LEARNING

THROUGH PLAY
a month of educational
Toddler Activities
Lindsey LaSuer
everydayabovedirt.com
 Introduction
Thank you so much for investing in a month of activities for you and
your toddler. I sincerely hope that this is a growing experience for you
both.
Here’s a little about me and this product.
I taught elementary school for eight years before becoming a stay at
home mom. Now that my days are spent with my children I want to be
the best teacher they’ve ever had (fingers crossed).
That’s why I wanted to develop interactive learning activities that will
challenge your toddler while also helping them engage with the
world around them.
For the next month you will have instructions for one educational
activity a day. They are all easy, low-prep and fun.
The length of the activity depends on your child and their interest.
Some days they may last upwards of 30 minutes. Then some days it
may be 15 minutes. I have found that it’s best to expose them to a
variety of activities so you can see where their interest lies.
You will find the following in this guide:

Table of Contents
How to Use & Calendar Key
Monthly Calendar
Toddler Checker
Week 1 -4 of Daily Activities
Alphabet Printable
Number Printable
Color Printable
Shape Printable
Pattern Printable

Learning Through Play - Lindsey LaSuer - www.everydayabovedirt.com

 How to Use:
Your "Monthly Calendar" will give you a glimpse of what activity to expect
each day. It's perfect to put on the refrigerator as a daily reminder.
Use the "Toddler Checker" to assess your child before starting the activities.
Knowing where your child is will allow you to focus on the material that is
most beneficial to them. I challenge you to complete the assessment even if
you feel your child does not know the information. They may just surprise you.
Then use it again after you’ve completed all the activities to see what
knowledge they’ve gained!
Week 1 - Week 4 has the activity name, skill you’ll be working on, materials
needed and instructions to guide you through each day.
All of the printables will be helpful with your activities. You can print and cut
them out beforehand so you have them for use during each activity.

Calendar Key
Each day you'll work on a certain skill. I have used some images below to
represent each skill at a glance. I have kept them consistent with the days of the
week because routine is usually best for small children.

Color Alphabet Shape Fine Motor Math

Activities Activities Activities Activities Activities

Learning Through Play - Lindsey LaSuer - www.everydayabovedirt.com

Month:
Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday

Dot Sticker Foam Letter Dot Cutting Counting

Color Match Stick Shapes Play-Doh Cans

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday

Shaving Letter Shape Scissor Finger Paint

Cream Color Sensory Bin Sort Experiment Numbers

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday

Shape
Colored Bubble Folding Pom Pom
Scavenger
Ice Letters Paper Patterns
Hunt

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday

Color
Flour Painting Lacing Play-Doh
Scavenger
Letters Shapes Spaghetti Numbers
Hunt
Noodles
 Toddler Checker
Name:

Numbers
1 2 3 4 5
6 7 8 9 10
Shapes & Colors

Letters
A B C D E F G H I J K L
M N O P Q R S T U V
W X Y Z
Learning Through Play - Lindsey LaSuer - www.everydayabovedirt.com
 Activity: Dot Sticker Color Match
Monday
Skill: color recognition and matching + fine motor skills Week
Week One
Materials: dot stickers, white paper, markers, dot markers
Instructions: 1
On a piece of white paper draw circles with markers (or use dot markers)
about the size of the dot stickers. Make sure your circles drawn match the colors
of the dot stickers. Then tell your toddler to match the sticker to the circle. As they
make matches talk about the color names and label them.

Activity: Foam Letter Stick

Tuesday

Skill: letter matching

Materials: foam letters, dry-erase marker, water
Instructions:
Write letters on a windor or rerigerator using a dry-erase marker. Then ask your child to find the
matching foam letter. Dab the foam letter in water so it will stick to the window. Then ask your child to
place the matching letter on top of the letter you wrote on the window. Tell the letter's name and then
ask them to repeat it to you.

Activity: Dot Shapes

Wednesday

Skill: shape recognition and fine motor skills

Materials: marker, painter's tape, dot stickers
Instructions:
Draw the shapes you wish to work with on separate pieces of construction paper. Ex: square, triangle,
circle. Then outline them with dots using a dot marker or regular markers. Use Painter’s Tape to tape the
shapes to the wall. Tell your child to put dot stickers on the dots you outlined. As they work talk about the
name of the shape.

Activity: Cutting Play-Doh

Thursday

Skill: fine motor and hand, eye coordination

Materials: play-doh, safety scissors
Instructions:
Roll the play-doh into a snake or flatten it like a pancake. Ask your child to help with this process.
Then tell them they are going to cut the Play-Doh using scissors. You can guide them on how to
properly hold their scissors but also allow them to experiment on their own.

Activity: Counting Cans

Friday

Skill: counting and number recognition

Materials: 5 cans, sharpie, pom poms, beans, cheerios
Instructions:
Use 5 empty cans or containers. Write on the front of the cans with a Sharpie the numbers 1-5 (or whatever
numbers your child is ready to work on). Then help your child count out pom poms, beans or cheerios to match
the number on the can. After you have done it together, see if they can do it on their own.
 Activity: Shaving Cream Color
Monday Week
Skill: color recognition and sensory skills Week One
Materials: shaving cream, food coloring, bowl for mixing
Instructions: 2
Spray shaving cream in a bowl, as little or as much as you are comfortable with. Then
add in drops of desired food coloring. The more drops you add the darker it will be. Focus on one
color at a time. Then let your child play in the colored shaving cream. Keep naming the color they
are using and ask them to name it as well. Repeat this process as many times (and colors) as you like.

Activity: Letter Sensory Bin

Tuesday

Skill: letter recognition and sound

Materials: plastic bin, rice or oatmeal, printable letters or plastic letters
Instructions:
Put plastic or paper letters (provided with letter printable) at the bottom of a plastic bin. Then pour in
oatmeal or rice. Ask your child to use tongs to find the letters in the bin. As they find the letters
review their names and sounds.

