1. Throw an afternoon tea party  A tiny table, a pot of lukewarm ‘tea’, cups, saucers, serviettes and spoons and your toddler will be acting like the perfect lady of the house... Encourage her to ‘pour the tea’ and ‘add the sugar’. Offer plenty of pleases and thank-yous.2. ‘Paint...

1. Do a circus routine  Encourage your child to practise being a clown (for costumes, use ping-pong balls for a big red nose, colourful oversize clothing, some funny glasses and a big hat), an acrobat (who does cartwheels, somersaults and handstands), a juggler (you could use thr...

1. Write your name or funny messages in the sand with shells2. Decorate sand-pies and sandcastles with different shaped shells3. Have a rock-pool ramble  Learn about the food chain of this natural aquarium so your child understands how it works: look at the different seaweeds, th...

1.  Pack a picnic hamper  ...with damper (recipe below), fruit and chocolates, then enjoy an afternoon in the garden with a variety of traditional games: boules, a giant snakes-and-ladders, skittles.2. Make gingerbread men  Why not try making characters from your child’s favourit...

1. DJ and disco Give your child the run of the CDs for the day and have her put together a playlist for a disco. Ask her to make decorations and name the event, then set a time when she will play DJ (with Dad’s help) while you take to the dance floor. If your child is too young t...

.2. Consequences  You need a group of people for this activity. Give each person a piece of A4 paper. Fold it in half (the top edge folded to the bottom), then in half again (the same direction). In the top quarter of the paper, the first person

1. Make your coppers shine  Collect up a handful of copper coins, then set up five glasses on the kitchen bench and put at least one coin in each glass to test out ‘cleaning solutions’ that are ‘rumoured’ to magically shine your copper coins. Your child can choose any ‘magic solu...

1. Have a cricket tournament  There’s nothing like learning to bowl a cricket ball to inspire a love of the game. So grab a bat and a ball (a softball rather than the traditional cricket ball) and set up a cricket pitch in your local park. For a fun history of the sport, as well ...

1. Take a wooden (preferably) cotton reel and hammer four nails into the top so that the nails are protruding fully.2. Thread some wool through the middle of the reel.3. Wind the wool once around each nail so that each nail has a ‘loop’ around it.4. Wind the wool once around the ...

1. Cut two circles from cardboard about the size of the pom poms to be created.2. Cut a circle out of the middle (fold the card in half to cut out this circle).3. Place the two cardboard circles together, then wind a ball of wool through the centre hole and around the outside.4. ...