This is not a list of new and creative things to do with your little ones. It is a list of the things I used to normally do with Emily & Nicole when they were little but had gotten away from with my younger ones when my focus shifted to homeschooling the academics. It provides me with a reference for fun, easy activities that require little preparation and clean up and a welcome alternative to videos. Much is Montessori-based. Keep it in your teacher plan book for when you need inspiration. Some activities require you to purchase or prepare items in advance. I consider this an investment well worth the time and money. The occasions when I have taken a few minutes to assemble and present one of these activities have been among our best homeschooling days. In an effort to have more days filled with joy and wonder I compiled this list. Phone numbers & e-mail addresses for suggested catalogs & companies are on the last page.

1. Useful items to have on hand: plastic cafeteria trays (large and medium sizes), vinyl smocks/aprons, no-spill paint cups, plastic/vinyl tablecloths
2. “Paint with water” books (sold with coloring books). Use no-spill paint cups for water, and supply a paint brush, and a place to dry finished creations.
3. Paint with water on a chalk board or easel.
4. Float boats, Fisher Price “Little People” and animals in kitchen sink.
5. Fill the kitchen sink with water and supply cups, funnels, turkey baster, sieve, etc. (soapy water offers a variation).
6. On a plastic tray, provide three small, clear cups with blue, red, and yellow water, eye droppers, and muffin tins. Your little one can mix colors. Provide a large pot or bucket for them to dump the used water in so they can start again. Provide a small, child-sized sponge (cut ½) for any clean-up.
7. On a plastic tray, provide a small bowl filled with soapy water, a straw for blowing bubbles, and a sponge for clean ups. (For older children who know the difference between blowing and drinking.)
8. Provide a plastic dish pan filled with soapy water and a manual egg beater and/or wire wisk for making bubbles.
9. Beans, rice, or lentils in a large bowl or box and spoons, funnels, cups, & scoops make an indoor sandbox. For more fun and easier clean up do it in a large, plastic “under the bed” or wrapping paper storage box. A small  plastic, molded child’s wading pool is also an option.
10. Make a collection of small jars and lids, boxes and tops of various sizes. Little ones enjoy taking the tops off and putting them all back on again. Get ones that open and close differently; examples: small mason jar, jar with a cork, baby food jar, box with a latch, jewlery boxes, old contac lens case…Save from your recycling, buy at Michael’s Craft Store, garage sales, flea markets etc.
11. Montessori Practical Life Activities- pouring, ladeling, spooning, etc. Get the catalogs from Montessori Services & Michael Olaf and replicate the activities at home using your household objects. Two great books that describe in detail the presentation for each activity are Basic Montessori; Learning Activities for Under-Fives by David Gettman and Teaching Montessori in the Home; The Pre-school Years by Elizabeth G. Hainstock.
    Both are available through the Monroe County Library System. For more information on how to encorporate Montessori type activities in your Catholic homeschool see the book Natural Structure; a Montessori Approach to Classical Education at Home by Edward and Nancy Walsh, available from Catholic Heritage Curricula. Go to an open house at a Montessori preschool. These are held every year in winter/spring. You will be truly inspired. I order birthday & Christmas gifts from Montessori catalogs.
12. Crayola “Color Wonder” markers and “Color Wonder” paper (these markers only write on this special paper.) Great for little ones who want to use markers like their older siblings without the mess. Staples (the business supply store) has these as well as activity books (numbers, alphabet) made out of this paper too.
13. Supply a tray with homemade playdough, a child-sized rolling pin, cookie cutters, plastic knives, etc. By rotating cookie cutters and utensils you can add to the variety and fun. A garlic press makes great hair!

    Modeling dough recipe from Discovery Toys
    1 C. flour
    1 C. water
    1 T. oil
    ½ C. salt
    1 teaspoon cream of tartar
    food coloring

    Mix ingredients in a pan. Cook over medium heat until mixture pulls away from sides of pan and becomes doughy in consistency. Knead until cool. For different colors divide and mix in food coloring as you knead. (I usually make 3 or 4 batches at a time.) Store in air tight containers/ziplock bags. Stays soft and usable for many months.

