As toddlers both of my girls have LOVED playing with stickers. Toddlers are of course totally fascinated with the sticky factor but I love that stickers can make a great independent play activity OR a developmentally appropriate learning activity for toddlers – simply talking about what colours, shapes and/or pictures they can see extends the […]
Playdough Fun for Toddlers: Making Impressions
I was watching AJ play with a batch of homemade playdough recently and noticed that she was fascinated with making impressions in the dough with a flat, plastic playdough tool. Over and over again she pressed the tool into dough pancakes, snakes and balls, any piece of playdough she could find. This form of poking […]
24 Homemade Gift Ideas for Babies, Toddlers & Preschoolers
I love that since becoming a mama my creative outlet has largely become making toys and resources that inspire my children’s play. It is something that I really enjoy doing. Today I am sharing 24 homemade gift ideas suitable for babies, toddlers and preschoolers, collected from a group of fabulous bloggers from all around the […]
25 Ways to Keep Toddlers Busy on a Plane
Before leaving on our recent family holiday interstate I asked the Childhood 101 Facebook community for their suggestions for entertaining a mobile (and very active) 16 month old on a five hour plane trip. The suggestions were fabulous and there were quite a few that I hadn’t tried before so I thought I would compile […]
3 Simple, Imaginative Play Ideas for Tots
This post is sponsored by Fisher-Price. Do you have a toddler who enjoys imaginative play? AJ is now seventeen months and I love observing her play as it evolves to include more meaningful interaction with a range of simple props. Here are three of her current, favourite ways to play… 1. The Washing Basket (or […]
Sensory Play Idea with Rice & Rosemary
Engage your older toddler or preschooler with sensory play with this freshly scented sensory play idea combining rice and rosemary. This rosemary rice looks, feels, smells and sounds wonderful, providing one of our most popular sensory play ideas. For those with older toddlers, or preschool or kindergarten aged children, sensory play is a wonderfully engaging […]
5 Easy, Toddler Snacks That WON’T Fill Them Up Before Dinner!
We aim to have dinner on the table by 5.30pm in our house. If it’s delayed for any reason, I’m in all sorts of trouble with a very little someone snapping around my feet with her cranky face on as I try to finish any last minute dinner prep or serving of the meal! What […]
Tips for Drawing with Toddlers
After posting the photo shown above to Facebook a Childhood 101 reader asked me for some tips for starting out with drawing with younger toddlers. I would preface the following by saying that every child is different and there are a number of influences to when and how you would start out offering little ones the […]
Toddler Art Activities: Non-Messy Sticky Art. No Glue Required.
This simple art activity is so much fun for babies who are sitting or standing and younger toddlers. As I share in my new book, Time to Create, the process of doing in art activities is so much more important for young children than the end result, and this activity provided AJ (at twelve months […]
Baby Play Ideas: Our Favourite Un-Toy! Fun for Older Bubs & Toddlers
AJ recently started raiding the nappy bag at every opportunity in search of my purse. Once found she would proceed to pull each and every thing out of it. It was fun…the first, second and third times but by the tenth time I finally got my act together and organised her a purse all of […]