My brother-in-law asked where I get my ideas for early childhood activities. The answer is: Pinterest! You can check out my pinboard for younger kids here.
Now, what you've come for: Easy DIYs that will keep your little ones busy and learning!
1. Pringles can posting toy
This one has been SO incredibly popular with the 18-month crowd. It helps develop fine motor and colour recognition skills. It's also really, really easy to make with some dot stickers, pipe cleaners and a hole punch. I used the half-size Pringles can.
2. Straws and toilet rolls with holes
Good for fine motor, but I also add some items to encourage pretend play, such as toy animals or toilet roll characters like the Old Tom below. Older children can make their own toilet roll characters.
3. Large popsticks with Velcro dots
This works best if you display a few straight-sided shapes or a shapes board book.
4. Egg carton bean sorting
Even my primary aged children still enjoy sorting beans.
5. Ball posting
Sometimes the simplest educational activities are the best. This helps toddlers develop understanding of object permanence, but it also hones motor skills.
6. Felt faces
This activity is great for using up scraps of felt. You could also add yarn hair. Good for developing oral language.
7. Button threading toy
Again, great if you have scraps of felt to use up. Develops fine motor skills.
This is a good one to make WITH your child. Just be careful your younger ones don't pull off the bells and choke. As well as developing rhythm skills, this can be used for syllables and poetry.
9. Box tugging toy
Another one for younger children developing understanding of cause and effect.
10. Felt shape matching toy
Can you tell I love using up leftover felt?
11. Sponge blocks
For when you get sick of the noise of block towers falling down.
12. Alphabet spoons
The white spoons have lower case letters and the clear ones have upper case, for alphabet recognition in preschool/junior primary. If I made them again I would make sure the upper case letters didn't cover up the lower case ones.
13. Bottle cap spooning
Spooning floating bottle caps out of water helps toddlers develop their motor skills. You can add a sorting element to it by having different containers for each type of bottle top.
14. Dyed pasta threading
Dyed pasta is super easy to make. Younger children can thread it onto pipe cleaners, while older children can use a needle. Fine motor, patterns... this is a good basis for later maths skills.
15. Pop-top peekaboo shakers
These are great for music learning, but also develop object permanence. I used some small erasers and insect toys inside the rice.
16. Paper shape pictures
I feel embarrassed posting this one it is so easy, but kids love it. Shapes, paper, glue and googly eyes make for the craziest robots, monsters, landscapes...
17. Mug tree colour matching toy
I found a mug tree at a garage sale, so I used some surplus curtain rings and paint to create a colour matching toy.
18. Hand sewn soft toys with loops, tags and fasteners
If you're handy with a sewing machine (which you can tell from the above photo I'm not), you can make your own educational toys. My most popular one was a simple bag with a zipper which my niece enjoyed opening and closing, putting things in and taking things out.
19. Activities with natural items
I'm going to do a more detailed post on this topic, but some of my most loved activities have been rocks with numbers, rocks with lines, playdough with natural elements, and sticks with masking tape.
Over to you! What easy DIYs have been popular with your kids? I'd LOVE to try out your ideas, so please tell me in the comments below.
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