Nursery Activity Ideas



Here are a list of some gathering activities you could use any week with any lesson.  If you've had any fun nursery activities that have been successful and that you would like to add to this list, e-mail them to me.  Please share!
 

"Animal, Animal, Who Are You?" (from the Sunbeam manual from 1985) - Seat the children in a circle. Have one child sit in the center of the circle and act out motions or make sounds of an animal. The other children raise their hands to guess what animal the child is imitating. When a child guesses the animal, he moves into the circle and imitates another animal.  You may have the child whisper to you the name of the animal he will imitate before he acts it out to be sure the child has the animal clearly in mind.

Alligator swamp: Place fabric strips on the floor and put a toy in the middle and see if they can get to the toy without stepping on the fabric.

Baby Basketball

  Balloons - Blow up a bunch of balloons and have the children hit in the air and try to keep them from touching the ground.

Beanbag Baskets - I made a whole bunch of bean bags.  You get a container out and let them take turns throwing the beanbags in the basket.  They love the chance to "legally" throw something.  Ha, ha!

Bowl with a ball and some cardboard-tube bowling pins.

Bowling - Take some 2 liter soda bottles and fill half way full of water.  Set a few of them up and have them knock them down.

Bring some dress up clothes in a laundry basket for them to dress up in.

Bubble wrap - Tape bubble wrap on the floor and have them walk, roll, or jump on it.  Put some music on and have them do the bunny hop or any other fun, upbeat song.

Bubbles - I did it a little different than everyone else.  I had all the children come over to one side of the room and they had to crouch down (me included) and I'd say (whispering)..."Are you ready?  If you're ready, let's count.  Today we're going to count to 11.  Here we go..... 1, 2, 3, .....11!"  We'd all pop up and I'd start blowing bubbles.  Then after a few seconds, I'd let the bubbles all pop and say, "My oh my, where did the bubbles go??  You must all be hungry.  Then I'd ask each of them, "Did YOU eat my bubbles??"  Each one of them would laugh and giggle when I'd ask them if they'd eaten my bubbles.  I then said, "Okay everyone, I guess we need to make some more."  We all would crouch down again and we did the counting thing again but this time in Spanish.  THEY LOVED THIS!!!!  They looked sooooo forward to me asking them if they'd eaten my bubbles.  This was a fun thing for our Nursery.  In the summer I had a fan going in the room and I put the bubble wand in front of the fan and it made a million bubbles.  Definitely a favorite!

Cardboard House - If you ever get a new appliance, don't throw the box away.  Use it to make a pretend house for one week in nursery.  Get out the crayons and let them color all over the house.  (Especially fun on lesson "I am thankful for my home")

Cheerio / Fruit Loop Bracelets - Make a cheerio bracelet by stringing them on a chenille wire.

Directional Clap - Have everyone sit in a circle and clap once.  Direct the child next to you to clap once; direct the flow of clapping so that it continues around the circle, with each child clapping only once. When the last child claps, reverse the clapping order. Now add rules for your group clapping experience. Explain that if you clap once, the flow of the clapping continues in the same direction. If you clap twice, the direction of the clapping reverses. Continue while interest last.

Don't Eat Pete

Drawing - Do you have any butcher paper in your library?  If you do, roll some out on the floor or cover the table with it (making like a tablecloth) and lay out crayons for them to color anywhere on the table.  You could even draw some really basic pictures for them to color on the butcher paper.

Duck, Duck, Goose - kids sit down in a circle facing each other. One person is "it" and walks around the circle. As they walk around, they tap people's heads and say whether they are a "duck" or a "goose". Once someone is the "goose" they get up and try to chase "it" around the circle. The goal is to tap that person before they are able sit down in the "goose's" spot.  We first few times we played this, we had to help them, but they picked up real quick how to play.  However, we let them just have fun with it, everyone laughs and we keep starting over.  It's a fun one!

Easter Egg Surprise - Put objects in Easter eggs and hide them around the room.  Have them try to find certain things--you can give hints, "You are looking for the blue one".  Objects inside the egg can be as simple as a cheerio.

Freeze - The children in my nursery love to play " freeze" they  hop, wiggle, twirl, clap etc. and Clap three times.  The children then freeze. There are so many giggles! We use this when we wait for the parents to come and the bubbles aren't working anymore.  You can play freeze tag with the lights. You play music or just encourage them to dance around and then you turn off the lights, they freeze and then you tell them what you think they look like (snake, ball, dancer etc.)

Games for Nursery Age Children - (by Terri Lynn Bittner) Simple activities that will keep your little ones occupied for the fifteen minute gathering time.

