've really started enjoying creating sensory bins for Isla- something to encourage her to explore new objects, textures and concepts. With this in mind, I decided we were going to have a play making "Autumn Soup".

We took all the leaves and conkers we'd found on our walk and mixed them with some nice warm water. I added in a teaspoon of ginger and a teaspoon of all spice to give the water a nice cosy smell and to make it look nice and brown and muddy (without needing to bring actual dirt indoors!). I then threw in some spoons and other kitchen bits and just let her explore the tub while we talked about what we had learnt about Autumn.

Isla absolutely loved it and has declared she loves Autumn the most, just like mummy.

What activities are you using to teach your little ones about this new season?

Steph xo

Halloween Crafts- Toddler Friendly Activities

Did someone say Halloween?! Yes it is only September- there's actually over a month before Halloween hits us (although the shops would think it was Halloween as soon as the summer ranges left the shelves) but it's my favourite holiday so I just couldn't resist getting Isla into it a bit.

We've simply taken a bunch of old bits from our arts and crafts box- straws, pom poms, lolly pop sticks, foam shapes, googly eyes and glitter- and used them to make these spooky monster puppets and pom pom spiders.

Both crafts take less than 25 minutes (not including drying time) and there's no real directions to follow. I just encouraged Isla to copy me and try out each stage of putting bits together while talking about all the things we will do for Halloween to get her in the spirit.

Using the small googly eyes and small grains of glitter are also great ways of helping strengthen the fine motor skills and pincer grip. You can also ask a lot of questions to get your child thinking while they create e.g. "What colour are you using?" "Which eyes are the biggest?"

What spooky activities are you going to be trying out before Halloween? Let us know!

Steph xo

Painting with Straws- Toddler Friendly Activities

Painting is always a big hit in our house. It's a fantastic activity for children who love to get messy, and can be used in educational setting as well. It encourages the exploration of colour, fine motor skills when holding brushes and it's a great sensory activity if you let your little one get their hands involved.

I decided recently to do something new with Isla and let her try painting with straws.

To begin we combined bubble mix and paint- the resulting fluid can be quite watery however so we added in a good dollop of PVA glue to keep it thick and make an interesting texture. Then I handed Isla the straws, ensured she knew not to drink through them and let her go to town!

There is no set method and it is always good to let your child lead- I feel like hovering and instructing too much would discourage them from using their imagination. 

When you blow bubbles with the paint mix, they pop and create a fantastic splat effect on the paper. Blowing bubbles with the paint through the straw also helps to develop oral motor strength which helps to aid pronunciation and speech skills.

Isla also really enjoyed scribbling through the paint with the straw as it made a scratchy effect, blowing bubbles and blowing the paint already on the paper.

We talked a lot about what colours we were using and what happened to the paint when we tried different things- flicking, blowing bubbles, dotting onto the paper and mixing with the colours together. You can encourage them to understand their understanding of cause and affect by asking lots of questions e.g. "What do you think will happen if we blow the pink into the green?" and letting them test it for themselves before answering.

It was a lovely way of adding in some new skills and learning different ways to put paint to paper.

We also found that because we had used PVA glue as a thickener, Isla had a cool colourful layer dried on her hand which she really enjoyed pealing off- it fascinated her.

How do you like to shake up a simple activity like painting? Let us know!

Steph xo