100 (Attempted) Ways to Entertain a Young Toddler, Day 75: Jack Jump Over the Sprinkler

Temperatures are back up in the 90s.  With no air conditioning, I'm constantly trying to come up with ways to beat the heat.  The pool isn't an option for me during the week because I can't juggle two little ones in water by myself.  So, I decided to hook our new Geyser Blast Sprinkler up to the hose.  

I wasn't sure what to expect.  The little plastic tubes didn't whip around as I'd thought, which was a good thing because they couldn't whack the kids in the face.  The top part spun, which delighted Oliver.  He insisted it was a fan.  

Oliver is a very cautious toddler.  At first, he didn't want to go too close to the sprinkler.  I actually carried him over it a couple times to show him it was safe.

He slowly warmed up.  He examined the whole thing and got comfortable enough to take a drink from the spraying parts.  After testing the water a few times, he finally started to step into the water and the sprinkler itself.

As you can tell from the multiple outfits, we went out again and again throughout the day.  Oliver loved it that much!

It reminded me of when I was a kid.  My sister and I would play in the sprinkler.  We'd each take turns yelling the nursery rhyme, "Jack be nimble/ Jack be quick/ Jack jump over the candlestick!"  Then we'd run and leap over the water.

As I once mentioned, Oliver's music teacher taught us that nursery rhymes really help promote literacy.  She always tells us that using nursery rhymes is the best thing we can do for our toddlers to get them ripe for reading.  I decided to incorporate that into our play.  Before long, Oliver was saying the nursery rhyme himself, and then he ran through the sprinkler.  It was better than I could have hoped!  I took a video of him in action:



This activity is perfect for little ones.  Joanna liked getting her feet splashed in the water.  Oliver loved reciting his nursery rhyme and then trotting through to get sprayed.  He also really liked examining the spinning center of the sprinkler, declaring it was "a fan" and "it's raining."



I nicknamed this activity, "Jack Jump Over the Sprinkler," and it gets an A+.  Try this out with your little ones when you need to stay cool this record-setting summer!

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.