Bingo Dabber Letters

Now that I'm done with school and back at home with the boy-o I've been looking for some new sensory or educational activities that we can do together, especially when the weather isn't co-operating and we're stuck inside for the afternoon. This is a super simple activity (although a little messy since bingo dabber ink stays on the hands for days...) that we both really enjoyed working on.

It's a great activity to help your toddler get a bit more familiar with the letters of the alphabet and you could use it for numbers as well. Essentially all you need is some blank paper, some bingo dabbers, and a pen or marker to draw some circles on the paper. (We also used our "craft cardboard" to protect the table, and a smock) The circles don't need to be perfect by any means, but they do need to be big enough that a bingo dabber dot could comfortably fit inside it.

We tried a few letters and the boy-o caught on really quickly. I showed him how to do the first one by making a "dot" inside the circle, and that's all the instruction he needed--as off he went filling in the rest of the dots. He did a fantastic job at it, and was really focusing to make sure his "dots" were right inside the circles. After doing a few letters I just gave him a totally blank page to let him have at it and let his creative ideas flow.

We'll definitely be doing more of this in the future! It's also a really great activity for working on hand-eye coordination with your toddler, and when they finish it's such a feeling of accomplishment for them to see their hard work!

Simple Toddler Activity- Q Tip Drop

Having a toddler can be tough sometimes--they don't seem to have an "off" switch, unless they're asleep. This has made it more important than ever to have some "quiet time" activities the boy-o can work on while I'm trying to get jobs done around the house, like making dinner in particular.

This is a bit of a throwback to the Ice Cream Bucket and Popsicle Stick idea, except it's much more compact which is great for travelling and even simpler to make. Basically all you need is an empty Parmesan Cheese container and some Q-Tips. I purposely bought a small clear container of Parm Cheese to make it suit the purpose more, but any of them will do just fine!

The concept is pretty simple.... give them the container with the flap open that has the small holes for shaking (not the large spoon one) and a pile of Q-Tips. Show them how to drop the Q-Tips in the holes and then let them have at it! This is a fantastic activity for working on fine motor control, not only for picking up and holding the Q-Tips, but also getting them into the little holes.

To take it up a notch, we also practiced our counting each time we put one in which is a great way to reinforce numbers while playing. The boy-o had a great time putting all the Q-tips in, and then unscrewed the lid himself to dump them out and started over again!

Because we used the small container size, it'll be really easy to toss in a carry-on or diaper bag for travelling purposes, and when not actively in use, you can just store the Q-Tips right inside the container. Since the Q-Tips aren't actually being used for their intended purpose, I'd definitely just recommend buying them from a dollar store making this simple little activity incredibly inexpensive as well.