Here are some some activities that I enjoy with my two-year old daughter.

1. I started this activity with my daughter because she wanted to paint with her feet. It's really slippery--but feels great between the toes! We put finger paints in the bathtub, and she paints all over. Then I make prints by pressing paper down on the different areas of the tub that she's painted. It's fun to start with one color and add one at a time, and then toward the end add some water and see how that changes the paint. Then, of course, you finish up with a big bubble bath! Caution: You need to keep a handle on the little one 'cause the tub can get slippery.

2. Take cookie cutters out into the snow and make shapes on the pavement or grass. Spray colored water onto the snow.

3. Put rice into a large Tupperware container that your child can sit in and do dump/fill activities. I think rice is less of a choking hazard than anything else (like beans), and Thea stopped trying to put the rice in her mouth by 18 months--I don't know of too many 2-year olds that still mouth things like that.

4. We put a very, very large chalk board in front of our fireplace when Thea was born. We haven't used the fireplace in two years, but the chalk board has gotten tons of use and everyone's safe!

5. I give Thea an old toothbrush to use when we do sidewalk chalk. I draw a big smiley face and she brushes the teeth. I draw animals and she brushes their fur.