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Santa Fe Parents: 5 Early Learning Activities to Try with Toddlers

Child DevelopmentParent Resources

5th November 2021

In the words of every teacher ever, “It’s never too early to learn together!” In fact, children should be encouraged to learn together from a young age because of the many beneficial outcomes! Early learning  teaches children better communication, boosts performance in future schooling, increases attention span, and provides enthusiasm for lifelong learning. For parents looking to encourage early learning, here are a few fun activities that they can do with their kids.

Bean Bank

Get a few beans and have a child deposit the beans into a “bank”. Either give them a specific number of beans to deposit or have them count the beans themselves. This activity can be entertaining, while also encouraging toddlers to learn counting and additive skills! If you want to challenge your child, paint the beans different colors and have each color equate to a different numerical amount.

Alphabet Fishing

Get a tub filled with water (dyed blue for extra flair), and fill the tub with toy letters! Hand your child a spoon, mini sieve, or colander, and have them fish out the letters. There are many routes to take for this activity; a child could match each letter with a corresponding drawing, they could use the letters to spell a word, or they could say the letter aloud. Either way, alphabet fishing is a fun educational activity that doesn’t feel like learning!

Shape Matching

Trace out shapes on felt or paper and then cut them out, cut the shapes in half, and give them to your child. Your child will then have to find the missing halves. Shape matching is a simple and enjoyable activity that encourages shape identification and memory.

Color Sorting Box

Take an old box, cut holes of any shape, and paint color around the hole. Get colorful cotton balls or colored sticks and have your child sort the colors into the corresponding colored hole. Color sorting is great for hands-on children who learn visually. To make the task more challenging, write the word instead of painting it and have them match the color to the word. This will teach them to correspond the word to the color and to develop their color identification skills.

Excavation Site

Fill a tub with sand, bury your child’s favorite items, and then have them dig for each item. Excavation Site is an easy exercise that helps boost a child’s cognitive and fine motor skills. On top of that, they have to use their strength to dig into the sand, and their reasoning skills to find where each object could be.

Looking for Quality Childcare?

For parents who want to invest in their child’s future, caregiving services encourage early learning activities to boost their abilities! A childcare program gives children the opportunity to learn with children their age—and interact with their surrounding world, where they can demonstrate their skills.

Wonderschool is a search service that allows parents to easily find and access in-home childcare and daycare programs near their region. Parents can use our program to find trustworthy services that meet their needs and expectations. For parents looking for Santa Fe childcare, visit Wonderschool, where high-quality childcare is accessible to everyone.

wonderschool

Wonderschool is a network of quality in-home early childhood programs. Our mission is to ensure that every child has access to a home away from home that helps them realize their full potential. We work with experienced educators and child care providers to help them start their own child care or preschool out of their homes, whether they live in apartments, condos, or homes that they rent or own.