Homeschooling with toddlers is a delight, because they have a lot of energy and want to be involved. For those same reasons, homeschooling with toddlers can also be a challenge. Here are 12 ideas to occupy your toddler during your school day.
- Give them an inexpensive or used workbook to scribble in. Then "check" it just as you do with the older kids.
- Let them play Cuisenaire® rods, counting bears, or with LEGO®.
- Give them picture books to look at.
- Let them sit on your lap while you read (and point to the pictures or words you are reading to keep them involved).
- Have a special school box for use only during school time that includes quiet activities (puzzles, play-dough and cookie cutters, lacing toys, crayons and coloring books, Duplo, etc.).
- Offer sensory activities, such as shaving cream or finger paint in a gallon zip-top bag. Let the children "write" with a finger on it and erase by squishing it around.
- Fill a big plastic container with rice or beans and let the children use scoops or measuring cups to pour from one container to another.
- By about age 2 ½, children might enjoy albums of nursery rhymes while looking at board books.
- Have your read aloud time with your older students right outside the bathroom door while the toddlers play in the tub.
- Put several sheets of paper and a pair of safety scissors in bag. On each piece of paper, draw one or several lines—some straight, some curved, some zig-zag—across the paper in big marker. Put smiley or star at the end. Let them try to cut along the lines.
- Create a pile of several small, random things (toys, bottle caps, raisins and peanuts), and allow your children to sort . . . by color, shape, material, size, etc.
- Take 10 index cards and number them 1-10. Draw that many circles on each card. Give your toddler pennies, poker chips, etc. to place on the cards while counting up to each indicated number.
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