Activities for 2 Year Olds

My son (who I refer to as TK) LOVES sensory bins so I do my best to change them out every week. This one was a big hit with him! He loved looking at the bugs with the magnifying glass, transferring the rice and marching the ant along the edge of the bin as we sang “The Ants Go Marching”!

SOURCES:

Magnifying Glass – Dollarama

Wooden Letters – Dollarama

Wooden Numbers – Michaels

Plastic Bugs – https://amzn.to/3hvZPbU

Wooden Scoops – https://amzn.to/30If4b4

2. PASTING 2D SHAPES

Here is an activity I set up for TK to practice identifying shapes and colours and to practice his fine motor skills! I showed him how to spread the liquid glue on the shapes with the q-tip, flip it over and paste it on the paper. It was a bit challenging for him but it was great fine motor practice! We will definitely be trying this one again in a couple of months to see if we can improve on his pasting skills.

3. CONSTRUCTION VEHICLES + KINETIC SAND SENSORY BIN

TK LOVES vehicles and has been especially into excavators recently (we have a lot of construction going on in our neighbourhood so we see them a lot on our walks) so I decided to set up a bin with construction vehicles and kinetic sand! I also added wooden and plastic scoops, plastic shot glasses and added the number 5 because there were 5 vehicles all together (one is missing from the photo).

He loved playing with the vehicles more than the sand but he enjoyed this bin nonetheless! He wasn’t a big fan of the texture of kinetic sand at the beginning but he’s became more receptive as the week went on.

SOURCES:

Mini Construction Vehicles: https://amzn.to/2ZXZ3OW

Kinetic Sand: https://amzn.to/2WSjXNC

Wooden Scoop: https://amzn.to/30If4b4

Plastic Shot Glass: Dollar Store

Mini Plastic Scoop: Michaels

4. COLOUR MATCHING WITH DOT STICKERS

I saw this activity on @busytoddler and thought we’d give it a try to encourage matching by colour. I took a toilet paper roll (I would have used a paper towel roll but we didn’t have any) and drew some coloured dots on it. Then I set it out with the dot stickers and invited TK to match the stickers to the dots on the paper towel roll.

We did this together and he did a pretty good job matching the sticker to the dots on the toilet paper roll. He didn’t seem too interested in it though and then I remembered that I saw @learning.for.littles post that she did this activity but on plain paper so I quickly drew some dots on a blank piece of paper and that was so much more engaging for TK! We did this activity a few more times through out the week.

These are the dot stickers I use: https://amzn.to/3hs8xYC

5. CHICKEPEA FOAM + PLASTIC LETTERS

I’ve been wanting to try bubble foam with TK but have been nervous about trying it since he still puts sensory material in his mouth and near his eyes from time to time.. and then I read about chickpea foam (taste safe!) on @play_at_home_mummy‘s Instagram page and thought this would be the perfect solution!

To make the chickpea foam you just add the liquid from 1 can of chickpeas and 1/8 tsp cream of tar tar into a blender and blend until the foam forms stiff peaks. That’s it! Then just transfer it to your bin and add whatever you want. I added plastic letters a couple of bowls and some mini utensils for TK to scoop, transfer and make alphabet soup with!

This was a HUGE hit with TK. He played with it for almost an hour (mostly independently too!) I will definitely be giving this on another go when I use chickpeas next!

SOURCES:

Plastic Letters: https://amzn.to/32QV1JX

Mini Utensils: https://amzn.to/2CDIuiC

6. DO-A-DOT PICTURES

I saw this idea on @educating.emery and thought we would give it a try since I have dot markers already! I quickly made up some sheets with TK’s favourite fruits and vegetables (banana, pumpkin and apple) to give this activity a try.

First we counted the empty dots together. Then hand over hand I showed him how to place the dot marker on the white dots a few times and encouraged him to put his dabs inside the white dots. This was great fine motor practice for him!

If you want to grab the printables I made for this activity you can download it by clicking here or on the image below!

That’s it for now! I’ll keep coming back to add activities when I can until we go back to school. To be the first to see the activities, make sure you are following me on Instagram!

Yukari