Favourite Games To Play At Daycare in Ottawa
All children love to play. We asked local children (and their parents) which games are their favourite to play at daycare in Ottawa. Here are the results.
Toddlers
Lily Pad Rescue—Todd, 2 ½ years old
Materials: basket of socks, stuffed animal
Place the stuffed animal on the floor and spread socks around it. Instruct children—one at a time—to hop on the “lily pads” to rescue their animal and return him to the shoreline. No touching the floor—socks only!
Sensory Soap—Benjamin, 28 months
Materials: Plastic jar, water, food coloring, dish soap, glitter
Fill the jar halfway to the top with water. Add a few drops of food coloring, several spoons of soap, and a bit of glitter. Close the jar and seal it with glue. Let children shake and play with the jars, watching the sparkly, bubbly mixture. Encourage them to roll it back and forth.
Little builders—Kaya, 22 months
Materials: Marshmallows, pretzel sticks
Use the materials to build “Tinkertoy” creations. Little children can stick the pretzels inside the marshmallows while older children can build sculptures. Put out some examples for children to copy.
Young Children (3-5)
Going on a Safari—Marshall, 4 years old
Materials: toilet paper rolls, stapler, string, aluminum foil
Wrap two toilet paper rolls in aluminum foil for each child (Older children at an Ottawa daycare can do it themselves, but younger children will need help). Place the rolls parallel to each other and staple them together on one end. Help the children tape the string on the binoculars so they can wear them around their necks. Take the children on a safari around the building, encouraging them to use their imaginations to locate “animals” in the “wild.”
Sleeping, sleeping, sleeping—Margaret, 3 ½ years old
Materials: Cue cards with names and pictures of animals, insects, and objects
Sing the following lyrics:
“Sleeping, sleeping, all the children are sleeping. And when they woke up, they were all __.”
Fill in the blank with names from the cue cards for the children to act out. Then sing the song again—quietly—as a cue for the children to pretend to sleep. Let the children at your daycare in Ottawa take turns being the caller.
Dance off—Trey, 4 years old
Materials: CD player with various types of dance music
Get in a circle. Choose one child to get in the middle and begin dancing. The rest of the children must copy the dance moves. Give every child a turn.
All of these games are fun and easy to set up whether you are at a daycare in Ottawa or your living room. No matter which games you try, you’ll love the look of glee on your child’s face.