14. Make Fruit Loop or Cheerio necklaces with shoestring licorice (or yarn and a darning needle.)
15. Let your little ones play the drums with pots, lids, and wooden spoons. Different sized pots and bowls make different sounds. I’ve got some enamel bowls that chime nicely and aren’t too annoying. Oatmeal boxes are still the best.
16. Make “soup” with large pot, wooden spoon, & Cuisennaire rods, blocks, or pattern blocks. My kids like Cuisennaire rods best and pretend the different colors are different vegetables. Provide small plastic bowls to laddle & serve the soup.
17. Rock Solid (a homeschool supply company) sells Cuisennaire picture books especially for preschoolers. The children make a picture by laying the blocks over the page matching the size of block. One book is pictures about the farm, another about the city. Teach kids how to make steps by lining up the sizes of the rods. Using a tray or cookie sheet helps keep them lined up.
18. Provide with a spray bottle filled with water and some paper towels. Preschoolers can “wash” the windows, a hand mirror or clean large leaves on your house plants.
19. Let them water the plants each week. Provide with a child-sized watering can and put the plants in your kitchen sink.
20. Sponge painting; provide paper, a paper plate with tempra paint (one color), an empty paper plate for the dirty sponges, and sponges in various shapes. You can purchase ones shaped like animals but cutting household sponges into a circle, square, rectangle, house, etc. is just as enjoyable.
21. Paint in a box. Put paper inside a gift box (with a lid) and squeeze a few dots of different colored paint onto the paper. Put a few marbles in the box, close it, and let your little ones move the marbles around by tipping the box. Open and look at your creation.
22. Wash the table, walls, or kitchen cabinets with sponge & soapy water in a bucket. Believe it or not there is an age when they really love this. As soon as they can learn to squeeze out the sponge every time this is a great activity.
23. Prepare the mid morning banana snack for the family. Teach how to peel, place on cutting board, slice with a butter knife, place banana disc on a plate and stick a tooth pick in. They will be so proud!
24. Buy an egg slicer for hard boiled eggs. They can slice eggs and put on a cracker to make another healthy snack for the family.
25. Teach them how to make English muffin pizzas.
26. Another fun snack they can prepare is “Ants on a log” -raisins on a celery stick that has been spread with peanut butter.
27. Wash the easel or chalk board with a wet sponge.
28. Make a parade by lining up all your Fisher Price “Little People”, plastic animals, cars, etc.
29. Go fishing. Cut construction paper fish and attach a paper clip. Attach a strong magnet to a string and tie around a dowel or child-sized broom handle. We practice our phonics sounds this way by attaching flash cards to the fish.
30. Scissor practice. I highly recommend “My First Fiscars” as your child’s very first pair of scissors. Because these scissors have a special built-in spring, a young child only needs to be able to squeeze (not open and close) their hand. You provide strips of paper (thick paper is best) and your little one can cut little squares of paper into a bowl. Another day you can teach them to glue these onto paper (mosaics). Available from Classroom Direct.
31. Glueing activities. There are several ways you can go about this. Supplying a small amount of Elmer’s school glue in a paper bathroom cup with either a Q-tip, blush applicator, or paint brush for spreading. Glue sticks are fun and very neat. Buy a “Tap-a glue” lid for your glue bottle. Sold through Montessori Services and Classroom Direct this red top fits onto most glue bottles and allows the child only to make “dots” of glue by pressing
    the tip of the lid onto the paper. Really saves on the mess and waste of glue.
32. “Do-A-Dot” Markers and activity books. These paint bottles provide hours of fun for little ones. They look like thick markers and come in a variety of colors. The child removes the lid and presses the sponge top onto the paper making circles. Activity books extend the fun by providing pictures for the kids to fill in with their circles. Some are really cute (gum ball machine, etc.) Copy the books to extend their life. Available locally from specialty toy stores. Best price mail order is from Rainbow Resource.
33. Make a tent out of a blanket and chairs. Flashlights are fun.
34. Have a picnic with a blanket, stuffed animals, and play (or real) food. Pack the picnic lunch before hand and have ready as a surprise.
