Activity Ideas??

[Anna]

Since all my daycare children are 2 or under I am looking for some ideas on activities to do with them or things to keep them busy. I opened in January and am completely new to the daycare world. I feel like the coloring, painting, play dough, legos, and other things we do are getting repetetive. I need some new ideas! I have children for 12 hours and most of them take a three hour nap so I am trying to keep them busy for nine hours. None of them want to play with each other unless I am with them entertaining them. Any ideas would be great!! Thanks!!

[JJPlaycare]

Kids at that age LOVE bubbles! I always have a large amount of bubbles for summer time!! I also would try giving them each a bucket of water, a shovel and a few toys! My little ones will sit there for an hour and splash, dump out, throw the toys in, they just love it, just have the hose ready for refills!!! I would purchase a sand/water table - they would really enjoy this as well! Good Luck and if I think of anything else I will post it! : )

[GretasLittleFriends]

My cousin is a SAH mom with her little guy who is about 18 months old. She recommended this book to me. The Everything Toddler Activities Book by Joni Levine M.Ed

Here is a note of what she's done with her little guy:
I wanted to include a few activities from that book I suggested for you. I set up a "Discovery Zone" poster board on the wall & when we do an activitiy I first take him to the board to point to the title card & ask if he'd like to do that activity. A nice summertime, cool down activity is "Frozen Things" -- I place some of his small toys or novelty items in tupperware, fill the container 1/4 with water & freeze them. Seated in his highchair, I place the big ice cube in a pie pan, give him wooden spoons & he bangs on it, holds it, licks it. "Magic Bottles" - I bought 6 baby bottles & created a wave bottle with water & oil; slow motion bottles with shampoo & small novelty items (erasers in the shape of a hammer, plyers, cups, toothbrushes); bubble bottle with dish soap & water, It's recommended your glue the tops, but I wanted to reuse them to switch things in & out, so I be sure tighten the lids everytime we use them just to be sure nothing spills out. "Animal Safari" - I found some jungle animal stickers, stuck them onto cardboard, cut each one out & glued popcile sticks as handles. I don't let K hold them because he'd chew them up, so I hold each one up & act like the animal. "Etch a Sketch Pan" - seated in his highchair, I pour 1/8 inch of salt or corn meal into a pie pan & help him with draw shapes with his fingers. Two activities I am going to try include, squirting shave cream onto his highchair table & let him play (I might use whipped cream but I guess he'd learn quickly that the shave cream doesn't taste good!) Also, homemade butter - you measure 1 cup heavy cream, place it into a jar with a top along with a marble & let the child shake, shake & shake the jar. Then have a snack using the butter the child helped to make. The book has all kinds of recipes that I'm eager to try as well.