Fun and games | Early Years Alliance Family Corner

Froggy fun

Get some paper or cardboard and with the help of your little one, cut out some ‘lily pads’.

Then, place them on the floor (careful that the pads don’t slip) and encourage your little one to hop, skip, and jump to them, helping their physical development and co-ordination.

You could even make the activity harder by numbering them so that they have to visit them in order.

Then, when they are tired of jumping, take a small ball or rolled up sock and see if they can dribble it around the lily pads without touching them.

So what are you waiting for? Hop to it!

Homemade jigsaw puzzle

Today, why not have a go at making some homemade puzzles! It’s really easy.

You can either print out pictures, use pictures from out of magazines or use old birthday cards that you may have.

Cut them up into a variety of shapes, sizes and angles, then encourage your little ones to put them back together.

Your little one can also have a go at cutting them and asking you to have a go!

Indoor bowling

Time for some indoor bowling fun.

To create your own skittles all you need are cardboard tubes, scissors, some glue, paint, pens, shiny bits and bobs, scraps of paper or whatever you have to hand.

No glue? Not a problem, just mix up a little flour and water to make a paste. It works a treat! Finally, a rolled-up sock makes a great little ball, or you may already have one of your own to use.

Encourage your little one to decorate the tubes, then once dry, line them up and roll your ball. Try and knock down as many as you can and whoever knocks down the most, wins.

Why not number each of the skittles, then as your little one rolls the ball and knocks one over, name the number on it? This will help your little one to begin to recognise number names and their written form.

Monster dice

Want to try the Monster Dice game?

All you need is a piece of paper, some pens or pencils and a dice.

Start by drawing a basic head and a body.

Then, take it in turns to roll the dice and follow the instructions according to the number rolled, e.g. add one arm, add spiky hair etc.

(With thanks to Sara Aldridge and Simple Crafts for Kids for the idea and photo)

Paper towel roll and pom-pom challenge

This clever idea is a great way to help your little one become one of the engineers or mathematicians of the future.

It’s also great for fine motor skills, balance and coordination. Who knew a tube could do all that?

First, you need some cardboard tubes, cut into smaller pieces of varying sizes.

Then, stick them onto a tray or box lid with space enough to roll a small round thing around in.

The aim is to roll the round thing through the tubes.

If you want to make the game more challenging for older children, try numbering the tubes and rolling the ball through them in numerical order.

Let’s roll!

(With thanks to Raising Dragons for the idea)

Sticky spiderwebs

Here’s a great idea for a game that helps your little ones to develop their hand eye coordination and have fun at the same time.

All you need is a roll of sticky tape, kitchen paper, newspaper or anything to scrunch up into balls (socks work too) and a doorway.

Start criss-crossing the tape across the top or middle of the door (depending on the height of your little one and how high you think they might be able to throw). Make sure that the sticky side is facing you. Then, encourage your little one to have a go and throw the scrunched-up balls at the web. Did your web catch a fly?

To add another challenge, why not ask your little one to take a step back and throw? Now take two steps back and throw!

(With thanks to Hands On As We Grow and What Moms Love for the idea)

Sign up to our monthly newsletter