"Quick Fix" Activities For Kids

"Quick Fix" is what I call simple activities for JS to do on his own or with very minimal guidance from me. They come in handy on days when I am busy and do not have much time to spend with JS for his regular play and learn activities. Now that I have to spend time more time with his sister JE, I am giving JS more activities to do on his own. In another way, he can also start to learn to work independently. 

Here are five of such activities that he loves. 

1. Popsicle Sticks

Give your child a packet (or more) of colourful popsicle sticks and see what he/she does with them. 

2. Shape Puzzle

I cut out various shapes in different colours and sizes and put double sided tapes on each of them. Then I gave JS a piece of art block and he could do anything he wanted to with the pieces. 

3. Jigsaw Puzzles

Here are two sets of jigsaw puzzles that JS loves. 

a. Uniform Puzzle

This puzzle is available off the shelf. However, it is quiet impossible for a child to do it on his/her own unless he/she is  familiar with the occupations' uniforms. For him to be able to do it on his own, I arranged all the puzzles correctly and took pictures of each of them. For the first few times, JS did it by referring to the pictures but after a while he was able to remember the correct outfit. 

b. Spelling Jigsaw Puzzle

This is also available off the shelf. It is a great first jigsaw puzzle for beginners. It comes in a box of 20 jigsaw puzzles, 10 three-letter words and 10 four-letter words. As the child assembles the pictures, he/she also learns the spelling of the words.

4. 3D Craft Templates

Also available off the shelf, this templates comes in various categories such as animals, buildings, circus  and cars. A lot of fine motor skills are involved in assembling these figures and your children will surely have lots of fun playing with them. 

5. 3D Foam Picture

This is also available off the shelf. It comes with pre cut foam stickers and a picture for the child to refer to. Besides developing his fine motor skills, JS also learnt how to refer to a picture to produce another picture which is exactly the same.