Activity Trays for 33 Month Old Toddlers

Hello everyone! We only have two more weeks before school opens so I decided to postpone Vito’s Fruits and Art Unit for the rest of the month so I can spend quality time with the boys and not think about activity preparations.  With this I’m sharing Vito’s activity trays which he started working on early this month. Vito only spends about 20 minutes for our “themed units” and the rest, he would either do free play or work on these trays.  These would entertain him while I do house chores, sometimes I supervise especially if we use glass bottles.

SMALL SPACES & BUTTONS

The lacing buttons were from Miniland, and the plastic container is an empty Nesquik.  This has been his favourite activity since he was a baby (Pincer Grasp Activities for Tot Schoolers)!  This activity enables the child to practise hand-eye coordination for placing objects into small spaces.

SMELLING BOTTLES

Inspired by Mama’s Happy Hive, I assembled this (DIY Montessori Smelling Bottles) early on and I placed lemon scents, peppermint, ginger and garlic. The spice bottles were from IKEA.

MAGNATILES AND STICK N STACK

Vito’s early morning free play! He loves decorating his cart (from Stick n Stack) with Magnatiles and place his Schleich animals on it.  This keeps him busy while I prepare breakfast for everyone!

MINI FOAM PUZZLE

I don’t know what’s in this mini foam puzzle, but Vito loves to play with this (like a puzzle) rather than working on his wooden Hape puzzle.  Is it because it’s soft? He loves assembling and disassembling the letters!

COTTON REELS AND BEAD BLOCKS

I posted this in my Instagram. This is another activity that he loves to work, and making sure he wears the finished product (a necklace) afterwards.  The cotton reels were from GALT and the bead blocks from Melissa and Doug.

COLOR MIXING

These are 2 year old Giotto finger paints and we use them now more often so we can keep them off from drying.  He uses them mainly for color mixing (secondary colors) and he loves making orange by mixing red and yellow.  We use cotton buds for this activity.

FRUIT FIGURES AND CARDS

I was tidying up our Safari Ltd Fruits & Vegetables Toob and he specifically requested for this.  The cards were from The Wise Owl Shop (Philippine based) and the figures from Safari Toob.

PEGS

He works on this during the witching hour (6PM).  This is to keep him busy while I prepare dinner.  Simple and easy to prepare, perfect for fine motor skills.

JUMBO STAMPS & PLAYDOUGH

I bought this Jumbo Alphabet Stamps (lowercase) in the US when we went there early this year for a vacation.  I regret that I didn’t purchase the uppercase as Vito loves using them.  We haven’t use it with ink yet, and I have no plans of doing it for now.  Currently, he enjoys making prints in homemade playdough. A great activity for teaching letters.