Guessing Glove - Make a color guessing glove. Get a gardening glove set and paint each finger a different color.  Sing to the tune of "Are you Sleeping" and put hands behind your back, then bring them out one at a time.  Sing: "Where is red? Where is red? Here I am. (bring hand out) Here I am. (bring other out.) Show me if you can. (wiggle fingers) Show me if you can. Where is red? Where is red? (shrug shoulders)

I have found that balloons work great for when children are getting dropped off. Give each child a blown up balloon as they walk in the door.  You can even have them use a Sharpie marker to draw a face on the balloon.  They are also great at singing time, to do actions with and play catch with. 

I Spy Book - Make an I spy book by having them cut pictures from magazines and staple some pages together. On each page place a sticker dot. See if they can find the "ball." (This is a good way to use old Friend magazines...if you don't have any ask the Relief Society to announce that the Nursery needs someone's old magazines...I'm sure many people would be willing to donate a few magazines to the cause)

Lamb Hunt

Limbo - Use a swimming pool noodle (floatation device) like a limbo stick, except have the children crawl under or over like different animals (slither under like a snake, jump over like a frog...)

Magnet Fun!

Make a picture with noodles, beans, rice, and glue.

Make paper airplanes, color, decorate and practice flying them.

Make paper sack puppets (click here for some patterns)

Making Music - Make little musical instruments for each child (35mm camera container filled with rice, or Easter eggs filled with beans...glue shut....let imagination run)

Matchbox Cars - I bought a length of plastic gutter from Home Depot and cut it in half. We tape one end to the table or a chair and they race matchbox cars down them. I have several little boys who will do this for the entire nursery time!  (Idea by Lori Anderson)

Mr. Potato Head - You could use the real thing, or you could make cut outs on construction paper and glue them on their paper.  Everyone could use different accessories to decorate Mr./Mrs. Potato Head (i.e. pom-poms, feathers, etc.)  This is a fun one to do on the lessons focusing on the body.

Musical Chairs with no losers.

Obstacle Coarse - Set up a mini obstacle coarse.  Children love a little challenge.  Have them go under a chair, around a table, touch a particular toy, etc.  It is fun!

Painting with Pudding  

Parachute - Use a sheet to use like a parachute. Have them select or choose a number and count to the number while everyone lifts the sheet and then runs underneath.

Peek-a-Boo - Make peek-a-boo folders. Take a gospel art picture and put in protective cover. Place in a bracketed folder. Cut a hole somewhere in the front of the folder so the kids can "peek" through and try to guess what the picture is. Then tell the story of the picture.

Play Doh -  Pull out the cookie cutters and let them have at it!

Puppets - Make very simple finger puppets (dot stickers with faces drawn on them)

Put a blanket over a table and read a story by flashlight.

Puzzle - Take pictures of each child and mount on harder paper and laminate. Make a simple puzzle for them to piece together of themselves. (This can be put away in cupboards and re-used often).

Ring Toss - Using various lids, have them throw the lids around an object.  Five gallon ice cream lids work best.

Scat the Cat

Sidewalk Chalk - Let the children draw on black paper with sidewalk chalk

Spaghetti Art - Cook up a bunch of spaghetti noodles. Bring them to church in a Ziploc bag. Put out some construction paper. Make pictures with the noodles on the paper. For some reason it sticks to it like glue when it dries. It only works on construction paper, not on cardstock.

Squishy Bags

Sticker Pages - I thought I'd share a very successful alternative to coloring a piece of paper every Sunday.  I set out pages and pages of stickers and address labels (that I received for free in the mail) on the table and just let them apply to a colored piece of cardstock at will.  I thought of it due to an extra large supply of freebies and heart/valentine stickers. All ages loved it! We had to finally put the stickers away to get them to stop.  What I would do differently next time...cut the sticker pages into smaller sections. The smaller kids would just use one type of sticker until it was gone. While the older ones made patterns or tried to gain one of each type of sticker.  I'm thinking that I could repeat this every month and use holiday stickers, or use it in conjunction with the lesson.  i.e. Fish stickers, faces/feelings, animals, etc.  (Idea by Janae White / ga02253007)

Streamer Wands - Use a paper towel tube and attach crepe streamers. Play music and have them twirl and twirl and twirl.

Summer Time Art - If weather permits, you can give each child a cup of water and let them paint the sidewalk.  It's just water and it will evaporate, but they'll think they're painting.  Plus, a change of scenery is always nice.

Toddlers love to punch holes with a hole puncher. Colored paper and hole punchers will keep them busy for quite a while. Have the children punch holes from wax paper and put the dots in a jar filled with water. Screw on the lid, shake it, and watch the children’s very own snowstorm.

Walk the Line - Get some masking tape and make a design on the floor.  See if they can walk through the whole maze without falling off of the tape (have them pretend they are on a balance beam). 

Water Table by Kristen Hudson