Nursery Activities

You need

• ✓Tray or wide bowl
• ✓Mixed dal: masoor, chana, moong (100g each)
• ✓Small cups and spoons
• ✓Tongs or tweezers (optional)

How to do it

1. 1Mix three types of dal in a wide tray. Place small cups alongside.
2. 2Invite your child: 'Can you put all the small orange ones in this cup?'
3. 3Let them scoop, pour, and transfer freely — resist the urge to correct their method.
4. 4Introduce tweezers or kitchen tongs once they are comfortable for an extra challenge.
5. 5Name the dal together: 'This is masoor dal — it is what goes in the soup we eat!'
6. 6When done, sweep up together and store the dal — it can be reused for weeks.

You need

• ✓Flat tray or baking dish
• ✓Semolina (sooji) — 2–3 cups
• ✓Finger (no tool needed!)

How to do it

1. 1Pour semolina into the tray to a depth of about 1cm. Shake to level.
2. 2Show your child how to draw a straight line from top to bottom with one finger. Let them copy.
3. 3Try a horizontal line, then a diagonal, then a curved line (like the letter C).
4. 4Shake the tray to erase and start again — this is part of the fun.
5. 5For older nursery children (nearly 3), try circles, loops, and simple shapes.
6. 6Never use letter names yet — just call them 'a line', 'a curve', 'a circle.'

You need

• ✓Two bowls or containers
• ✓Water (add a drop of food colour to one bowl for visual appeal)
• ✓A sponge cut into child-sized squares
• ✓Old towel to catch drips

How to do it

1. 1Set up: one bowl with coloured water, one bowl empty. Place the sponge in the full bowl.
2. 2Show your child: squeeze the sponge in the full bowl, lift it, carry it over, squeeze it in the empty bowl.
3. 3Let them take over. Do not correct their grip — any squeeze-carry-release is correct.
4. 4Count how many squeezes it takes to move all the water.
5. 5Tip: add a small cup challenge — can they fill the cup without spilling?
6. 6End by wringing out the sponge completely. 'It is empty now — just like a dry cloud!'

You need

• ✓Leaves of different shapes and sizes (from garden or park)
• ✓White paper
• ✓Thick wax crayons (peel the paper off for side-rubbing)
• ✓Tape to hold paper still

How to do it

1. 1Collect 4–5 leaves of different shapes on a walk — try to find one with prominent veins.
2. 2Place a leaf on the table, vein-side up. Tape the paper over it.
3. 3Show your child how to rub the side of the crayon across the paper gently — the leaf shape emerges.
4. 4Try different colours on different leaves. Let them choose.
5. 5Point out the veins: 'See these lines? They are like the leaf's veins — they carry water.'
6. 6Arrange the rubbings into a nature collage and display it.

You need

• ✓Turmeric powder (yellow)
• ✓Boiled beetroot water (pink/red)
• ✓Spinach water — boil spinach, drain the liquid (green)
• ✓Thick white paper or card
• ✓Small bowls for each colour
• ✓Old clothes

How to do it

1. 1Pour each natural paint into a small bowl — turmeric in water for yellow, beetroot water for red, spinach water for green.
2. 2Put old clothes on your child and lay paper on the floor or table.
3. 3Dip one finger in one colour and drag it across the paper. Then let them do it.
4. 4Encourage mixing: 'What happens if we put the yellow here and the red touches it?'
5. 5Name the source of each colour while you paint: 'This yellow comes from haldi — the same haldi in our daal!'
6. 6Display the finished painting proudly.

You need

• ✓A mix of kitchen items in two obvious sizes: big spoon and small spoon, big container and small container, large dal grain and small dal grain
• ✓Two labelled boxes or trays: 'Big' and 'Small'

How to do it

1. 1Hold up two items side by side: a large serving spoon and a teaspoon. Ask: 'Which one is bigger?'
2. 2Wait for their answer. Confirm with a touch: 'Yes — this one is bigger. This one is smaller.'
3. 3Lay out 6–8 pairs of items. Let your child sort them into the two trays.
4. 4After sorting, introduce language: 'You put the big ones here. Let us count them — 1, 2, 3!'
5. 5Extend: 'Which tray has more? Which has less?'
6. 6Try weight: pick up two items and say 'This feels heavy. This feels light.'

You need

• ✓A soft ball or crumpled newspaper ball
• ✓Two chairs (as simple goalposts)
• ✓A small basket or box (target)

How to do it

1. 1Start sitting on the floor, legs apart, facing each other. Roll the ball to your child — they roll it back.
2. 2Increase distance slowly each round.
3. 3Move to standing: throw the ball gently underarm. Encourage them to catch it in both hands.
4. 4Set up a target: a cardboard box on the floor. Try to throw the ball into it from 1 metre, 2 metres.
5. 5Introduce the two-chair goalpost: kick the ball between the chairs.
6. 6End with a cool-down: roll the ball in a circle around your seated child.

You need

• ✓Wide flat tray or baking dish
• ✓Uncooked rice (2 cups)
• ✓A stick or pencil to write the name (parent)
• ✓Index card with child's name in large print (reference)

How to do it

1. 1Pour rice into the tray. Shake to level.
2. 2Use a stick or pencil end to write your child's name in LARGE capital letters across the rice.
3. 3Show them: 'This is your name — K-A-R-T-I-K. Let us trace it with your finger.'
4. 4Guide their hand gently along the first letter, then let them continue.
5. 5Shake and rewrite. Repeat 3–5 times across different play sessions.
6. 6Display their name written on a card near their play space — children who see their name frequently recognise it faster.