3 Easy Activities for Different Age Groups

Having three a toddler, preschooler, and an elementary child can be a challenge when I’m looking for activities. I want it to be something they all can do. I’m starting to learn how to modify activities for each child or giving them the samething and letting them work it out on their own. Here are a few that I’ve modified to fit each of their needs:

Pom–Pom Sensory Bag

This easy activity was quicky to modify for each child. I put a little gel in a bag, put pompoms in it, then tapped it to the table.  Tip: When I do this again I’d use a freezer bag, I used a regular snack bag and it did not last long before it started to rip.  

1 year old: I did this as just a sensory activity so he could freely push different color pompoms around.  He enjoyed moving them and see what happens when he pressed each one. I talked to him about direction and the different colors as we did it.

3 year old: I used this game as our family challenge for the month! I cut out little triangles so it looked like an ice cream cone and tapped it to the bag. The object of this was going get the pompoms to stack on the cone the first. This was perfect for my 3-year-old. Before we started the game we counted the pompoms and worked on our colors.

6 year old:  We took it a step farther and we also did things like made patterns with the pompoms!

Ice activity

This simple activity was easy as making ice and they played with it for a long time!  We talked for a bit before I let them go and they found ways to get the dinosaurs out of the ice and then created scenarios playing with the dinosaurs and the water!

1 year old:  I gave him a few ice cubes with dinosaurs frozen in them, sprinkled it with salt, and put a few inches of water in it.  I gave him a large spoon and he happily played! He loves ice so he had fun moving the ice around and freeing the dinosaurs.  Once he did that he played with them the water and ended up using the spoon to pour water around.  

3 year old:  I gave him the dinosaur ice and put salt on it for him and gave him a few different tools we had around the house like an old medicine dropper and spoon.  I put out a few small bowls and colored the water then let him go at it! We talked about color, about mixing colors, and different temperatures.    

6 year old:  He did his own salt and at the end of the activity, he cleaned it up by putting the dinosaurs back in the ice tray, filled it up with water, and put it back in the freezer for next time.  I wasn’t planning on this part of the activity, it was a nice surprise though. Especially since they were already asking to do it again! With Blake we also talked about reactions and why the salt and water helped the ice melt. 

Tape Town

This activty was the best since they could all do it together! I used painter tape and made a rectangle on the ground.  I was thinking it was going to be a road and took out a few cars for them.  The boys wanted a dinosaur town instead. They took out legos and made building and had dinosaurs all over! A little later the boys asked to have another box made because they wanted a skate park! They all helped! The 1-year-old lost interest first after about 10 – 15 minutes, which is still really good for him.  The 3-year-old played for 30 minutes which is really good and the 6-year-old played for about an hour! He kept going adding onto it and bringing in different toys.