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You are here: Home / Household / Budget-Friendly Ideas / Indoor Safari Toddler Activity

June 7, 2014 By Alana 1 Comment

Indoor Safari Toddler Activity

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One of the aspects of toddlerhood that always gives me a chuckle is how holidays and celebrations do not have a definitive end. Jingle bells remains in my daughters repertoire of songs throughout the year ; we wish people “Happy Birthday” as if it’s almost synonymous with the words “I love you”. And, in the month of June, my daughter remains fairly certain that an Easter egg or two are yet to be found. On a recent rainy day, I decided to use her desire to scavenge as inspiration for this activity.

Indoor Safari Toddler Activity

What we Used

For binoculars:

Paint
Paint brushes
2 empty toilet paper rolls
String/ ribbon
Hole punch
Glue gun

For the Safari:

Animals – ours were from our Playmobil 123 Arc, a toy I HIGHLY recommend
Hiding places
Sense of adventure

What we did

Before my daughter’s nap, I set down a Bristol board, and together my son, daughter, and I painted the toilet paper rolls (another surprise parenting moment for me was my eleven month old’s understanding that the brush needed to be dipped in paint first, then applied to paper).


While my daughter slept, I glue-gunned the toilet paper rolls together, making them into binoculars. I then punched one hole in each side and strung ribbon through the holes, tying each end inside the binoculars. Then, I glued each knot end against the inside of each binocular so that vision wasn’t obstructed.
Before she woke, I hid animals throughout our family room. When my daughter woke, and I explained the “hunt,” a very exuberant search ensued!

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Hope you enjoy this as much as we did!

xo Alana

 

Filed Under: Budget-Friendly Ideas, Play-Based Learning Activities Tagged With: toddler

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Hi! I'm Alana. When I'm not nursing cold, stale coffee, I usually can be found with the baby on my hip, barefoot, and racing after my two older kids. Thanks to a degree in psychology and a free-range childhood backing onto an expansive evergreen forest, positive parenting and play-based learning are my passions. Read more here.

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Often people fear responsive parenting will create Often people fear responsive parenting will create needy kids. 

Developmental research suggests otherwise. 

The more reliably and compassionately that we respond to our children’s needs, the more secure and assured they feel to venture out into the world.

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I remember in my earlier days of parenting when I I remember in my earlier days of parenting when I had two under two so much of my life was spent thinking I’ll be happy when…

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I’ll be happy when my husband doesn’t have to work such late hours.

I’ll be happy when I look and feel like myself again and not a feeding troth 😬😬😬

As it turns out this struggle with finding happiness isn’t unique to me or parenting. 

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Though there are countless people who understand t Though there are countless people who understand the importance of positive, responsive parenting, the idea that young children should self-soothe remains a prevalent belief.

Though this ideology is well-intentioned, it actually goes against what we know about human development.

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While it may seem that leaving a child to cry will help her learn to cope, it actually floods her brain with cortisol. She doesn’t learn to self-soothe but instead to shut down.

Though it may seem counterintuitive to some, independence is fostered through responsive care. The less stressed a child feels, the safer he feels to explore his world. The less stressed he feels, the more appropriate his emotional responses become.

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