35. For older kids (4-5 yrs.and up): polish pennies on a tray using a small amount of copper polish in a bathroom cup applied with a Q-tip, a bowl of water for rinsing, and a towel to dry. They love to see how clean and shiny the washed pennies become.
36. Help your youngster put photos of loved ones onto light-weight cardboard and make a prayer booklet of people for whom to pray. They love to look at photo albums.
37. Draw with colored chalk on large newsprint paper (or driveway).
38. Sort two or three types of beans, beads, nuts (in the shell) or buttons into muffin tins.
39. Use blocks or recycled green strawberry baskets to create a zoo for plastic toy animals.
40. Dress up clothes; hats, goggles, gloves, scarves…
41. Bury small plastic toys in the rice or sand box for your toddler to find.
42. Rig up a tunnel and ball game using an old wrapping paper tube and ping pong or similar sized ball into a bucket.
43. Hammer golf tees into a piece of Styrofoam or an inverted egg tray with a toy hammer.
44. Set up a ramp for the toddler using a bread board or other firm surface and let him roll a toy car down the ramp.
45. Sort objects that contain iron (or don’t) using a magnet.
46. Draw pictures of common household items onto large or lunch-size brown paper bags. Have the child gather the corresponding objects (“shop”) and put them in the right bags. You can also tie this into phonics by having the child find objects that begin with a certain letter sound. Gift bags are fun too. My son like to make “presents” for people.
47. Use a tension rod & curtain or baby gate draped with a towel or sheet to make a puppet theater.
48. Play with magnets on the refrigerator and/or Magnadoodle. Another magnetic surface to use is a cookie sheet.
49. Find a large empty box to let your child play boat or car in.
50. Make a guitar using a tissue box with rubber bands around it. He can plunk his own tune.
51. Fingerpaint with instant pudding, yogurt, or whipped cream. Do it in the high chair for easier clean up.
52. Build towers with spice jars and tins.
53. Listen to story tapes with books. Older siblings ( or you) can make a recording of the little ones favorite stories.
54. Play with a felt board and its figures.
55. Play with musical instruments. Hang a musical triangle or other metal object on a string and let your toddler bat at it with a spoon.
56. Glue pasta, beans, and other items onto paper for a simple collage.
57. String large beads on a shoe string or teach how to sew using a sewing card made from card board or a styrofoam meat tray (cleaned with a solution of bleach & water) punched with holes, a string, and a darning needle.
58. Hang a short clothesline between two chairs and let your child hang matching mittens and/or socks cut from different colored/patterned paper. Old wall paper books work nicely for this. Montessori Services sells small child-sized clothespins but yours will do just fine.
59.  Teach your child how to glue a strip of paper into a circle and how to make a paper chain.
60. If you are feeling really brave, packaging peanuts and a large box are lots of fun.
61. Let her play with costume or play jewlery and admire herself in a mirror.
62. Match holy cards, memory game cards or other pictures.
63. Set up a row of empty kitchen chairs for a train. Provide a round lid for a steering wheel, bell or train whistle if possible.
64. Go on an outdoor scavenger hunt and find items for the particular season. Make a list of the items your child needs to find before hand. Example: a green leaf, a yellow leaf, a rock, a dandelion, etc.
65. Provide magazines and scissors and let her cut pictures out and make a book. You can make an ABC book, animal book, etc.
66. Let your child bathe a doll using a washtub, soap and a washcloth.
67. Make a simple “wagon” by attaching a string to an empty shoe box. Your toddler will have fun filling the box with toys and pulling it around the house.
68. Play “mail”. Supply empty envelopes, blank sheets of paper, crayons, stickers (for stamps), and a box to serve as a mailbox. Your junk mail gives her items to open as well as send. Save all those appeals for money from religious organizations especially for this purpose. They often contain holy cards, stationary or other gift items. We’ve gotten jewlery!
69. Cut snowflakes from paper.Teach your preschooler how to cut spirals from a circle of paper.
70. Make a pillow pile to jump on but be sure it is safely away from hard surfaces.
71. Old rotary telephones and computer keyboards make great toddler toys.
