Social-Emotional Development
Apple Picking Stretches
Starting with both arms raised, take a deep breath in, and as you are breathing out, rotate your hands as if you were picking an apple from a tree and bringing them down to your sides. Repeat 3 times.
Cognitive Development
Fruit or Vegetable?
Gather as many different types of fruits and vegetables (or pictures of them) as possible. Lay them out on the table and have your kids sort them by color, fruit/vegetable, texture and shape.
Language Development
Parts of a Fruit
Take your child’s favourite fruit and cut it in half – saving the other half to eat for later. Have some pencils, paper, and crayons ready. Using half of the fruit, describe to your child what the fruit looks like while showing them and have them draw it on the paper. Once they have finished drawing out the fruit, point out that the fruit has a core, seeds, and skin and see if they would like to label the parts of fruit on their picture too.
Physical Literacy
Banana Pose
The banana pose is a yoga pose people often use to open the waist and extend breathing capacity for growing lungs. Teach your child this stretch following these simple steps. First, stand with feet hip-distance apart and your arms by your side. Take a big inhale as you stretch your arms above your head – like the tip of a banana – reaching as high as you can as you bring your palms together. As you breathe out bend your torso and arms to the left so that you feel a stretch on your right side resembling the curve of a banana. Stay in this pose for 3 seconds before switching to the other side and repeat 3 times.
Creative Activity
Paper Plate Orange
Provide white paper plates, orange, green, and brown construction paper, glue, and scissors. Support your child in cutting the orange construction paper into squares or you can have the option of ripping them up to make small squares. Once all orange pieces have been cut, encourage your child to glue the orange squares to the paper plate to cover the entire area. Once complete cut a small rectangle for the stem, and a small leaf for a finishing touch.
Additional Resources
https://www.crayola.com/athome – This website has a collection of videos and art instructions for young children.
https://www.yummytoddlerfood.com/blog/ – Mommy blog about foods toddlers will eat and made easy