Activities for the First Four Years

Cooking

• Toddlers like cooking with their parents. They watch Mom and Dad cook every night. There are ways to let your child help you. If you are having a salad, cut up all the pieces, put them in the bowl and let your child toss it. Mini-pizzas are another idea for cooking. Cut English muffins in half and have him put the sauce, cheese and other toppings on. Let him make enough for everyone and he will enjoy watching you eat his creations.

Spray Painting

• You can make your own spray paint that is safe for kids. Get an old sheet and hang it outside, on the fence or the back deck. Or, you can lay down large pieces of paper. To make the spray paint, use one cup of dry tempera paint to one-and-a-half cups of water. Put the paint into plastic spray bottles and add just a squirt of dish soap. Make sure the pumps to the bottles work easily; the dish soap will prevent clogging. Then, have the child take the spray bottles and spray paint the sheet or paper.

Magic Mirror

• This activity is for babies around six to nine months old. At this age, the baby will not realize it's him. Move in and out of reflection in the mirror while asking him, "who's that?" and then saying his name. Make faces into the mirror and see if the baby giggles, and then he can watch himself giggle. Your baby may start talking to himself and try to interact with the reflection. If he enjoys the mirror you may even want to put one in his crib.

Bubbles

• You can make your own bubbles cheaply, and young kids will have hours of enjoyment with them. Have your child help you make the bubbles the night before. He will enjoy playing with what they made himself. You will need liquid dish soap, water and glycerin to make the bubbles last longer. Mix two tablespoons of dish soap to every one cup of water and one tablespoon of glycerin. You can even have scented bubbles by using scented dish soaps, or different colored bubbles with different colored dish soaps.