72. Combine colored water and a spoonful of vegetable oil in a clear plastic container with a tight lid. The toddler can shake it and watch the oil and water separate.
73. Make a toilet paper trail for your child to hike along.
74. Make walnut shell boats using clay, tooth picks, and paper flags.
75. Cut “footprints” from construction paper using her foot for a template. Set these on the floor and then follow them as a path.
76. Trace your child’s body onto a large sheet of paper and he can color in the details.
77. Attach shoeboxes together with string or yarn to make a train for stuffed animals.
78. Toddlers like rolling cans of food along the floor.
79. Place the baby in the high chair near the highest keys on the piano and let her “tinkle” away.
80. Make a road or path by lining up dominoes on the floor.
81. Teach your child how to fold wash cloths or hand towels. They can also help you match socks.
82. Set up bowling pins, plastic juice bottles, or empty soda cans to knock down with a ball.
83. Take the cushions off the couch and/or open up the sofa bed to make a fort. Hang blankets to enclose the bottom bunk and you have a great tent.
84. Make a snowman by glueing cotton balls onto paper. Fluff (the thick white marshmellow “food”) makes great snow when applied to paper with a baby spoon. It hardens into a shiny white mound.
85. Provide some shoes or boots- yours, your husbands, siblings, for the little one to clomp around in.
86. When your toddler is having rough day; is having temper tantrums but is exhausted and won’t sleep, never forget the power of a good, warm bubble bath. I’ve used the lavender scented stuff made by Johnson and Johnson and swear by the Vapor Bath when they are ill and congested.
87. If you are desperate, you can always give her a roll of bathroom tissue. Children never tire of the “unroll the toilet paper” game.
88. Break out the plastic Easter eggs. Stick Cheerios, fruit snacks, raisins, etc. inside and have an egg hunt.
89. Give your toddler ice cubes or jello in a plastic ziplock bag while she is sitting in her high chair. She can squish them around and watch them melt.
90. Older preschoolers can bake cookies by slicing refrigerated cookie dough.
91. Practice using a butter knife by cutting a slice of American cheese. Making Jello jigglers, shaped sandwiches, toast, or cheese slices using your cookie cutters is fun too.
92. Drag out a sleeping bag and they can have fun playing in and on it. Zipping and unzipping holds their interest as well.
93. Get out the plastic nativity statues and let her play with them.
94. Kids love bells. If you have ones of different sizes, all the better.
95. Provide plastic poker or bingo chips for her to drop into a wide-mouth plastic jug.
96. Stick a number of pieces of tape on the end of the table. He or she can remove them and stick them onto paper. Using different kinds makes it more fun (scotch, masking, packaging, duct, etc.)
97. A c-clamp is a fun toy for little ones fascinated by turning and twisting and it is much safer than a nut and bolt.
98. Let her drop clothespins or plastic spoons into a wide-mouthed container. If this seems too easy, give her a container with a smaller opening or have her stand on a chair and try it.
99. “Paint” with an ice cube on colored paper.
100. Give her a small cup of water and a toothbrush and let her brush her dolly’s teeth.
101. A good set of child-sized brooms, mops, dust mops, etc. from Montessori Services will supply many hours of useful play.
102. Different colored “dot” stickers available from Staples and Office Max (for pricing garage sale items, etc.) are great fun to stick on paper.
103. Teach your child how to rip small pieces of colored tissue paper, pinch it into a ball, or wrap it around the eraser end of an unsharpened pencil, dip in glue, and stick to paper.
     Makes a pretty tree in the autumn.

Montessori Services The Michael Olaf Company
11 West Barham Avenue 65 Ericson Court, #1
Santa Rosa, CA 95407 Arcata, CA 95521
1-877-975-3003 1-888-880-9235
Request the full catalog Catalogs- “The Joyful Child” Birth-3
“Child of the World “ Age 3-12+ yrs.
(They charge for the first catalog they send you
but will keep you on their mailing list if you order
something. Great stuff for gifts.)

Classroom Direct (deep discount educational superstore)
1-800-248-9171
www.classroomdirect.com

Lakeshore Learning Materials Catholic Heritage Curricula
1-800-421-5354 1-800-490-7713
www.lakeshorelearning.com www.chcweb.com

Rainbow Resource Center R.O.C.K. Solid Homeschool Supplies
1-888-841-3456 1-800-705-3452
www.rainbowresource.com www.rocksolidinc.com