Two Little Dickie Birds & Bathtub Boats

FUN ACTIVITIES WITH SMALL CHILDREN
Great activities for parents to do with children, but these are also good for older children and babysitters to use with little ones!  I guarantee young children will beg for babysitters who know how to have fun with them!  

Two Little Dickie Birds

(An action poem to do with young children. 
You could draw eyes and a mouth on your index fingers before doing this.)

Two little Dickie birds sitting on a hill

   (Put fists together with two index fingers pointing up)

One named Jack

   (Wiggle the first finger of the right hand)

The other named Jill

   (Wiggle the first finger of the left hand)

Fly away, Jack!

   (Point the right finger over the right shoulder and bring back a

closed fist)

Fly away, Jill!

   (Point the left finger over the left shoulder and bring back a closed

fist)

Come back, Jack!

   (Point your right fist over the right shoulder and bring back the

right finger)

Come back, Jill!

   (Point your left fist over the left shoulder and bring back the left

finger)

Floating Bathtub Boats

You will need:

bottle cap, jar lid, bar of Ivory soap, cork or empty walnut shell

toothpicks

small dab of clay or playdough

crayons

scissors

cloth or paper

1. Draw and color a sail; then cut it out.  Put your name or a number on the sail, if you wish.

2. Poke a toothpick through the sail (in one side and back out again to hold the sail up straight).

3. Stick a dab of clay or playdough inside the jar lid or shell (not needed for the soap or cork).

4. Stick the toothpick into the clay, soap or cork and sail away!

Note: When using a cork, push a penny into a slit in the cork for balance.  The Ivory soap boat is the easiest.  This is a good activity for a swimming pool too, but be sure the toothpicks do not puncture a blown-up pool -- or your young child.