During a book search on Book Depository  I found the Toddler’s Busy Book by Trish Kuffner. You can easily search for activities for toddlers on the internet but sometimes it’s good to have a ready reference.

There are some things in the book that are pretty common but what I liked about it is that the book and the suggestions are split into categories. Rainy Day Play, Kids in the Kitchen, Water Play, Outdoor Adventures, Out and About, Nursery Rhymes and Finger Plays, Early Learning Fund, Music and Movement, Arts and Crafts, Birthday and Holidays.

I liked the idea of different boxes for different types of activities. For example, we don’t have a costume box which I think could be fun. It will also help with the different costumes you need for book week, pirate day, princess day, superhero day and all the other days!

You do need to purchase or find some of the equipment around the house but I was surprised at how inventive we could be.

The three activities we trialed included:

Matchsticks and a cheese shaker.

This is an activity that Little Whimsy enjoys at childcare. It took a while to find the cheese shaker (the holes need to be be big enough for the matchsticks). The coloured matchsticks I found in a top dollar shop.

Mailing tube and balls

This activity turned out to be a lot of fun for Little Whimsy. We also used other objects such as animals and made sounds as they slid down the tube.

Bowling with plastic cups

While Little Whimsy likes to throw balls around she wasn’t keen to aim the balls at the plastic cups. She ended up using the plastic cups at her tea parties. We also tried using empty bottles and Little Whimsy got upset when they fell down so I’m not sure she enjoys bowling.