Welcome to the jungle! This week long toddler activity plan is full of jungle inspired toddler activities. Practice gross motor skills, fine motor skills, and inspire creativity all through play!
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Book recommendations:
This is a great book for little fingers that are looking for more to do. The movable parts are sturdy and hold up well to little one’s exploring.
A great book to add to your wish list.
We love all Sandra Boynton books and this one comes with songs!
Toy recommendations:
Some of our favorite Schleich animals all in one bundle!
While these animals are not quite as realistic looking as Schleich, you get a lot more for the price!
We have the entire Schleich tiger family and they are some of Little Miss’ favorite toys!
Toddler Activity Plan:
Practice gross motor skills by playing this imaginary bridge game! Here is how to play:
Set the scene by explaining to your toddler that they are in the jungle and there is a bridge they have to cross over the river. You can read a jungle book or show them pictures to help them understand what a bridge is. Then, lay painter’s tape on the ground as the bridge. Make it as wide or skinny as you like. Next, set some jungle animals on one side of the bridge and tell them they have to cross the bridge to get to their jungle friends and then carry them back across.
Make the game more challenging by encouraging them to cross the bridge backwards, sideways, or jumping, too. This is great for coordination and balance!
Make a sensory bin with dried kidney beans, foliage, animals, tweezers, jar with a lid that is easy to take off and put on, and bowls. Other than the sensory experience, the goal with this bin is to work on 2 different fine motor skills:
- Using the tweezers
- Unscrewing a jar lid
Both of these skills work the muscles in the wrist. Encourage your toddler to use the tweezers to pick up the beans and put them in the jar. Then show them how to screw the lid on the jar and then unscrew it.
Make these jungle leaf prints using a jelly mold, cut out leaves, and paint. Jelly molds are a really fun sensory painting experience and can make some pretty cool patterns. Use cut out jungle leaves from paper, real leaves, or plastic leaves.
This snake chain craft is great for practicing fine motor skills and coordination.
First, either you or your toddler cut out strips of green paper. Then, show them how to make the paper chain. You will have to provide a lot of support throughout this project, but it is good practice for them to learn to follow directions, too!
For the snake head, fold both edges of a strip in a little and then glue the tongue down. Put more glue on top of the tongue and then feed through the loop as normal before laying the other folded edge down. Add googly eyes for extra credit!
Work on fine motor skills and enjoy coloring with these jungle coloring sheets. Encourage them to try to stay in the lines by asking them to color the stripes, the leaves, etc.
Find more animal activity plans in these posts:
