Tag Archives: free printable

25 Fun and Free Printables for Toddlers

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I love when I find easy activities to print and use with Buddy. There are so many mom blogs with awesome activities ready to use! This week, I wanted to feature my favorite printables that I’ve tried with Buddy, as well as some that I’m looking forward to using. Almost all of the ones I’ve used have been laminated with my Scotch laminator, which I love! It makes it easy to save these activities to use again and again.

*Disclaimer- this post contains affiliate links for your convenience. As an Amazon associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.*

Matching Activities

Buddy loves matching activities! We tried this truck one from Royal Baloo’s blog, and Buddy loved it! There were a lot of cards and many similar ones (several different police cars, fire trucks, etc.), so the second time through I edited it down to one of each type of car. He’s so into cars right now, so this was perfect for him.

Other matching printables:

Scavenger Hunts

I blogged about our nature scavenger hunt earlier this summer (read about it here.) The printable we used was from Life With My Little’s blog. Her pictures made it really easy for Buddy to know exactly what we were looking for. And we both had so much fun finding the things on this list.

Other scavenger hunt printables:

Games

I loved this shape board game from Simple Fun for Kids’ blog. Buddy and I tried it out on one of our Time to Read Tuesdays after reading a shape book. We used shape buttons to be our markers. The shape die got a little crumpled, but the game was a lot of fun. This was Buddy’s first board game, and he really liked it.

Other toddler game printables:

Movement Activities

These construction movement cards are another amazing printable from Royal Baloo. Buddy had a lot of fun picking up one card at a time and moving like that construction vehicle. It was a great way for Buddy to work on his gross motor skills in a fun way.

Other movement printables:

Book Activities

Since I’m a teacher, I get really happy when I find great activities that go along with a book. It’s so important to read, and the activities make it extra fun. 1+1+1=1’s blog has so many great book related printables, including these ones that we used with the book Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? (affiliate link)

Other book printables:

Duplo Activities

Buddy loves Duplos, so I put together a Duplo Busy Bag for our summer plane trips. I took pictures of many different small Duplo scenes that could be made from the blocks in the bag. He really loved picking out a picture to make, and then putting it together himself.

Other Duplo activities:

After looking back through my Pinterest boards to find these printables, I’m reminded of a lot of new fun ideas to try with Buddy. Hopefully you found something that was helpful for you too! Please comment if you have any other great printable links for toddlers.

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Father’s Day DIY Photo Card

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Since we are going to be traveling on Father’s Day, we celebrated Father’s Day a week early. I bought my husband a Father’s Day card from me, but I wanted Buddy to be able to give his dad a homemade card. There’s just something extra special about a homemade card, especially when it’s from a child.

I’m including a copy of our template in case you want to make your own Father’s Day photo card.

Dad photo card template

Here is what you’ll need:

  • A printed copy of our template
  • Two 8.5″ x 11″ pieces of cardstock
  • Three 4″ x 6″ photos
  • Scotch tape
  • Double sided tape
  • Scissors
  • Permanent marker
  • *Optional * – paint and paintbrush

Directions:

  1. Print the template and cut it out.
  2. Trace the template on one piece of cardstock. (I did this with permanent marker.) Dad card trace template
  3. Cut out the design on the cardstock.
  4. Use scotch tape to tape the photos in place and trim to fit.
  5. Fold the second piece of cardstock in half vertically (hot dog style).
  6. Place the folded cardstock behind the DAD photo card. Line up the bottoms of both pieces of cardstock. Trace the DAD card on the folded card.
  7. Cut the folded card so that the extra parts of the card won’t show behind the DAD card.
  8. Use double sided tape to tape the DAD card to the folded cardstock.
  9. *Optional* Paint the child’s hand and put inside card. (I actually did this first before I folded and cut the cardstock, but if I did it again, I would do it last.)
  10. Use permanent marker to write a message inside card.

Here’s what the final product looked like:

Inside of card

Inside of card

Final card

Final card

I hope you have a wonderful Father’s Day celebrating the important fathers and father figures in your life. Hubby loved his card, and I hope your dad will too. If you make this card, I’d love to see a picture!

Summer Schedule

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This teacher mom is so excited that school is done and summer is here! But the idea of endless hours at home with Buddy is a little daunting. During the school year, I love planning fun and educational activities to do with my students. I want to be able to do the same thing this summer – plan fun and educational activities that I can do with my son.

After spending a lot of time on Pinterest looking for inspiration, I’ve come up with a themed day for each day of the week. Here are my days, as well as some of my ideas for activities to do each day.

Make it Monday: On Mondays we will make a craft or make something fun together. Some things I’d like to make this summer are: homemade play dough, painting using cars, painting with edible fingerprint, cloud dough, painting with yarn, painting in a ziplock, and making wind chimes.

Time to Read Tuesday: In the morning, we will go to the library and get books. Most Tuesdays at our library there is a baby reading group we will attend. In the afternoons, we will read a book and complete an activity related to the book.

Water Wednesday: On nice days, we will play with our water table or go to the pool. On other days, we will do some water play in the tub or with a sensory bin of water.

Try Something New Thursday: Thursdays will be our day for trying new things. Some days, it might be a new food. Other days, it might be a new activity. I haven’t tried doing sensory bins with Buddy yet, so I want to try some new ones on Thursdays. We will also try playing with materials we haven’t explored yet such as pom poms and tubs, pipe cleaners and colanders, or stacking marshmallows.

Field Trip Friday: We will go somewhere fun on Fridays. The park district sponsors children’s musicians who sometimes perform outside on Fridays at lunch time. We will try out all of the parks in our town this summer on Fridays. I also plan to go to the zoo, the farmer’s market, and a children’s museum this summer. On days where we don’t want to go far and the weather isn’t nice, we will go to the mall to play in the kids area and ride the carousel or the mall train.

Here is a free printable of my schedule. I plan to frame mine and use dry erase marker to write each week’s plans. If you have other fun ideas to do this summer, please share in the comments.

This Week’s Schedule PDF

This Week’s Schedule Word Doc