Welcome to week 3 of ‘Toddler Tuesdays’. You can find more of our ‘Toddler Tuesdays’ activities here, we hope you are enjoying them and would love to receive your feedback. This week’s activity is ‘Mummy Says’.

You will need -

Some common unbreakable household items from around the house that your child can easily recognise eg : spoon, doll, plastic container, cup, blanket, cushion, ball

Instructions -

Set out the items on the floor in an area of your home, family room, bedroom, lounge, where ever suits you. This game is similar to ‘Simon Says’ but a slightly extended version. You might start your toddler with simple instructions like, ‘Mummy says clap your hands’, and progress through to more complex instructions with the items you have gathered eg ‘Mummy says cuddle teddy.’ ‘Mummy says put the doll under the blanket.’ How complex you get with your instructions will depend on the age and ability of your child. There are an almost limitless number of instructions that you can come up with for the particular items that you have gathered. If your child is not yet at the stage of interacting appropriately with the gathered objects stick with the simple body instructions like, clap your hands, pat your head, tickle your toes, cuddle your Mummy etc. This game should be fun and interactive. Assist your child if they are struggling with the instruction given and be sure to offer lots of praise, clapping hands, smiles etc along the way. Again depending on the age and ability of your child they may be able to offer you instructions to follow also.

Focus -

This activity is awesome for developing good listening skills and attention. As you are able to revisit this game you can make it more complex as the weeks and months pass and also extend the time that you engage with your child. If they are able to offer you instructions to follow it also promotes good turn taking. Depending on the items and instructions you give both fine and gross motor skills may be practiced. Understanding positional words like on, under, next to etc are very important for language developmental.

If you try out one of our activities please let us know what your toddler (and you) thought. Feel free to leave a comment here or post an image or comment to our Facebook page. If you enjoy the activity we would encourage you to share this post with your friends.