Activity: Shape Sort

Wednesday

Skill: shape recognition and sorting

Materials: plastic bin, rice or oatmeal, paper or plastic letters
Instructions:
Tape shapes you have drawn on construction paper to your carpet or wood floor using Painter’s
Tape. Focus on shapes your child is ready to work on. Cut out the printable shape page and ask
them to match the shapes to the ones you have taped to the floor. The goal is to sort all the shapes
with their matching shape.

Activity: Scissor Experiment

Thursday

Skill: fine motor skills and pre-cutting

Materials: construction paper, safety scissors
Instructions:
Using safety scissors tell your child to cut some construction paper. The thicker paper is easier to
cut. Let them experiment with how to hold the scissors and how they work. You can guide them
on the correct way to hold them. But, mostly allow them to experiment and figure out what they
can do with scissors. It's a liberating experience for them.

Activity: Finger-Paint Numbers

Friday

Skill: number recognition and one to one correspondence

Materials: printable number cards, glue, finger-paint
Instructions:
Cut out the number cards provided and glue the numbers you want to work on to the top of a piece of
construction paper. One number per page. Then instruct your child to use the finger paint and leave a
fingerprint on the page to represent the number. Ex: for the number one, they would just have one print
and so forth.
 Activity: Colored Ice
Monday Skill: fine motor skills and color recognition Week
Week One
Materials: ice cube tray, food coloring, squirt bottle
Instructions:
The night before fill up an ice cube tray with food coloring added to different cubes so it will
3
turn the ice different colors. The next day you will have colored ice. Tell your child they are
going to use a squirt bottle to try and melt the colored ice. Talk about the colors they are
melting as they go.

Activity: Bubble Letters

Tuesday

Skill: letter recognition and sound

Materials: dish soap, plastic letters, tongs, spoon or net
Instructions:
Use dish soap in a plastic bin to make bubbles. Then drop in plastic letters. Ask your child to use
tongs, spoon or a net to fish out the letters. As they find the letters go over what letter they found
and what sound it makes.

Activity: Shape Scavenger Hunt

Wednesday

Skill: shape recognition and fine motor skills

Materials: bag or basket
Instructions:
Give your child a bag or basket and tell them you are going on a Shape Hunt! Walk around your
house looking for objects shaped like circles, squares, etc. Have your child collect the objects in
their bag or basket. After you have collected all the items sort them with like shapes. This can also
be done on a walk around the neighborhood.

Activity: Folding Paper

Thursday

Skill: fine motor skills and hand, eye coordination

Materials: consruction paper
Instructions:
This sounds way easier than it is. Demonstrate for your child how you can fold a piece of paper in
half. Talk about how the corners touch each other and you need to push down on the paper.
Then give them some paper and allow them to experiment, trying to touch corners or folding in
their own way.

Activity: Pom Pom Patterns

Friday

Skill: creating and continuing a pattern

Materials: pattern sheet (included), Pom Poms
Instructions:
Creating a pattern is a great Pre-Kindergarten skill. At first talk about what a pattern is using the pattern
sheet I included. Then help them complete each pattern. If they seem to catch on quickly, see if they can
complete one without your help. Use whatever colors they pick to make your pattern.
 Activity: Color Scavenger Hunt
Monday
Skill: color recognition Week
Week One
Materials: none
Instructions:
Go on a walk around the neighborhood or a drive around the block (or to the
4
errands you need to run). Talk about the colors you see. Then ask your child if they can find a
matching color. Example: That stop sign is red. Do you see anything else that's red?

Activity: Flour Letters

Tuesday

Skill: pre-writing, letter recognition and sensory play

Materials: flour, plastc bin or cookie sheet
Instructions:
Put flour in a plastic bin or cookie sheet. Have your child help you spread it out. Then show them
how to use their finger to form different letters. Work on the letters they mastered in your Toddler
Checker and add on from there. Then ask your child to use their finger to write letters on their own.

Activity: Painting Shapes

Wednesday

Skill: shape recognition and fine motor skills

Materials: shapes from printables, paintbrush, water, construction paper
Instructions:
Using the shapes from the printables ask your child to paint shapes. The twist is they are only
using a paintbrush and water(no paint). You can have them "paint" on colored construction
paper or the sidewalk if it's a nice day. Point to a shape and ask them to paint it. Continue as long
as their interest is peaked.

Activity: Lacing Spaghetti Noodles

Thursday

Skill: fine motor skills and counting

Materials: uncooked spaghetti noodle, cheerios or fruit loops, play-doh
Instructions:
Ball up a piece of Play-Doh and stick an uncooked noodle in it. Then tell your child to use the
cheerios or fruit loops to lace as many as they can onto the spaghetti noodle. Added extension:
Count how many they laced and/or ask them to make a pattern if using colored fruit loops.

Activity: Play-Doh Numbers

Friday

Skill: number recognition and correspondence

Materials: play-doh, printable number cards
Instructions:
Instruct your child to make several small balls out of the Play-Doh. You may need to help them
get started. Then show them the number cards and ask that they put the correct amount of Play-
Doh balls under each number.
A B C D
E F G H
I J K L
M N O P
Q R S T
U V W X
Y Z
0 1 23
4567
8 9 10
 A B A B

A B B A

CREATE YOUR OWN

Thank You!
I hope you accept this very sincere thank you and
know that your support means so much to me!
Being a mom and doing all the things all the
time can be very hard! I hope these activities took
a little pressure off of you and added a lot of
enjoyment and curiosity to your
child's learning.
I look forward to hearing from you soon!
Go get em Mama!
-Lindsey
www.everydayabovedirt.com