DIY Playdough | Homemade Playdough

Growing up, playdough was one of my favourite play items. I have spent hours by myself, creating stuff with it. I loved the colours, texture and just the endless creative options playdough offered. 

I love such creative play for my little boy, hence wanted to introduce him to playdough early, though at 15 months, he is too little to play with it all by himself right now. It is more of an introduction to new textures and colours for him now. I hope to see him enjoy playing with playdough as much as his mommy did when she was little! :)

Since, he still mouths toys at times, I wanted to make a toddler safe playdough for him. This recipe is entirely made up of cooking ingredients and hence it not dangerous if a child decides to give it a taste! However, due to its high salt content, it isn't really edible for a child and hence, constant monitoring is required when young toddlers play with this homemade playdough.

Sharing a simple homemade playdough recipe that I tried and loved! The texture is absolutely smooth and stayed that way even after our play today. Made it while the mini napped and I had fun too playing with these before he woke up! :) 

DIY Edible Washable Paints | Homemade Paints

I have been trying my hands at toddler art for a few days now. From palm printing, crayon art to mess-free Ziploc art, I am giving my little guy an exposure to various forms of art, colouring and painting activity. 

While he has enjoyed each of it, he is still too young to take to any of these for too long and actually keep engaged and busy with any kind of art. I just like to make an early start and give him different creative experiences and will let him figure out for himself where his interests lay. 

As part of my latest experiment, I tried making some homemade, edible and completely washable paint. The sort of paint that is completely toddler or even baby friendly. Best used as finger paints to create messy art and for sensory play. 

So, here is a super simple recipe that needs no cooking and uses just 3 ingredients... Flour, water and food colours! Completely washable, stain-proof and if you mini decides to give it a taste.. no worries! :)

DIY Busy Board for Toddlers

Toddlers need to keep busy. Constantly. They need to explore the world around them and explore they do, every waking minute! :D

I wanted my mini to enjoy exploring some simple everyday objects, in a fun way. I wanted for him to experience simple actions like flipping open a paper flap, removing and sticking back a Velcro sticker, tugging at and putting back a magnet etc in a single toy such that he can sit in one place for a few minutes and get involved in this activity. With this idea in mind, I got around making this busy board!

It definitely did catch the little guy's attention and all my efforts were well worth it when I saw him reach out to every corner of the board to explore every little feature that I had put into it.

DIY Sensory Board for Babies and Toddlers

Toddlers love to touch and feel everything! That is their basic approach to exploring the world around them. Their inquisitive little minds are always looking to lean something new. New textures, new items, new sounds, new visuals. Every small things catch their attention and perk up curiosity. This curiosity if tapped well, can be used to help in their early learning. 

In this DIY, i have tried to introduce him to different textures that are commonly available in a household. I used materials lying around the home to make this and in the process planned it around basic geometric shapes to make it fun and eventually help him identify shapes.

Mess-Free Ziploc Art | Toddler Art

I want to give my little guy a much exposure to creative activities as possible. It is of course left to him to decide if it interests him or not, but from my side, I want him to experience art from an early age. 

His first exposure to art was at 13 months, when we did palm printing together! I just smeared some paint on a paper plate and guided his palms into the paint and onto the paper, making tiny palm prints.

He was too small to understand it, but seemed ti enjoy it :) 

I had used regular acrylic paint for this and had to constantly hold his hand, lest the paint get smeared all over the place, apart from the art book! :)

More recently, we tried crayon colouring for the first time and the little fellow seemed to take to it just for 15 seconds! :D

 

Oh, and I love these ball crayons from Faber Castell, they are perfect for little hands!

Muffin Tray Ball Transfer Activity

Toddlers love transferring things, anything from one place to another. Random transfers really. They don't have any order in mind but have the constant urge to keep their little feet and hands busy doing something! 

So, why not channelise this urge into a creative, orderly activity to help them understand order and purposeful transferring a little better? This simple activity will help little ones develop their concentration and hand eye co-ordination  all this while having fun transferring, an activity they any love! :)

Matching Boxes with Lids

My little boy loves hanging out in the kitchen, playing with utensils and opening boxes. He enjoys his time in the kitchen so much that I decided to make a fun activity around the plastic storage boxes that I had in hand. 

I gathered 4-5 boxes of different sizes, and colours and laid them in from of him in such a way that the boxes are in line and their respective lids are in a parallel line in front of them. He just merely has to match the lids with their boxes. Its a simple activity, but kept him entertained and occupied for a few minutes allowing his tiny brain to process the requirements of this game. 

Of course he did not get it all right the first few times, but he tried it over again a few times and slowly seemed to get a hang of it and got better at it in just a few attempts.

Eventually, he was able to place the correct lids over the correct boxes and seemed mighty pleased with himself about his achievement! :)

Ball Drop Activity for Toddlers

This was the first activity that I created for my son. He was 15 months at the time and constantly on the move and exploring! I wanted to keep his little hands and mind busy with a creative activity, even if for just a few minutes! Was not sure if he will understand the concept or like the game. To my surprise, he loved it and took to it instantly. 

It is simple yet entertaining for toddlers and keeps them busy, while alongside helps develop their hand eye coordination and concentration.