Spring activities
Support your child’s home learning and development this spring with these fun activities. Get the 52 Things to do before you’re 5 activity pack which also includes a fridge poster to tick off each activity and suggested words for babies, toddlers and pre-schoolers to improve their vocabulary.
Week 1: Get your dancing shoes on
Play your favourite music and dance! Dance together, dance alone, stamp your feet and jiggle around or simply clap your hands.
Children are born ready to enjoy music. You can encourage your child’s enjoyment through dancing and singing. First your child will enjoy listening and then may start to dance and jig along with the song. Your child might respond emotionally to music as well. Some music will sooth whilst faster beats will get their feet dancing.
Week 2: Dressing up at home
Have fun dressing up, use a variety of clothes to play imaginatively. Try dressing up each other, create characters and role play.
Children begin to understand the difference between pretend and real from around the age of two. Pretend you are having a tea party or dress up as a doctor to make the teddy better. Talk about the clothes and the equipment you use. Follow your child’s lead and comment on what they are doing to help them extend their imaginary play.
Week 3: Let's cook!
Find an interesting recipe and get cooking! Cook up some vegetables for a yummy soup. Chop up lots of fruit into a salad or whisk up with milk into a healthy smoothie.
Children begin to understand the difference between pretend and real from around the age of two. Pretend you are having a tea party or dress up as a doctor to make the teddy better. Talk about the clothes and the equipment you use. Follow your child’s lead and comment on what they are doing to help them extend their imaginary play.
Week 4: Stars and moon
Choose a clear evening and enjoy the night sky. Can you see the moon and count the stars? Use a torch and play with light and dark.
This is a great opportunity to begin to use some mathematical language with your child, you could count the stars together 1,2,3… Are there lots, a few or not many? Is the moon a full moon, a half moon or a crescent? It’s great to offer lots of opportunities for your child to hear you using maths language while exploring the world around you.
Week 5: Visit a faith centre
Visit a faith centre such as a cathedral, temple or mosque. Your child will learn that some buildings are special in the community.
Children learn to value and respect similarities and differences when we introduce them to other people’s beliefs with a positive attitude. When you are out and about, it is a great time to learn about the wider community that you live in. Visit or take a walk past a local faith centre so that you can start conversations about belief and ideas.
Week 6: Make and model
Using dough for play is a great way to give your child the opportunity to make simple models, express their ideas and build their small muscle coordination.
Playing dough provides an opportunity for your child to explore a fun creative resource. Give your child a wide range of tools such as sticks, straws, pebbles, spoons and pastry cutters and encourage them to explore what they can do to the dough. You could even add glitter, paint or food colouring.
Week 7: Tumble time
Make a mountain with cushions or pillows or gather together lots of soft toys. Climb up and tumble down, keep practicing, it’s lots of fun!
Giving your child a wide range of opportunities to explore movement, helps them to coordinate their body, move in different ways and gain greater control over their movements. Have fun together and copy each other’s actions as you explore climbing, crawling, stretching and rolling.
Week 8: Calm jars
Enjoy making your own special calm jar, choose which colour you like and add glitter or oil to make it mesmerising.
As children grow and develop, there may be times when they become frustrated and emotional. You can help your child to manage and talk about their emotions by making a calm jar. They can watch the movement and relax as they focus on the changing patterns.
Week 9: Visit Pickford’s House Museum
Go to Pickford’s House Museum to find out how we used to live at home. Spot all the differences by exploring the house and the way things used to be.
Pickford’s House Museum is a great place to see and learn about how people lived in the olden days! Your child will be able to see and compare the clothes and furniture. You can talk about how things have changed since you were a child. Keep the conversation going when you get home and show your child some old family photos
and keepsakes.
Week 10: Blow some bubbles
Everyone loves blowing bubbles, young or old. Buy a pot of bubble mix to see how big you can both blow a bubble. Play with the bubbles at bath time or when washing up.
Children love to blow bubbles and it helps to strengthen their mouth muscles needed for speech. Popping bubbles is lots of fun too - count the bubbles together as you pop them and match the numbers you say to each bubble. Lots of practice will help your child count more accurately and become a confident counter.
Week 11: Join the library
Go to your local library and join up, then enjoy all your favourite books. Take it in turns to hold the book, turn the pages and discuss the pictures.
Your child will enjoy having a special storytime, developing listening skills and learning a new vocabulary. When reading to your child, point out parts of the book - the cover, the author, the page number and show them how to hold books and to turn pages one at a time. As they get a little older, you could talk about capital letters and full stops.
Week 12: Follow a trail
There is a nature trail in Chaddesden park and a tree trail in Arboretum park. Enjoy following a path. Take turns to lead the way.
It can be fun to follow a trail and spot things to talk about along the way. As you follow the route, you can introduce new or special words that describe your position such as in front of, behind, up or down. After your walk, you could talk about it and ask whether your child can remember what you saw and the order you saw it in.
Week 13: Singalong together
Sing songs together and learn the actions. Repeat favourite songs and nursery rhymes. Encourage your child to mirror the actions and make up their own.
Children enjoy singing their favourite songs over and over again. They will like listening to and joining in with a selection of action songs from different cultures and in different languages. Regularly sing with your child, linking actions with words. They will soon learn tunes and actions off by heart.
Week 14: Make a treasure basket
Put favourite and unusual things in a basket or a box. Maybe crunchy paper, a sponge, a wooden spoon or a lemon. Take out and explore each item through touch and smell.
Children love to explore everyday objects and natural materials. It’s fun to collect different types of objects from indoors and outdoors. You can encourage conversation with your child about what they can see, smell and feel. You can introduce new words to the conversation that help your child learn more about what they are exploring.
Week 15: Big ducks, little ducks
Walk around a pond in the park to spot the ducks, geese, and swans. Talk about their sizes. Which one is the biggest? Which one is the smallest? Do they have any babies?
Everyday outings like visiting the duck pond are valuable learning opportunities. It’s a great time to use mathematical language with your child and chat about the size of the ducks, which ones are little and which ones are big, or count how many you can see. Can they point out which duck is the smallest or which one is the largest?
Week 16: Go swimming
Find your nearest swimming pool. Join some classes or simply enjoy a splash about. Swimming is an important life skill and a great way to get active.
Swimming and being in water helps children to move freely and gain greater whole-body control. Your child can practice lots of large movements in water and swimming is a great way to keep active. Ensure your child is always supervised in or around water.
Week 17: Let's get growing
Plant seeds in your garden or a large pot or cup with soil in it. For a quick result, cress will even grow on a damp paper towel. Talk about how to care for something.
It is so exciting to plant a seed and watch it grow. Children can learn so much about the cycle of life and how we all need to grow strong and healthy. Help your child to scatter the seeds and talk about what it needs to grow - sunlight, water and warmth. If you plant cress, your child can also eat it as a healthy snack.