In the summertime it’s easy for us to get caught up in booking vacations and planning trips to the pool and other fun activities for our toddlers, but in all the busyness we don’t want to forget to fill our toddler’s three important buckets, especially the learning bucket.

Thankfully, this is easier to do than we might think! We don’t need to break out any flashcards or even set up anything formal because toddlers primarily learn through play. Heather shares with us a few intentional questions and prompts that we can have on our minds to make any excursion a simple and fun learning moment.

**Listen to the full podcast episode here or read on for the tips!

The Three Buckets

Heather has identified three key needs that our toddlers have that we can meet which she describes as buckets that we can fill. The three main buckets every toddler has are:

1. Independence: Making choices and doing things for themselves.
2. Attention: Getting attention and love from us.
3. Learning: Learning about the world around them, mostly through play.

We can actually fill all three buckets at once if we build in some intentional moments with our toddlers that are both easy and fun. With the learning bucket specifically in mind, the strategies and questions outlined bellow will help get our toddlers thinking and exploring their sensory experiences as well as growing their bonds with us and their independence.

Activity #1: Noticing Nature

A great learning activity that we can do with our toddlers that is completely free is to simply go outside and observe the world around us. We can do this right in our own backyards, or on a walk in the neighborhood. Beyond just getting outside, though, what makes this an intentional learning activity is noticing the nature around us, pointing it out to our toddler, and teaching them how to ask questions and observe their surroundings.

We want to be thinking about the things we will see outside, the trees, the flowers, the birds, the bugs, and how we can encourage our toddlers to be little scientists. Being curious often comes naturally to toddlers, but if they need a little help we can model asking questions for them. Asking and answering questions also has the added benefit of improving communication and language skills.

EXAMPLES

When we are outside we can ask our toddlers:

• “What is this?”
• “What do you see?
• “How does this feel?”
• “Where is it?”
• “Who has it?”
• “Where did the bug go?”
• “Where did the truck go?”

As we ask questions, our toddler might start asking some of their own:

• “Where did mama go?”
• “Where did brother go?”
• “Where is the ball?”

When our toddlers are familiar with the language of asking and answering questions, their understanding grows and they can start observing and answering important questions when we need them to.

• If Heather doesn’t see one of her twins she can ask her one toddler, “Where did brother go?” he often knows where he is and can point that out, “He’s over there.”
• One time they were out at an event and Heather lost her phone and when she noticed it was gone she said, “Oh, where did it go?” and one of her toddlers actually knew where it was in the grass and helped her find it.

Activity #2: Using the Five Senses

Another way to fill our toddlers’ learning buckets is by thinking about how to can have them use their five senses while we are going about typical summer activities. We can simply point out things that they see, hear, smell, touch, or taste, or create easy sensory activities at home that are fun and exploratory.

EXAMPLES

• If we go berry picking, we can point out how they see the berries, what color they are, what they feel like when they pick them, what they smell like, and how they taste!
• If we are at the beach or digging in a sandbox, we can talk about what the sand feels like then it is dry and how it changes when we add water to it.
• We can plan a nature walk where we have our toddlers point out what they hear, smell, and feel, and collect objects of different textures, colors, shapes, and sizes.
• We can fill up a bin with the hose in the backyard and have our toddlers play with different size containers and cups, filling, pouring, splashing, and learning!
• Heather tried a fun activity where her toddlers got to paint their car which they thought was very fun. Heather made liquid paint chalk with water, cornstarch, and a little bit of food dye, and after painting the car her toddlers got to rinse it all off with the hose. Easy, fun, and sensory rich!

Activity #3: Building Memory and Connections

A great way to build our toddlers memory and help them make connections is through telling stories about what they did that day and showing them how what they did is connected to other events in their life.

EXAMPLES

• Point out how they went and saw fireworks, just like the ones they read about in the book they have about summer, or how they explored outside like their characters in a favorite show.
• If we are reading a book that has pictures of shells and we recently took our toddler to the beach, we can say, “Remember that time we went to the beach? This is a picture of a sea shell, it looks just like the ones we saw when we went.”
• If we are eating berries for a snack, we can make the connection between the berries and the farm we picked some at one time.

Asking about and retelling memories is a great thing to do at mealtimes as part of the conversation and also at bedtime as a story to reflect on the fun things you’ve done that summer or that day. Heather has a song that she makes up for her boys often at the end of the day talking about the things they did, helping reinforce the experiences and their memories of them. I do something similar with my boys where I often tell a bedtime story about what we did that day or what we are going to do the next day.

These are some easy and fun ways to fill your toddlers buckets this summer, especially their learning bucket, keeping their brain stimulated while they’re getting lots of physical exercise doing all the fun summer activities.

And, as always, if you find yourself needing more parenting tools and support, sign up for the free Transform Aggressive Toddler Behavior and Tantrums Guide and Workshop here!

Hi! I’m Dabney, mom to three boys in three years! I found Heather through her podcast while searching for tools to help my own toddler’s aggressive outbursts and button pushing behaviors. Few voices in the parenting world address how to manage the intensity of these toddler behaviors when you have not just one but two or more children with you.

Enter Heather, an educator for ten years turned twin mom of two boys with stories and strategies that highlighted how to manage these hard moments while also being outnumbered. I participated in her Transform Aggressive Toddler Behavior and Tantrums Workshop and Cohort and found her strategies simple and effective. Not only is my parenting better for it, but I am growing in my confidence along this journey collecting tools along the way