Top 6 Games To Play With Your Toddler

Playing games with your toddler is a great way to spend some family time together as well as to learn and encourage her development. With the games listed below, you and your toddler will enjoy hours of fun and adventure together!

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image courtesy of David Castillo Dominici/freedigitalphotos.net

1. Basketball – Take some newspaper or plain paper and scrunch them up nice and tight into a ball. Remove any breakable objects that are nearby before you begin to play. Once the area has been cleared, start off by practicing to see who could throw their ball the farthest. After you’ve finished warming up, begin your competition by seeing who can throw their ball into the wastepaper bin or bucket. Toddlers will have lots of fun with this game, and they won’t even realize that they’re practicing their hand-eye skills.

2. Board Games – Board games are an old favorite and are great to play with your little ones to help them learn. A familiar game such as Candy Land is a good option because it teaches young children colors, and a new game wheels on the bus is an excellent choice because it helps to build listening skills.

3. Where Does this Belong? – Using some of your old magazines, cut out pictures of household items such as a television, a chair, a bed, books, and you can even cut out outdoor items such as a car, and a garden hose. Once that’s completed, cut pictures of rooms and areas such as a living room, a kitchen, and a backyard. Spread the pictures out on the floor and ask your toddler to match all the items to the proper room or area. Putting them one something like game wheels can add a whole extra layer of fun too. Your toddler may get some wrong, but don’t put too much focus on that. This game is a great way for your toddler to practice her conversation skills.

4. Play Hot and Cold – Take a snack or one of your toddler’s favorite treats and hide it in a room. Have your child go on a hunt looking for it, and when she’s close to the treat shout “you’re getting warm”, and if they’re far away say “you’re getting cold”, and when they’re really close to the snack shout “you’re really hot!” If you find your child getting frustrated because she can’t find it, try taking them by the hand and giving them a clue.

5. Video Games – There are a lot of video games out there that glamorize violence, but fortunately there are some good wholesome ones that are geared toward toddlers. On Sesame Street’s website they have a nice variety of video games for toddlers such as the game wheels on the bus which encourages your child to sing and play along, as well as other video games that teach things such as the alphabet and numbers.

6. Let’s Scribble – Get a box of thick crayons and some large sheets of paper and spread them out over the floor. Now you and your toddler can go at it and scribble away, having fun using all the different colors. You don’t need to try and make a picture because at this age, that’s a bit advance for them. Just enjoy marking up the paper, and your child can learn their colors and develop her hand movements too.

So as you can see, it doesn’t take a lot of money to entertain your toddler and to spend some fun time with them. Sometimes, all it takes is just a little creativity to make an activity fun for them.

Sean Carter is a seasoned writer who has been featured on numerous sites all across the blogosphere. His main areas of expertise include travel, technology and the entertainment world.

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