School’s out and summer’s in..Let the classes stop and the fun begin! Most of us associate summers with hot days spent playing outside, sitting at your grandma’s house, listening to fairytales.. coming back home after playing badminton all day to a bowl full of mangoes and litchis! These 2-3 months of summers are spent creating memories that last a lifetime for all of us. The first 2-3 years of a child’s life are the formative years, they love to learn & explore and discover new things. This summer, we have a list of Summer Fun Activities for your young toddler that will keep them busy and develop their learning skills while ensuring they have bucketloads of fun!
- Painting
The best sensory activity that can ever be! Kids love painting because they get to play with different textures and colours and be messy without getting scolded for it. Apart from it being fun, painting is one of the best ways to engage your toddler since it helps creative development as well as stimulates their brain.
Along with regular paints, you can experiment with different materials.- Material Art – Get painting outdoors with freshly collected leaves, twigs, flowers, sand etc. They can create a work of art without any artificial colours! It’s a great activity to help develop their problem-solving skills as well as their creative abilities.
- Sponge Painting – You can use an old sponge and other household items in different shapes. Dip them in paint and let your child’s imagination run wild on a piece of paper.
- Cloth painting – Feeling artistic? Get a plain white shirt for your toddler to get messy with the colours. That shirt is going to be a keepsake!
- Finger Painting – Kids love this! Get colours that are toxin-free and doctor approved and let your toddler have fun with paint!
- Fun with Sand
Take a big container and fill it with sand. Bring in the construction toys and you’re all set! Get a little shovel for your toddler along with buckets in different shapes and your kid can start making the castle of their dreams.
Not a big fan of sand? Try Kinetic Sand! Kinetic sand is squeezable sand which can be used by kids to make various shapes like kids make when on the beach. Like a sand castle. It is squishy and moldable and it moves all on its own, but also feels like sand. It’s fun for adults too. Also, it doesn’t dry out. You can leave it out and it works just the same. - Go green with your little one
Kids love it when they get to act like adults. Get a plastic planter, marked with their name and help them grow a plant. Let the child water the plant daily. Inculcate the love of plants in your toddler.
You could also try scrapbooking with your little one. Keep a small bag handy and collect unique stones, leaves, flowers and add them to a scrapbook. Those are going to be really great memories for your child, later on. - Water Bottle Bowling Game
Get a few mineral water bottles filled with tap water. Add food colouring or paint and you are ready to go! Replace water with sand, rice or beads to the bottles to make things interesting. Head outside and hand a ball to your toddler and let the bowling game begin! Other kids in the garden are sure to join in for a turn at bowling. - Bubbles
Who doesn’t like bubbles? These beautiful miniature rainbows can delight any toddler in seconds. “Bubbling” with joy, your toddler will soon ask for the stick to blow the bubbles on his own. - Hide and Seek with toys
Hide/ spread cars, animals, alphabets outside in the grass. Take a basket and go on a hunt to search the hidden toys. Your child will soon learn to play on his own. Squeals and giggles follow! - Outdoor Tea Party
Help your little ones develop social skills by hosting an outdoor tea party. You could do a British theme or a character theme, get your neighbourhood kids involved and host a little tea party in the evening. It’s a great way to teach your kids about sharing, communication skills and responsibilities.
You could also do a pretend tea party with artificial tea sets and your kids’ toys. They’ll feel all grown up and responsible! - Motor Skill Development
Who says learning can’t be fun? Here are some Summer Fun Activities for you to try with your little toddler that will not only be fun but help develop their motor skills!
- Squeezy Sponge
Place two bowls in front of your child, one with water and one without and give your kid a soft sponge with it. The idea is for them to transfer the water from one bowl to another, using a sponge. This is a great way for your child to practice their dexterity and gross motor skills, as well as learn about the properties of water in the process. They will also love the stimulation they get from the water trickling down their hands. - Newspaper Scrunching
Give your child a newspaper, and get them to scrunch it into a tight ball. They can throw the ball to you for you to catch it and then you throw it back to them. - Mixed Beans
A simple fun activity to develop you childs’ motor skills. Take a bowl and mix lentils and beans, and get your toddler to separate them by size and colour in a separate tray.
- Squeezy Sponge
- Transporting Water Play
A very simple game to engage your kids. Give them a glass full of water and one empty glass, the challenge is to transport water from one glass to the other and then back & forth, without dripping any water! Kids love it because it’s fun and messy and at the same time it helps increase their hand-eye coordination, as well as increases concentration skills. - Pool at Home!
What’s summer without some fun with water? You don’t even need a pool for this, get a big tub, fill it with water and put some small toys/containers in it for your child to play with. Kids love splashing around in water, and it’ll be good respite for you as well in this scorching heat.PS – We recommend all the above Summer Fun Activities to be done under adult supervision only! The best part about being a child is not having to worry about being judged. It indeed is “the way” to enjoy everything to the maximum of its potential. Something fun to do, memories made, and a little learning too. That’s all a toddler needs to stay happy and excited through summers. For more summer fun activities here’s our guide on Swimming for Babies: All you Need to Know.