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    1. Home
    2. Education
    3. Schools, learning and development
    4. Give your child a helping hand
    5. Helping your child with learning
    6. Playing with your child
    Mum and daughter high five
    Give your child a helping hand

    Make and build things with your child

    Toddlers love to be busy. Get them involved in making something with you. You could bake, cook or build together. By using their hands to make or build something, they develop their creative skills.

    Making a margarine tub tower

    Margarine or butter tubs make great building blocks. Most brands use the same size tubs and stack together like building blocks.

    Keep your old, clean tubs and use them for stacking games. Then you can show your child how to be a builder and stack these in big towers. They’re light enough to be knocked over or even thrown without causing any damage and they’re a great way of building a baby’s coordination.

    Busy box

    It’s so easy to make your toddler their very own post-box. All you need to do is cut a long hole in an old cereal box. Your toddler will have fun 'posting' used envelopes and scraps of paper into the slot and you can even paint it red.

    Shakers

    Try filling empty plastic bottles with different things from the cupboard – rice or pasta, or anything that rattles, like dried beans or peas - and make sure the lids are secure. When you shake them, each bottle will make a different sound. You could show your toddler how to shake and listen. Then you both can try shaking them in time to music, as you dance. You can also decorate the outside of the bottles if your child is older.

    Sock puppets

    If you find a spare sock in a drawer or the washing machine, you could use this to make a puppet. Put the sock over your hand, then make a mouth by tucking a bit in between your thumb and fingers. Now stick the cotton wool balls where you think the eyes should go. You can even give it a funny name and a silly voice to match. You’ll be amazed by how your child might have a chat with your sock puppet.

    Baking with your child

    Baking and making snacks with your child can be fun. To read recipes for snacks and easy to make food, go to: 

    • Baking with your child

    Information based on similar messages from Play Talk Read Scotland.

    More useful links

    • Sure Start services
    • Playboard
    • Early Years
    • National Literacy Trust
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    Playing with your child

    • Games for toddlers
    • Make and build things with your child
    • Play times as your child grows
    • Playing outside with your child
    • Playing with your baby
    • Tips for playing with your child

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