100 (Attempted) Ways to Entertain a Young Toddler, Day 64: Humpty Dumpty

"Humpty Dumpty" is one of the many activities we do at Oliver's music class. He loves it so much that we've started doing the activity at home, too. I knew going into this post that "Humpty Dumpty" gets an A+ grade, but I wanted to share it with parents who are looking for fun things to do with their little ones.

Let me preface this activity description by telling you that Oliver's music teacher (who has her master's degree in early child music education, or something like that) told us that the single, best thing you can do with a toddler to help foster learning and literacy is to use nursery rhymes. So, I like to think of this activity as educational and fun.

OK, so to do the "Humpty Dumpty" activity, all you need is you and your toddler. Sit with your legs stretched out in front of you. Sit your toddler on your legs, just above your knees, facing away from you. Put your hands under your toddler's armpits. Say, "Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall..." Then, bend your knees. They raise up like a wall, and your toddler is almost sitting on them. Then say, "Humpty Dumpty had a great fall!" Drop your knees back to the floor so that your toddler falls (safely assisted by you, of course!). Then, sway your child back and forth as you say in your sing-song voice, "All the king's horses and all the king's men couldn't put Humpty together again."

Here's Oliver up on the "wall":

Here he is, giggling with delight over his great fall:

And here is Oliver playing "Humpty Dumpty" with his stuffed dog. He's making the wall:

This activity is perfect in every way. It's fun (Oliver just laughs and laughs the whole time), it's simple, it's free, it can last a long time or a short time... It's just the perfect toddler activity! A+ for sure. I hope your toddler enjoys it as much as mine.