Forgetful Friday - Toddler Rock Collecting

Last week I promised a Toddler Tuesday.  I hate to disappoint, but Tuesday came and went and I wasn’t feeling myself.  My husband told me no-problem, I could publish my first woops Wednesday article.  Unfortunately, that still did not happen so here we are on Forgetful Friday.  Today’s activity is beyond simple to do, and I am sure that your toddlers will love it as much as mine.  The goals of this activity are to encourage your child to look for like items outside, and to show them that their finds are worthwhile to us by allowing them to bring them home and play with them.

This week’s activity – Toddler Rock Collecting

Materials

Clean plastic jar or wide mouth bottle with Lid (Peanut Butter, Mayo, Water Bottles)

Hot glue gun (if choking is a hazard in your house).

Procedure

1.        Go on a nature walk with your toddler, taking your jar with you. 

2.       Point out large, small, shiny, and dull rocks and allow your toddler to pick up and put whichever ones catch their fancy in your container. 

3.       The assortment may be pretty unimpressive, but make sure to reinforce words like big, small,  rock, pebble,  shiny, hard, and color words as you go.

4.       Once your toddler is satisfied with their collection or the jar is full, put the lid on to keep the rocks inside.

5.       Let your toddler shake, roll, and look at their collection to get a feel for what rocks are all about.  If you can, take time to talk about what types of things you see in the rocks. 

6.       If your toddler, like mine, is likely to a)dump the rocks all over the floor, or b)try to eat them, hot glue the lid in place to keep the collection sealed.