Finding activities to keep your toddler busy and entertained during the hot, summer days can be daunting. Getting them outside is important, but you want to have ways to keep them cool, as well.
Fishing for Letters is a simple activity that your toddler will love! There is very little prep and it also creates a fun learning experience for them. You can use various tools besides bath letters for whatever your child is learning at the time, whether it be shapes, animals, numbers, etc. Read on for more details.
What You’ll Need:
- Small baby pool. Plastic or inflatable will work.
- Bath toy letters or any other small, plastic items that you can name and your child can scoop up.
- Scoop or net. If you don’t have one, you can use a large cup, large serving spoon, or something else that your child can scoop with. Get creative!
What To Do:
- Fill up a small baby pool with water.
- Throw in a bunch of bath toy letters, shapes, numbers, animals or any other item that your child can start learning.
- Hand them a net or scooping object.
- Call out letters or objects that they must find and scoop up with their net.
Make this activity easier by only using 2 or 3 letters, colors, or shapes so it is easier for your toddler to discriminate between them. Learning letters is a higher level skill for some children so start off using colors, shapes, or animals that they may already know. This will give them a greater sense of confidence when starting the activity.
Increase the challenge by also asking them to say the sound that the letter makes or what word starts with it. You can use all the letters of the alphabet which will make it a bit harder to visually scan and locate the letter.
Skills Adressed Through This Activity
Children are constantly learning through play. This simple activity is helping to teach them various skills that will help them learn and grow.
For this Fishing for Letters Outdoor Toddler Activity, the following skills are being strengthened:
- Language/Vocabulary: Hearing and talking about different objects and concepts (water, toy, grab, letter, pool, colors, scoop, net, etc.). Talk to your toddler as much as you can throughout this activity to maximize their exposure to new words and vocabulary.
- Visual-motor skills (Hand-eye coordination): Strengthening and coordinating how the muscles of their hands/arms and eyes work together by picking up the items in the net.
- Sensory: Feeling and seeing different textures and water can be calming or stimulating for a child. They will get to explore the wetness of the water and the texture of the toys put inside.
- Visual scanning: Scanning the pool with their eyes to find and locate the letter that they were told to find.
Check out more Outdoor Activities to Do With Your Toddler here.
