Choo choo!
Hop aboard with Ms. Nancy at the Kansas Children’s Discovery Center for a fun toddler train! Using items from your house, create a train fit for the younger humans! Be sure to check out the dining car! This activity is generously sponsored by our friends at Sunflower Health Plan.
What you need:
- Laundry Basket(s) and/or boxes
- Stuffed animals, pillows, blankets
- Rope, string
- Snack
- Timer
Directions:
- Gather several boxes and/or laundry baskets and align them like a train.
- Fill the baskets and boxes with stuffed animals, blankets, or create a dining cart with a snack!
- Set the timer for five minutes of play!
- Begin your journey on the laundry basket train!
Ways to expand the activity:
- Allow for some serious fun individual play as your child discovers the joy of creating their own pretend fun. Start with small increments of time. You can set a timer and set the stage for independence and creativity. When boredom strikes, challenge your toddlers to slay the boredom monster!
- After a time, join in the fun and allow your toddler to direct you. Where are we going? What does it look like outside the train? Will we ever go up or down large hills? Over a bridge?
What do they learn?
- Your toddler learns how to create their own fun. They create, problem solve, self-soothe and stimulate.
- They actively practice the physical movements that their body craves: stretching, reaching, balancing and touching.
- Autonomy. They learn what it feels like to be successful. With each discovery, decision, movement and creation, your toddler is learning to trust and value him or herself.
- Opposite words! Push and pull, forwards and backwards, empty and full.