Plan playgroups. Model hospitality by inviting playmates to your home. Call friends to visit nearby parks or libraries together. To avoid play disputes, remember that toddlers need multiples of the same toy and plenty of supervision. Older children can play together with a little less supervision, but stay close by if you’re
needed as a peacemaker.
Strategize an obstacle course. Place large empty boxes on the floor for your child to crawl in, on and through. Create more obstacles by using chairs, step stools, pillows and laundry baskets. Obstacle courses are a fun outlet for kids to use stored energy, motor skills and imagination.
Pitch a fort. Spread a large sheet across the room. Attach the corners to a sofa or to an armchair so kids can hide under the sheet. A sheet tent is great for private reading or for planning a pretend raid.
Develop a music band. Kids like to make noise, so why not create
a channel for them to do so by constructing instruments for a marching
band? Empty oatmeal boxes, coffee cans or pots and wooden spoons make
perfect drums. Pots and pan lids can be used for clanging cymbals. Cover
one side of a wood block with coarse sandpaper; rub two sandpapered blocks
together for sand blocks. Rhythm sticks can be two empty paper towel
rolls or rolled up newspaper secured with masking tape. Making music
is one way to stimulate brain development and future math skills.
Assemble paper blocks. Recycle large paper grocery bags by stuffing them with crumpled wrapping paper. Fold down the open end of the bag and tape it shut. Enlist older children to help younger ones. These paper blocks are great for jumping or sitting on, tossing and rolling.
Play in the ocean. Fill your bathtub with blue water (using a few drops of blue food coloring), add toys and watch your child’s imagination soar. Kids love water, and it’s a sneaky way to get them clean. (Food coloring does not turn little ones blue, and it does not stain tubs.)
— Brenda Nixon
