Special Time Series: A List of 40 Activity Ideas for Infants and Toddlers
| February 20, 2012 | Posted by mudpiemama under Family, Parenting, Play |
Special time is a priceless time between a parent and a child. It’s a time set aside to create and strengthen the bond that helps parents and children live and learn in harmony.
Special time is most valuable when the time is enjoyed by parent and child without interruptions from phone calls, emails, TV screens etc. Special time does not need to cost a lot of money either.
Listed below are 40 activity ideas for special time with Infants and Toddlers.
Part 2 of the series has 60 More activity ideas for Special time with preschoolers and School Aged Children.
Infants 0-12 months
In infancy, meeting the needs of your child, day and night is pretty much special time 24/7 but as your infant grows, setting aside time for tummy time together, playing with rhymes and songs can be lots of fun and fundamentally important to development.
Some Ideas for special time with infants: 0-12 months
1. Breastfeed (bottle-feed with nurturing touch)
2. Cuddle
3. Count little toes/little fingers
4. Play with finger puppets and soft toys
5. Practice baby wearing
6. Recite finger plays
7. Read a book of rhymes
8. Sing silly songs
9. Slow dance
10. Build block towers
11. Flip through a soft book
12. Lounge on a soft blanket
13. Play in the mirror
14. Play with a scarf/sensory bag
15. Take a walk to see the trees, flowers, clouds in the sky
16. Play with scraps of fabric to explore textures
17. Stack cups
18. Have a crawling race
19. Play Beek-a-boo
20. Make up a song with your childs name
Toddlers: 12-24 months
Toddlers want to explore their world, discover new tastes, textures and experiment with independence (while mom/dad are close by for security). Showing and discovering new activities with a toddler is lots of fun. Toddlers don’t expect a perfectly painted or crafted project but they sure are proud of their scribbles, squiggles and messy creations.
Ideas for special time with Toddlers:
1. Blow bubbles
2. Watch clouds
3. Paint with pudding
4. Roll and toss balls
5. Play hide and seek
6. Read silly books
7. Visit the library
8. Create crayon drawings
9. Paint with finger paints
10. Paint rock critters
11. Open a pretend grocery stand
12. Smash and roll play-dough
13. Push your child on a swing
14. Count trees
15. Hunt for butterflies
16. Pretend to be animals
17. Drum a song with pots & pans
18. Splash in rain puddles
19. Watch airplanes in the sky
20. Look at animals
Parents that regularly set aside time for special time often notice an increase in cooperation, respect and overall happiness in their child and even in their feelings towards parenting.
So many more possibilities….What’s your favorite special time activity? I would love to add it to the list – leave your comment below!
Image: David Castillo Dominici / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
I love these suggestions! The infant ones bring back good memories…and I especially like the outdoors ones for toddlers. Painting rock critters sounds like fun! Especially after going on a rock critter search!
One of my favorite activities to do with my daughter as an infant was baby massage. We both loveeeeed that special time together, and the skin-to-skin was a nice bonus!
A favorite activity now that she’s 22 months is dancing! Turn up the tunes and boogie!
Infant massage is fantastic! We love dancing here too
thank you for your ideas!
We must have been on the same mindset this week! Just finished up my post of 25 Ways to have Fun with your Children (link below). These are geared more towards preschoolers, but enjoyed your list for infants/toddlers above as well! Looking forward to part 2!
http://heartwanderings.blogspot.com/2012/02/kids-just-wanna-have-fun.html
Amber – thank you for sharing your link and stopping by!