On-the-Go Fun for Toddlers

When you have an energetic toddler and errands to run, being armed with fun activities becomes pretty important for keeping your sanity :)

Unfortunately, not every place with a line has a fish tank to keep the kiddos entertained while you wait...

Often, my go-to items are obvious:

1. Ball
2. Books
3. Crayons and paper
4. Toy cars

I'm not sure if this is a no-brainer for other moms out there, but in the recent months, I've also made sure to pack along something else:

Yup. Dot stickers!  306 stickers for 1-2 bucks?  Yes, please :)

These little babies, I've found, are perfect for two year olds' small fingers.

They lift up from the sticker sheet easily, they're relatively large, and they're bright and colorful!
They also have the perfect level of stickiness - enough to stick without immediately falling off, yet not so annoyingly sticky that they are impossible to remove!

As an added bonus, they add practically no bulk to the diaper bag you might be lugging around, which is always a huge plus for me!

Playing with stickers is a great way to develop those fine motor skills!

While waiting at the doctor's office, we stick them all over the exam table paper (it gets pitched after we leave anyway).

We make it a learning activity by counting all the stickers.  Then we identify the different colors and count how many we have of each color.  We also use this opportunity to discuss shapes and identify circles in the world around us.

This is a page from my journal that I quickly made to keep Jonathan occupied during a youth event at church a few months ago.  The goal was for him to place a dot sticker over every circle he saw on the page.

You could probably have a whole sheet of pictures prepared ahead of time, but I had him identify each picture and add a sticker immediately after I drew each picture (to help keep him engaged and focused).

I love these stickers!  When I taught first grade and kindergarten, I always kept them on hand to quickly label things or color code books.

Ironically, I don't think I've ever used them for their advertised purpose (garage sale labels)...but they sure are perfect for entertaining a toddler on-the-go! :)