Tuesday, 2 August 2016

5 Minute Fun Toddler Activities

5 Minute Fun is a brand new site which is made up of free and exciting activities and ideas for you to try together with your child. The goal is for both of you to engage in a quick, fun 5 minute activity no matter where you are whilst developing your child's knowledge in line with the Early Years Curriculum.

Once you've signed up to 5 Minute Fun, they will send you an activity every morning to try. It's completely free and each week's activity will be from a theme of a different learning area. They are also tailored to your child's age and they have activities which are suitable for children aged 2, 3, 4 and 5 years of age.

I received 12 activities and I did 7 of them with C over the course of the week. The tasks were split into six different groups: Communication, Language & Literacy; Let's Move!; Feeling Good; Maths; Finding Out; Creative.

Day 1:
On the first day I wanted to start off with what I felt was a simple activity and this came from the Feeling Good category. The task was to look out of the window together and see what you could spot. Then we had to find items of a specific colour. I loved that we could fit this in at the beginning of our day. C pointed out some other houses, dogs being walked and cars driving down the road. He is really good with colours so telling me which items were green (the grass), brown (the tree trunks) and blue (the sky) was really easy for him. He even told me about items that were different colours from the one I'd mentioned. I do think this little activity perked him up for the rest of the day.

Day 2:
On a Saturday, I take the children to my parents house. It involves walking around 20 minutes to the bus stop then taking a 15 minute bus journey to their house. For today's activity, I decided we'd do it at the bus stop whilst waiting on the bus to arrive. We sang the alphabet together and pointed out items that began with the words that we were singing. This activity came from the Communication, Language & Literacy theme. C has known how the say the alphabet for about a year and a half now. Being outside in a busy place meant that there was so much for us to see so we could find the 26 different items quite easily.

Day 3:
Sundays are a lazy day in our house so we were at home for this one. We did it whilst C's little sister went for a nap as we wanted the time together, just the two of us. We chose an task from Let's Move! where we had to pretend to be eggs hatching. C loved crouching down, pretending he was in an egg then acting out breaking through the shell. The stretching his "wings" was his favourite part. Since doing this activity he's repeated it quite a lot. He's even been making a nest out of his blankets.

Day 4:
Monday's activity came from Maths and this was probably one of the only ones that C struggled with a little. C had to point out five things that were bigger than him and five that were smaller. He said I was bigger than him and his little sister was smaller but he had a hard time working four others out so I had to give him a helping hand. I never would have known that this was something C wasn't confident with so I'm glad that 5 Minute Fun has helped me realise that so I can give him more help with understanding before he starts preschool.

Day 5:
The next task we did was a Creative one. We had to create a time-travelling wristband then talk about where we visited. I took an empty toilet roll tube and dug out lots of craft pieces to stick on. C pretended to push the buttons so we'd whoosh off. He said he wanted to visit the dinosaurs like Andy does in Andy's Dinosaur Adventures. He told me all about his favourite type - the parasaurolophus!



Day 6:
I chose a Finding Out activity for today. C had to choose one of his favourite toys and tell me about why he loved it so much. I knew before we even started that he would choose his Goofy plush and I was right. He's had it since he was just born and he takes it to bed every night. He told me that Goofy makes him laugh and helps him to feel safe at bedtime. I asked him if he and Goofy could go on an adventure, what would they do? Apparently they would love to dress as astronauts and go into space!

Day 7: 
Our last task of the week was another Maths one. I asked C to could as high as he could. He is really good with numbers and when we're out he'll always tell me the door numbers as we walk by. C counted all the was to 88 (which is when I think he got a little fed up!) so I made him a medal with 88 on it for being such a fabulous counter. 


C and I both really enjoyed all of the activities as they were all a little different from the activities that we usually do together. He got so used to doing them that towards the end of the week he'd ask what we were going to do that day. We mostly paint, do crafts or play with Playdoh - more artistic and creative activities - so I think we both really liked the idea of just the two of us doing something fun with no extra supplies or toys. C is my eldest child so I've never experienced having an almost 4 year old before. He starts preschool in September and I want to make sure that he is as equipped as possible and knows what he needs to know before he starts. I know very little about the Early Years Curriculum so doing these activities and seeing that he can do them well reassures me that he's going in prepared.

I would definitely recommend 5 Minute Fun as it's such a lovely way to get some bonding time with your child whilst educating them in a fun way.


You can find out more about 5 Minute Fun on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter as well as at the 5 Minute Fun website

(We received a magazine subscripton in return for this post. All thoughts and opinions are my own.)

 
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