Social-Emotional Development
Calming Strategy – Breathing Arms
Sit cross-legged with your arms at your sides. As you inhale deeply, raise your arms up. As you exhale slowly, move your arms back down to a resting position. Repeat. Make sure that the exhale is slower and longer than the inhale.
Cognitive Development
Goat Crossing
Encourage your child to use their imagination to design and build another way for the Billy Goats Gruff to cross the river (raft, boat, their own bridge, submarine, zip line, etc.). Invite your child to draw a plan, gather recycled and other materials needed and then build their creation.
Language Development
The Three Billy Goats Gruff
Read, tell or watch The Three Billy Goats Gruff story (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3QzT1sq6kCY) with your child. Discuss with your child other ways the three goats could cross the river. Help your child retell the story using their idea for getting the goats across the river.
Physical Literacy
River Leap
Place two sticks parallel to each other 30 cm apart to represent a river. Encourage your child to leap over the river. Move the sticks further apart after each leap. See how far they can jump.
Creative Activity
Blot Art Trolls
Encourage your child to fold a piece of paper in half. Have them open the paper and on one half of the paper, arrange small blobs of paint. Have them fold the paper in half again and squish the paint by smoothing over the folded paper with their hand. Open the paper and add facial features cut from paper scraps to create a troll.
Additional Resources
https://www.yourmodernfamily.com/50-screen-free-ideas/ – Find a list of 50 screen-free activities on this website. Choose a couple to try with your child.
https://handsonaswegrow.com/physical-activities-toddlers/ – If you have a busy toddler, check out this website for a “Giant Collection of Physical Activities Toddlers Simply Love!”