Inexpensive Ways to Entertain and Teach Toddlers

Collete,

Teaching/playing with your child doesn't have to cost you a penny! Kids learn best through real world experiences. Grocery shopping, trip to the library, taking a hike, going to the park, etc.. Continue to bring her on all your errands and talk to her while doing so. For example, while at the grocery store count the red apples, yellow banana's, etc.. I took the kids to the park everyday at this age. Sometimes for just an hour - sometimes for half of the day! Have a friend over w/her child or children often and go over to her house as well. Walk around Armstrong Nursery! My husband took my son there on Saturday, he is 3 and my husband said, he kept saying, "what is this beautiful place!?" As for activities at home that don't cost much: reading, listening to music, playing music, coloring with crayons,pens, painting. Dressing up, playing with blocks. All of those I just mentioned are the best things a preschool age child could do, however your daughter isn't too young for any of that. Her attention span will be shorter. Painting a picture won't take more than a few minutes but she'll have fun doing it. Hope this helps!
Enjoy your little girl!
M.

I am a home daycare provider and one thing my parents are thrilled about is that I teach my kids baby sign language. I start with the basics or the "foundation words" and the parents enjoy adding additional signs that they use at home. I start with....more, milk, cup, please and thank you. Once they get these down we add....help, cracker, cookie, hungry, cheese, grapes, color, paint, play and book. Almost all my little ones know at least 20 - 30 signs. We are learning color signs right now. If you go to American Sign Language on the computer it is a really great site. You basically pick a letter and on the right are many words to choose from that start with that letter. click the word and the website actually has a video of a person showing you how to do the sign for that word. This is a great teaching tool for you and your daughter and it helps reduce frustration and enhances communications between you and your daughter.

Good Luck

Hi Colette,
You are not alone. I am pretty much a stay at home mom(I work one day week and go to school some evenings), so I do understand needing to find inexpensive ways to teach my 3yr old. I am big on repurposing things or recycling things, so I save paper that is blank on the back for coloring, practice counting, shape cutting, pasteing(google homemade playdough paper mache and paste), etc. We often save paper towel rolls for crafts and make believe play. We have tea parties together and I encourage her to pour and measure water and dry beans. Outside we paint with water on the sidewalk, use chalk for practice writing and also create obsticle courses. Nature walks are a great time to teach about street safety, plant life, we talk about the things we see, colors, animals, etc. In the kitchen, I let her pull a stool upto the counter and she is able to help make her lunch, snacks and even dinner with me. All day long there are opportunities to teach. You don't need much. Actually, it would be a great challange to see how much money you can NOT spend. Planting a small garden is free if you save your seeds from foods you eat and then show your daughter how to care for it. So exciting for little ones! I hope this helps.

Hi Colette,

Are you in Orange County? If so Fashion Island has a great outdoor area where you can look at the Koi, watch the fountains, see all the beautiful Christmas decorations. Your local library should also have a story time age appropriate for your 13 month old. A playgroup may also be a great idea so you can be with some other moms and your son can be with other children (even if they will just parallel play) and you can all do activities together. If you are feeling charitible you could also look into visiting seniors at your local retirement home, convalescent home, etc. (we all know how much seniors enjoy seeing and interacting with babies) Barnes and noble always has a train table and a nice area to sit and look at picture books together. Hope these ideas help some.