April Showers
Activity: Puddle Stomping
Find a real puddle and enjoy
Activity: Puddle Play
What happens if you throw a pebble in the puddle? Did you see the circles it made? Did the pebble float or sink? What happens if you throw a leaf in the puddle? Does it float? What else floats?
Activity: What Floats?
Have your tot toss one of the items provided into the tub of water. What happens? Does it float or sink? Ask your tot what he thinks will happen with the next item.
Activity: Outdoor Fun
Take your toddler outside and discover all kinds of wonderful things.
Feel the wind in your hair
Feel the raindrops on your face
Smell a flower
Watch a butterfly
Hold a worm in your hand
Lie in the grass and look at the clouds
Squish your toes in the mud
Care for plants and watch them grow
Taste fresh fruits and vegetables from the garden
Activity: Baby Bird Game
Sit down on the grass with your toddler curled up in your lap. Pretend to be asleep and then wake up.
Say “Come on, baby bird, it’s time to fly.”
Very slowly get up and flap your arms like wings. Fly around the yard and then say, “Let’s fly to the tree.”
Give specific directions to help your toddler learn the names of objects.
Whisper to your baby bird “It is time to go back to the nest.”
When you reach the nest, say the following poem and do the actions to enhance your child’s feeling of security.
Here is a nest
All warm inside
Where my little bird
Can safely hide. (wrap your arms around your child and hold him close)
Here is a nest
All hidden away
Where my little bird
Can sing and play (give your child a toy)
Here is a nest
All cozy and deep
Where my little bird
Can go to sleep (rock him gently and pretend to go to sleep)
When able, try these indoor activities outside!
Activity: Stepping Stones (Lilly Pad Pond)
This is a version of the balance game “Twister.” Scatter paper plates or construction paper around the floor so that the child can step on them. Now imagine the ground is the sea and the sea is full of sharks. Only the plates are safe. Can she cross the room to rescue teddy and get back safely? A foot in the water means she loses her toe. (You may have to give the smallest children a hand the first few times you play)
If your child is easily scared, pretend the plates are lily pads on a pond. Pretend to be frogs jumping to the other side to find the best insects for lunch. Note: Plates/construction paper may have to be secured to prevent slipping.
Activity: Jump in the Puddle
Set a hula hoop on the floor. Play some music and have your child walk around the hula hoop. When the music stops, have them jump into the hoop (puddle). Splash!
Activity: Dance and Fall Down
Dance to the sounds of Mother Nature – the rain, the thunder, and the wind. When the thunder claps, (leader claps her hands once) everyone falls down, like the rain. When the leader claps his hands twice, dance again. Take turns being the leader.
Activity: Bean Bag Puddle Toss
You need a hula hoop (the puddle) and some bean bags. Put a hula hoop on the ground. Have your child try to throw the bean bags into the puddle.
Activity: Jump Over the Puddle
Cut out puddle shapes from blue paper. They need to be small enough for your child to be able to hop over or stomp on. Set them on the floor and take turns with your child hopping over or stomping on the puddle.
Activity: Raindrop Search
Cut out many raindrop shapes and hide them around the room or in a confined area outside. Have your child search for them like an Easter egg hunt.
Activity: Watch the Rain
Give a small cup full of water to your toddler while he sits in the bathtub. Hold a slotted spoon or colander in front of him, and ask him to pour the water into it. Next, let him hold the spoon or colander while you pour the “rain” over it. Continue playing the game, taking turns pouring the water through the spoon or colander.
Activity: Paper Rain
Toddlers love to tear paper. It makes them feel powerful because they can control what is happening to the paper. Give your toddler some paper. Begin to tear paper into pieces and suggest that your toddler help. Put all pieces into a container. Say to your child, “Here comes the rain.” Turn the container over and let the “rain” fall out. As it is falling, sing the song, “Rain, Rain, Go Away.”
Activity: Kool-aid Art
Sprinkle a little dry drink mix onto a piece of paper. Have your child spray water from a spray bottle onto the paper. Use different colors of drink mix. For added adventure, take your child out into the rain with a piece of paper that has drink mix on it.
Activity: Cotton Ball Clouds
Make gray cloud shapes from construction paper. Have your child glue on cotton balls.
Activity: Easy Rainbows
Tape three or four different colored crayons in a straight line. Show your child how to draw a rainbow with one stroke.
Activity: Paint with Clouds
Dip a cotton ball into white paint and press onto blue paper to make cloud prints.
Activity: Shaving Cream Clouds
Add a few drops of blue paint to shaving cream. Use a brush or your fingers to paint clouds onto paper. Not mixing in the paint will give it a special look.
Activity: Raindrop Rubbings
Cut raindrop shapes from paper doilies. Tape these raindrops onto a table. Help your child place a piece of thin white paper over the raindrop. Rub a crayon over the raindrop.
Will You Read to Me?
Enjoy a story.
Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs by Judi Barrett
Who Likes Rain? by Wong Herbert Yee
Cloudette by Tom Lichtenheld
Rainbow Snack
Draw a rainbow onto a piece of construction paper to use as a place-mat (do not color in). Supply your child with various colored Fruit Loops. Help your child to fill in each area of the rainbow with Fruit Loops.
Activities provided by:
Toddling on the Wild Side
E Resources Group
2550 Stagecoach Road
Webster City, Iowa 50595-7375
Toddling on the Wild Side was supported by a REAP-CEP grant.
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✓ 1-2
✓ 2-3
_ 3-4
_ 4-5
_ 5-6
Category: Adult-Child
Iowa Early Learning Standards:
1.2, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4, 3.3, 4.2, 6.1, 6.2, 6.3, 7.3
Related Kindernature Resources:
