Monkey Toddler Activities
Finding simple activities to teach the letter M is so much fun! This Monkey Themed Toddler Unit will bring a little bit of adventure and fun to your learning! We had so much fun learning about monkeys, making monkey sounds, and using our hands to create through monkey themed activities.
Lesson Components
This unit is made up of 5 lessons that will each work on the following activities:
- literacy/language
- sensory bin
- math and science activity
- fine motor activity
- gross motor activity
- art activity
If you want to learn more about how to get started planning activities for your little ones, download my FREE guide for everything you need to know about the skill areas we incorporate into toddler school:
Art Activities
This first art activity engages little hands as you make monkey handprint art. While doing this art activity, we talked all about the colors of the paint and how it feels on our hands to help develop oral language. We also talked all about our letter of the week and how the letter M is for monkey!
For this activity, you’ll have your little one color and decorate the printable monkey illustrations. If your child is ready, he or she can cut them out. After cutting, help your child glue the pictures onto popsicle sticks.
To extend this activity, you can draw a jungle scene on paper to use as a puppet show backdrop. Then, have fun talking and laughing as your child uses the monkey puppets for a puppet show!
Fine Motor Activities
Lacing is an excellent way to engage little hands in fine motor practice. Trying to thread string through the holes builds stamina as your child will likely have to try a few times.
Cutting is another skill that our little ones need lots of practice with to build confidence and master the skill. In this activity, your child will cut with kid scissors along the dashed lines up to the monkey.
Sensory Bins
Set up a monkey sensory bin activity by filling a bin with pinto beans, googley eyes, and the monkey face printable pieces from our Monkey Toddler School Unit. This sensory experience will lend itself to lots of oral language, laughs, and exploration!
To switch up the sensory bin, add two empty dishes and the letter cards to the bin. Place an uppercase M and a lowercase m into the dishes. Help your child as needed as he or she searches for letter cards and places them in the correct dish. As your child is working, make sure to include language with “big M” and “little m.” Don’t forget to provide extra time for free play and exploration of the bin!
For this final sensory bin activity, you’ll add the monkey counting cards inside a bin filled with pinto beans. First, your child will pick a card from the bin. Then, count the monkeys on the card. Finally, they will place the matching number on the workmat.
Math Activity
For this fun math activity, you’ll cut out the puzzle pieces and mix them up. Help your child as needed with counting the monkeys on the cards and find the matching number on the other puzzle pieces. Your child will be so proud to find each matching pair while getting in some much needed oral counting practice.
Science Activity
My kids love to play the game, Memory! They ask to play it over and over, so this was a fun and easy way to incorporate a little science and language to match our monkey theme this week. To play, just set out the cards face down. Turn over two cards at a time to see if they match. Keep playing until all matching parts are found.
As you play, make sure to discuss the attributes of each monkey with your child:
- color
- size
- shape
- facial features
- emotions
Gross Motor Activity
For this gross motor activity, set up the monkey maze by drawing three chalk lines in an outside area. You can also use yarn to make an inside maze. Your child will follow the maze to find the missing bananas! Make sure your child picks up each banana along the maze path and feed it to the monkey at the end of the maze. Repeat for each line drawn in the maze and have fun!
I hope you found some great ideas to use at home with your little ones! If you want to make teaching your toddler super simple this week, then check out my Monkey Toddler School Unit for 5 complete lesson plans and all the printables you need.
And if you need even more Toddler School ideas, check out my Toddler School Curriculum.
Even More Animal Fun!
If you are looking for even more letter practice while having fun learning about animals, then check out these fun units for the next few weeks!
- Blog Post: Easily Teach The Letter S With Spider Activities For Toddlers
- Blog Post: Goldfish Toddler Activities
- Blog Post: Butterfly Themed Toddler School Lessons
- Blog Post: Dinosaur Themed Toddler School Activities
I hope you enjoy every minute of wild playing and learning with your little ones this week! If you want to chat about activities for your little ones this week, then grab a cup of coffee and send me a DM on Instagram to @theprimarybrain. You can also join our Toddler School Learning Community on Facebook for even more fun!
This post may contain Amazon affiliate links. I earn a small commission each time someone makes a purchase through one of my affiliate links, which helps to support The Primary Brain blog. As always, I only recommend products that I love and all ideas shared are my own.
Written on September 27th, 2022 by Laurin Brainard