Creative Kids

Think of a word that has some other words that rhyme with it. For example “fan”. Get each player in your group to name another word that rhymes with this initial clue word. For example, “pan”, “tan”, and “can”.

Get each player, in turn, to continue to name a word that rhymes with your starting word.

If a player is unable to go they can shout “Pass” and it goes to the next player, who can attempt to name another word that rhymes with the initial clue word.

Keep taking turns until no one can name a new word that rhymes with the initial clue word.

The last person to name a word that correctly rhymes with the clue word wins the round and gets to pick the next rhyming clue word.

The Joy of Stacking and Knocking Down

Tower building is one of the simplest yet most entertaining activities for toddlers. Building towers out of blocks, cups, or any stackable objects. Toddlers simply love building towers out of building blocks or stacking cups and if they’re not able to build the tower themselves then they also love it if you build one for them! Then comes the best part – knocking it all down with one swipe of the hand or gentle push! The look of glee on a toddler’s face as the tower dramatically collapses is priceless.

There’s just something incredibly satisfying about carefully placing each piece on top of the other to create a tall, and possibly teetering tower.

Even if your little one hasn’t quite mastered the art of building towers themselves, they’ll get just as much enjoyment out of you constructing it for them to demolish. It’s a simple activity that allows toddlers to explore cause and effect, develop hand-eye coordination, and burn off some energy through repetitive knocking down.

Color Sorting Fun

To add an extra educational element, use colored building blocks and challenge your toddler to collect all the blocks of a particular color to build their tower. Ask a question such as – “Can you find all the red blocks for me?” – and watch as they sort through the pile. This helps reinforce color identification and also improves their sorting skills.

If you have a couple of toddlers then make it competitive by seeing who can build the tallest single-color tower the fastest. Or build two towers of different colors and compare their heights using words like “taller” and “shorter.”

Counting On

Tower building is also a great way to introduce early math concepts like counting and number recognition. Ask your toddler to make a “blue tower with three blocks” or a “green tower with five blocks.” Maybe make two towers and ask your toddler to count how many blocks there are in the tallest tower and then the shortest tower.

For older toddlers or if your toddler is finding your tasks too easy then you can make it harder by asking for specific color and number combinations – “Can you build a tower with two red blocks, one yellow block, and three blue blocks?”

Balancing Act

For a fun group activity, take turns adding pieces to build one massively tall tower together. The anticipation of whether the next block will cause the whole thing to fall over adds an exciting element of suspense! See who can carefully place the final piece before gravity takes over.

You can even use this as an opportunity to teach patience, turn-taking, and good sportsmanship. When the tower inevitably falls, celebrate with cheers and get ready to start stacking again.

Building towers is one of those deceptively simple activities that provides so many learning and developmental benefits for toddlers. And most importantly, it’s an easy way to encourage creative free play, bonding through shared laughter, and making lasting memories. So grab those blocks or cups and get stacking!

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The alphabet game is a popular game with many kids. It requires two or more players. Someone picks a theme such as famous celebrities or countries and then each player takes turns in naming something of that theme that begins with each letter of the alphabet.

So for example, if the theme is animals the first player might say antelope for the letter A, then the next player might say bear for the letter B and then the next player could say cat for the letter C, and so on.

Play continues until a player cannot think of a theme-related word that starts with the letter assigned to them.

A variation of this game is where each player takes turns in naming some item, object, person, or thing within sight of all the players and that begins with the stated letter. So you start with the letter A and each player names something that begins with ‘A’ that they can see.

Each player takes turns at naming and scores one point for each item that they name beginning with the letter ‘A’. When a player can no longer name something beginning with the letter ‘A’, the turn moves to the next player who must attempt to name an item beginning with the letter ‘B’.

Play continues until you have gone through the entire alphabet.

Create a clock using a paper plate for the clock face and cardboard for the hands. Decorate it with bright colors and then practice telling the time with your child.

See if your child can show someone at home how to tell the time to o’clock and half past.

Go to your local library and read a story about space. Perhaps try Aliens in Underpants Save the World by Claire Freedman and Ben Cort. While you’re there also research moon landings and visits to space.

Return home and draw a space scene. Get your child to think about the setting and the characters. Ask them what kind of characters they may find.

Create a spaceship, using things you can find around the house. Kitchen foil, plastic bottles, and cardboard rolls are all excellent building blocks.

Alternatively, build your child their own spaceship or rocket using cardboard boxes, tin cans and lots of kitchen foil.

If you have a telescope, encourage your child to look at the stars and planets on dark nights. What do they see? Talk about what you see when you look at the sky.

There are plenty of opportunities to go outside in the autumn and winter months. Look for the International Space Station and track its progress in the sky, and use your telescope to look at any of the stars or planets.

If you do not have a telescope, encourage your child to use their imagination and look at the stars and planets.

The Play-Doh Play ‘N Store Kids Play Table for Arts & Crafts Activities usually retails for between $40 and $50 and is geared for children aged three years and upwards.

Please note that as an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Play-doh was first introduced in 1956 and is a non-toxic, putty-like substance that contains wheat and that kids can use to mold into shapes.

The set includes an activity table and a number of accessories including various molds, cutting tools, and extruders.

There are molds that the kids can use to make play-doh creations and it comes complete with 8 cans of play-doh.

The kit also includes two storage compartments where the play-doh and tools can be stored away.

This product is designed to enable kids to use their imagination to build and create new play-doh models.

The whole kit is designed to encourage creative play and the product has in fact won awards from Family Fun magazine and The Creative Child Magazine.

While the set is fun for kids if your budget is tight you will find that your kids can be just as creative using some wooden/plastic utensils, plates, and bowls that you can find in your kitchen or alternatively read my creativity for kids page and if you scroll down to the bottom of the page you will find a number of ideas for creative games you can play with kids. Plus a section where you can contribute your own creative games/ideas for kids.

Go on a nature walk with your children – collecting leaves, pine cones, twigs, etc.

When you return home, create some artwork using water paints and the items collected.

By Liz (UK)

You can purchase a highly rated water paint set from Amazon. (affiliate link)

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This game can be played with very young children. One and two-year-olds…

Place your magic carpet (a blanket, sheet or duvet cover) on a tiled, wooden or laminate floor.

Sit or lay your child on the magic carpet, then gently, carefully, and slowly pull your child around the room.

Young kids love this game. Watch them try and hold on and laugh and giggle as you pull them around.

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Walk around your house with your child creating lists.

Make a list or draw pictures of things that make light. Do another list of things that make a sound.

Other list ideas include things of a particular color, large things, small things, things that Dad uses, things that Mom uses, things that begin with a particular letter of the alphabet, heavy, light things, etc.

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Think of something that your child is extremely familiar with e.g. a vehicle, an animal, a place, person or toy. Then give out clues so that your child can attempt to guess what you are thinking of.

For example, if you live in North America you could describe a school bus by starting off with “The thing I am thinking of is yellow”, continue with other clues.

Such as, “it has four wheels”, “it has a steering wheel”, “it takes you to and from school”, etc.

Start with obscure clues and then move on to more obvious ones as the game progresses. Keep going until your child guesses correctly.