Confidence & feelings
Living-room picnic
- Builds: Being a kind host
- 15 min
- Ages 1–4
- Calm
- A little tidy-up
From the house
- A blanket or towel
- Plates and cups
- A simple snack (crackers, banana)
- Teddies as guests
How to play
- Spread the blanket and invite the teddies.
- They set a plate and a cup for every guest.
- Serve the snack: “One for you, one for teddy.”
- Practice “please” and “thank you” with each guest.
Fit it to your child
- Easier: Hand them one cup at a time to give to each teddy, and say “thank you” in a teddy voice.
- Harder: They invite each guest by name, offer “Would you like more?”, and tidy up when the picnic ends.
Words to use
- please
- thank you
- share
- one each
Why it helps
Hosting gives them a grown-up role, and serving every guest is low-stakes practice at the sharing and polite words they’ll use with real people.
Grown-up eyes: Cut round foods like grapes into quarters, lengthwise, and keep everyone sitting down while they eat.