Entertain your toddler with an animal parade where animals have to balance on popsicle sticks!
I like to have a plan and schedule play activities, but every now and then, I just fly by the seat of my pants and see what happens.
This activity was thrown together for my youngest, Lia, when I needed a quick indoor activity.
I basically thought to myself, hmm… what haven’t we played with in a while? and then pulled all those things out.
With that, I give you The Popcorn Animal Parade.
How to Make and Play with the Popcorn Animal Parade
I keep all the sensory stuff in one cabinet, and we hadn’t really played with the popcorn kernels in a while, so I grabbed that and a metal tray.
To this, I added jumbo popsicle sticks and plastic animals.
At first, Lia and I both were like what do we do with this? But Lia inspired me when she laid the popsicle sticks out on the kernels.
I asked her if she could put the animals on the popsicle sticks like a long balance beam.
Lia’s fine motor skills were put to the test as the popsicle sticks are very narrow and the unevenness of the sticks on top of the kernels made it difficult to balance the animals.
We worked on putting the animals in a line together and named each one of them.
Bear, zebra, camel, tiger, rhino…
Providing Language Input Through Play
Playing together is one way that Lia and I bond, and I also get to teach her some new words and phrases.
I think it’s really important to talk to your kids as much as possible when they’re young.
Kids need as much language input as they can get in order to start using language themselves and start making sense of the world around them.
Sometimes talking out loud to someone who doesn’t talk back can seem awkward. I’ve always enjoyed engaging my kids with activities as a way to talk with them in a way that feels natural.
Once the parade was over, Lia grabbed a small measuring cup out of her play kitchen and started filling it up with kernels.
This was my cue to back away and let her play independently for a while!
When she’s busy with an activity and forgets all about me, I’m free to do something else nearby where I can keep an eye on her.
If kids stop interacting with you during an activity, take the hint and let them be!
Independent play is awesome, and we parents need to take it whenever we can get it.
There’ll be plenty of time later for reading, talking, and working together.
Will You Try the Popcorn Animal Parade?
Maybe you don’t have popcorn. You could use dry beans, small rocks, sand, pasta, or even salt.
Or maybe this set up will inspire you to make up your own activity!
Let me know how it goes in the comments!
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