Teach the toddlers about the five senses: hear, see, touch, smell and taste. Show students various objects and ask them which of the senses could be used to become familiar with each item. Allow each child to actually apply the senses to the object by passing it around to each student. Follow up the lesson with a real-world application to the senses by taking the students on a nature walk while encouraging them to hear the birds, see the insects, touch the grass, smell the flowers and taste the picnic lunch. Use caution encouraging the senses on the walk, as tasting things in nature can be poisonous or harmful to humans.
Using nontoxic play dough, encourage toddlers to learn the differences between and how to designate small and big. For older toddlers also incorporate medium as a size. Give the students choices on what kind of item to sculpt, whether it be a ball, a pancake or an artful masterpiece, and allow each to make one small item and one big item. Challenge the students to repeat the activity with another type of item, both small and big. Find everyday items within the food served at lunch and the blocks in the creative learning center that are small and big with the toddlers.
Enjoy the afternoon snack and learn at the same time with a matching shapes activity. Give each toddler a few square-shaped crackers and a few circle-shaped crackers as well as slices of square and circle-shaped cheese. Encourage the students to match the circle with the circle and the square with the square or to match opposites before each enjoys the cheese and crackers. For older toddlers approaching preschool age, show each how to make a pattern of circles and squares.
Tape a number of circles coinciding with the number of children in the toddler class, in three or four different colors, to the floor. While playing an age-appropriate song for the students, instruct the students to move around the room in a circle and stop when the music stops to find a specific color. Each toddler will touch the color with only one finger when it is called out. This activity promotes whole-class participation and self-achievement by allowing all toddlers to touch the correct color as well as not only incorporating color designation but also music and movement during play.