Great dress-up clothes for toddlers are size 6-10 children's clothes, towels with hoods, large socks, over-size children's shoes, aprons, hats and gloves or mittens. |
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Plastic cups, coasters, plates, bowls, etc. are great for pretend play. |
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I have a basket of cloth place-mats, napkins, and pot holders. This makes a great sensory activity for the toddlers. |
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Napkin rings and shower curtain rings are fun to stack and hook together like links. |
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Restaurant-style mustard & ketchup squeeze bottles work well for water play! Kids from age two and up can easily fill them with water and they squirt well. (A nice alternative to squirt guns for those who don't approve of toy guns.) |
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Bubbles: 1 part water 2 parts tearless baby shampoo. They make great bubbles and it is easier on the children's eyes. |
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Lids: Save lids in all colors and sizes (everything from peanut butter jars, nuts, spices, milk, cooking oil, etc.) |
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Paint swatches make perfect color flash cards. You can laminate them for durability. |
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Cooked Play-dough: Cook over medium heat 1 cup flour, 1/2 cup salt, 2 teaspoons cream of tartar, 1 cup water, 2 tablespoons oil and 1 teaspoon food coloring, stirring constantly, until it forms a ball. Remove and knead. Store in air-tight plastic containers or in plastic bags. *MY FAVORITE!* |
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Edible Play dough: Mix equal parts of peanut butter and dry milk together in a bowl by hand. Add honey 1 tablespoon honey per cup (optional). Knead and mix the dough until it has a stiff, dough-like consistency. Use like any play dough and/or eat! |
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I took shower curtain rings and tied long strips of scrap fabric on them to make streamer. We dance with them and run around with them. |
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Socks! We had 4 pair old-stretched-out socks that we didn't know what to do with. We rolled them up in pairs and use them as soft balls. All ages love to feel them, throw them, etc. |
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My daycare kids love carpet squares I found at a yard-sale. (Not really homemade, but seems to fit-in here). |
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My mom's trick: Take an old purse and fill it with metal measuring spoons, set of keys that don't go to anything, old wallet, children's bracelets, old check book cover, old calculator, etc. |
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I cut a hole in the top of an old oatmeal container just big enough for poker chips to fit through. The children drop the chips into the box. |
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I cut a hole in the lid of a shoe box big enough for a card to fit through. I had some old flash cards they put through the hole, but even some old playing cards would work. |
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I went to the dollar store and bought 2 buckets and a bag of 6 nylon sponges. This has been hours of fun tossing the sponges into the buckets. The younger kids like to put the sponges from one bucket into the next or use as a dump and fill game. |
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The toddlers like to take muffin cups and put in muffin tins (I have separate tins from our cooking ones for this activity). |
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I bought a set of plastic curlers at a thrift store. I tied a shoe lace around one so the curlers wouldn't fall off as the toddlers string them. |
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Turn a cookie sheet into a magnet board. |
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For the play kitchen we use the 'real thing'. I let them use the cracker and cereal boxes, yogurt cups, juice cans, 2 liter bottles without the lids, and just about anything I can wash or that's clean. When they get all beat-up, I toss them. We don't seem to ever be out of items to play with in the play kitchen. I also get plastic bowls, measuring cups, small cups, etc. at thrift stores to use as the dishes. They seem to last longer than toy dishes and the kids like them better. |
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When talking to my accreditation coaches, I asked about what I could do to fulfill the cultural requirements and here's one of the ideas: I got a few photo albums from the dollar store that hold 100 photos each. I went through old magazines our library gives away for free (you can get them cheap at a thrift store, too) and cut out pictures of faces about the size to fit in the album. I'm doing another album on foods, and another one on body parts and another on families. This fits the cultural requirement by showing people and families of all shapes and colors and foods liked by different people. Looking through the books with the child will spark conversation about different cultures as well as your own. (HINT: The "Health" magazines had the best pics of every day people of all races.) |
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I like the textured pillows in the early learning catalogs, but I don't like the price. I went to the thrift stores and found some old, square pillows for a quarter each. I then found remnants of different textured fabrics. I took everything home, washed them, then covered the pillows with the fabrics. |
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