Toddler Games: Dry Food Play

Sometimes something is SO obvious that when you finally twig, you feel the need to slap yourself silly for not thinking of it earlier. No? Just me? oh well. 😉

This is one of those activities. It kept Miss NHM busy for well over an hour and wasn’t too messy.

What you will need

  • Red or Green lentils
  • Oats
  • Brown Rice
  • Pasta (coloured looks good)
  • Lots of different types of bowls and plates
  • Cooking implements like wooden spoons, spatula’s and children’s knives and forks

Dry Food Play

I raided the cupboard for dried food. I found red lentils, oats and some brown rice.

I put them all into different bowls and put them on the table with some cooking implements like spatula’s, wooden spoons and Miss NHM’s knife and fork. 

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I recently bought some multi-coloured pasta from Sainsburys that was on offer, so I put out a bowl of this.

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Miss NHM had so much fun playing with this activity. She kept telling me that she was “cooking like Mummy”. Bless.

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Tips

It’s probably best to do this somewhere that you don’t mind being made a bit messy. We did this in the kitchen as it’s easy to sweep up.

Have lots of different types of texture of dried food.

Probably not a good idea to do this with your little one if they are still experimenting by putting things in their mouth…

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Don’t add water unless you REALLY want your little one to create havoc :-D.

Let me know if you enjoyed this activity as much as we did.

Toddler Games: Making Gloop!

This post is for Jo who thought I said “Goop” and then thought I was best friends with Gwyenth Paltrow because she has a blog called “Goop” :-D.

I’ve been wanting to do this for ages with Miss NHM, since before she was born! I can’t even remember where I first found out about Gloop, but it’s such a simple idea and a very cheap activity.

What you will need

1 cup cold water

2 cups corn flour

Random buttons

Making the Gloop

Slowly add one cup of water to two cups corn flour in a bowl.

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Stir until the water is absorbed by the corn  flour.

Add buttons. Fishing buttons out of the gloop is great for your little one’s fine motor skills.

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Miss NHM played with the Gloop for about an hour. We had a brilliant time playing with it and fishing the buttons out added another dimension to her interest.

Tips

Go to the toilet before you start. I didn’t do this and spent most of the time playing, wishing I had gone beforehand! The thought of leaving Miss NHM on her own or trying to get her to stop playing just wasn’t an option!

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Don’t use fabric buttons like I accidentally did. Duh.

Do this somewhere that you don’t mind getting dirty. We found the kitchen was the best place. I probably wouldn’t do this in a carpeted room.

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You can also step it up a level by adding either food colouring or food essence. We might try this next time.

Also, if the weather is nice next time we try this, I will try this outside.

Let me know if you enjoy this activity as much as we did!

Related Posts

Toddler Games: Coloured Spaghetti

11 Songs and Rhymes for Babies and Toddlers

Nobody warned me that once you have a child you have to suddenly start singing and be good at Nursery Rhymes! I’ve had to borrow some books from the library to learn the words of rhymes that I knew as a child but had forgotten since then.

I have been so amazed at how quickly my little one picked up trying to do the actions and copy the sounds. Watching her singing/speech develop has been so awesome.

1. Pat a Cake

2. Round and Round the Garden (my little one used to giggle at about 4 months old when she was sung this)

3. The Wheels on the Bus (a particular favourite in our house as the actions keep our little one occupied so she doesnt try to crawl/sprint off the changing mat. She started doing the sounds when she was about 9 months old)

4. Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

5. Baa Baa Black Sheep (My little one started signing this week and can get as far as “Baa baa blaaaa sssss”)

6. The incy wincy spider

7. I’m a little teapot

8. Old Macdonald had a farm (We sing this on the way to Nursery. Great to keep my little one occupied when she’s in her car seat)

9. If you’re happy and you know it

10. Wind the bobbin up

11. Row, row, row your boat

Row, row, row your boat, extra lyrics:

Row, row, row your boat
Gently down the stream
Merrily, merrily, merrily
Life is but a dream

Row, row, row your boat
Gently down the stream
If you see a crocodile
Don’t forget to scream

Row, row, row your boat
Gently down the river
If you see a polar bear
Don’t forget to shiver

Row, row, row your boat
Gently to the shore
If you see a lion
Don’t forget to roar

Row, row, row your boat
Gently down the creek
If you see a little mouse
Don’t forget to squeak

Row, row, row your boat
Across the reservoir
If you see a farmer
Stop and say ooo-arrr

Row, row, row your boat
All across the puddle
If you see your mummy there
Give her a lovely cuddle

Row, row, row your boat
In your bubble bath
If you see a spider/ tall giraffe
Don’t forget to laugh

Row, row, row your boat
Gently to the beach
If you see a dinosaur
Don’t forget to screech

Row, row, row your boat
Gently up the brook
If you catch a little fish
Let it off the hook

  • Row, row, row your boat
  • Gently to the lake
  • If you see something green
  • It’s probably a snake (Mr NHM made this one up! lol)

Row, row, row your boat
Out into the bay
If you see a pirate ship
Sail the other way

Rock, rock, rock your boat
Gently to and fro
Watch out, give a shout….
into the water we go… SPLASH!

Toddler Games: Coloured Spaghetti

I’ve been meaning to do this activity for ages and we finally got around to it this morning. It was BRILLIANT! I really didn’t think we would have so much fun. I made blue spaghetti first, to try it out, and gave that to my little one with some plastic plates, cups and a spoon. She spent about 20 mins playing with it, whilst I pottered around the kitchen. I then did some red and green spaghetti and we both played with it together for about another hour!! I really didn’t expect to have so much fun with it:

It’s easy peasy. I first saw the idea HERE and have had it on my “list of things” to do since my little one was born. All you need is some spaghetti and food colouring. I picked up the spaghetti we used from the Sainsburys value range, about 40p, but you can get it cheaper in Tesco’s. We used about a quarter of it, so we can do this at least 3 more times. I cooked my spaghetti up with the food colouring directly and am pleased to report that it didn’t stain my saucepans. I got a bit covered in food colouring, but that was half the fun and I’m not great with those food colouring bottles! lol. My little one had so much fun moving the spaghetti from bowl, to plate, to cup and learnt that she could bite the spaghetti in half to make smaller pieces. We came up with some very multicoloured patterns as you can see:

It was a great opportunity for my little one’s motor skills and for us to practice colours. I totally recommend this activity with your toddler, especially for a rainy day. If you do try it out, let me know how it goes!