Planning activities around a sports theme turned out to be more challenging than I expected. I found lots of ideas that focused on counting, sorting, patterns, and more that just weren't age appropriate for a young toddler. And maybe I just didn't know the right place to look, but books and songs were hard to come by as well. So, I made do with what I could find, and adapted some general activities to involve sports. You can read more about our activities this week below.
Going to a ballgame
One of my favorite summertime activities (and my inspiration for choosing this theme) is going to a baseball game. Baseball has always been my favorite sport, both to play and to watch, and I was really excited to share that with my son. So for the first time, we took him to a professional (AAA) baseball game. We were too busy enjoying ourselves to take any pictures to post!
I have also taken my toddler to little league games (we didn't even know anyone playing, we just showed up at the park and sat in the grass and watched!). This is a great, free option if there are no professional teams near or you have a toddler who is not interested in sitting long enough to make the cost of a professional game worth it (though the one we attended was really inexpensive).
I have also taken my toddler to little league games (we didn't even know anyone playing, we just showed up at the park and sat in the grass and watched!). This is a great, free option if there are no professional teams near or you have a toddler who is not interested in sitting long enough to make the cost of a professional game worth it (though the one we attended was really inexpensive).
Racquetball Painting
I've seen ideas for painting with marbles before that seemed fun. I thought that something bigger would be a little bit better for an 18 month old and decided to try the activity with a racquetball. Lots of different balls would work well for this activity - tennis balls and baseballs would both give interesting patterns and aren't too large either - but I had racquetballs on hand and didn't have to worry about the paint ruining them.
First, I prepared a large baking sheet by covering it very well with aluminum foil. I placed a piece of finger-painting paper on top and added a small squirt of washable paint of several colors on the sides.
First, I prepared a large baking sheet by covering it very well with aluminum foil. I placed a piece of finger-painting paper on top and added a small squirt of washable paint of several colors on the sides.
We took the whole set up outside and sat on our messy cloth (it could certainly be done inside or without a messy cloth but I was anticipating some serious mess and thought having the hose near by would minimize the transfer of paint from an active toddler to anything else in the house.) I sat across from T and rested the tray on my lap, then put a racquetball on top.
Admittedly - I was really expecting this activity to be a dud. I thought that T would have a hard time with the concept of rolling the ball around in the paint and would just want to throw it or lick it. I was simultaneously very right, and very wrong. He didn't really get the concept of rolling it, and definitely just wanted to pick it up. But I kept my "process over product" motto in mind and watched him develop his own strategy for painting with the ball.
Most of his process involved picking up the paint covered ball and bouncing it on the paper, which made a really cool design. The ball naturally rolled around the tray because I was holding it on my lap and not a flat surface. The paper was filled with impressions from the bouncing ball, streaks from his fingers as he picked it up, lines from the ball rolling across the page, and more. It was easily one of my favorite projects with him and I loved the colorful product it created!
Admittedly - I was really expecting this activity to be a dud. I thought that T would have a hard time with the concept of rolling the ball around in the paint and would just want to throw it or lick it. I was simultaneously very right, and very wrong. He didn't really get the concept of rolling it, and definitely just wanted to pick it up. But I kept my "process over product" motto in mind and watched him develop his own strategy for painting with the ball.
Most of his process involved picking up the paint covered ball and bouncing it on the paper, which made a really cool design. The ball naturally rolled around the tray because I was holding it on my lap and not a flat surface. The paper was filled with impressions from the bouncing ball, streaks from his fingers as he picked it up, lines from the ball rolling across the page, and more. It was easily one of my favorite projects with him and I loved the colorful product it created!
Tape Resist Football Painting
As another craft that was a little bit easier and a little less messy, we combined two toddler art strategies - tape resist and ziploc bag painting - to create a cute little football. I chose a football because it was the best example I could think of of a sports ball that featured clean white lines on a solid colored background.
For this project, I cut out a section of a white paper plate into the shape of a football. I wanted something heavier than computer paper, as I learned from our primary color squishy bags that this technique doesn't work well with thin paper. I then used painters tape to tape of the white lines at the end of the football and lines for the laces. (Unfortunately, I learned from this project that painters tape doesn't come off of paper plate super well...I'd try finger-painting paper next time).
For this project, I cut out a section of a white paper plate into the shape of a football. I wanted something heavier than computer paper, as I learned from our primary color squishy bags that this technique doesn't work well with thin paper. I then used painters tape to tape of the white lines at the end of the football and lines for the laces. (Unfortunately, I learned from this project that painters tape doesn't come off of paper plate super well...I'd try finger-painting paper next time).
I then put the football in a ziploc bag with a dab of brown paint and handed the whole thing to my toddler. He had fun squishing and pushing the paint around. Once the whole thing was covered in brown I removed it from the bag and set it to dry.
After the football had dried I removed the tape to reveal the white patterns on the football. As I mentioned above (and as you can see int he picture) the painters tape did stick a little to the paper plate, so I recommend finger-painting paper to avoid this. But overall, the project turned out well, it was a fun sensory experience, and it was really easy to set up and clean up.
Sports Equipment Sensory Bin
Alright - you got me. All I did for this one was throw some sports equipment into a bin. But guess what? It was full of all kinds of textures, shapes and colors! It made for a great, REALLY EASY, sensory bin! I just used what we had around the house and a few things borrowed from a friend...but just about anything could be added to this bin! The sports equipment in our bin gave us the chance to use descriptive words like bumpy, smooth, heavy, fuzzy, bright, round and more. T enjoyed bouncing and throwing the balls and it was neat seeing him explore how they made different sounds, bounced different heights, etc.