Whether stuck at your house because of a stay home order, due to weather, or because of other kiddo’s nap time, moms can never have enough activities for toddlers at home. Toddlers are such an incredibly fun age – but the motion and need for activity is never-ending! The following is a comprehensive guide that will give you an arsenal of ideas on what to do next time you are faced with a tiny human and their need to be entertained.
Top 10 Indoor Activities for Toddlers At Home
- Sensory Table. Grab some rice or dried noodles and place in a storage container, throw in some disposable silverware and let the youngster go to town.
- Build a fort. While a small amount of effort is required from mom or dad at the beginning, simply securing some blankets can go a long way!
- Play with a cardboard box. Through a simple keyword search online, “what to do with a cardboard box” unearths lists of fun and easy ideas that will keep your toddler entertained.
- Throw them in the bathtub. It is amazing how an empty bath and bath toys can be so amusing for a child.
- Play pretend.
- Create musical instruments. Make a drum with a wooden spoon and various bowls. Or a kazoo with a paper towel roll and wax paper. Stretch some rubber bands across a plate for a banjo. Before you know it, you child will have a symphonic orchestra at his or her fingertips!
- Cutting and gluing paper. Grab some safety scissors, tissue paper, and a glue stick. These crafty supplies provide endless activities for toddlers at home.
- Dance party. Pandora and Amazon are two of many online music streaming companies that have stations devoted to Disney karaoke, Chipmunks radio, and much more.
- Read books.
- Green light go, red light stop. Don’t discount this gem of a game. A great way to wear the out young-ins is with lots of green lights. Never red.
Read more: Staying home with toddlers during COVID-19
Top 10 Outdoor Activities for Toddlers At Home
- Water table. These toys are 100% worth the investment on steamy days when you don’t want to run after your toddler at the pool. Hours of activity and multiple options are available online.
- Chalk. Draw a hop scotch. Or an obstacle course. Or a unicorn shimmying down a rainbow. You be you.
- Bubbles. Although potentially messy, there are so many bubble guns and bubble machines available allowing mom to take a break while the toy does all the work.
- Play ball. Pick your favorite from soccer to basketball to t-ball to catch and start playing!
- Timed running races. Have the toddler run from tree to tree and coach them on improving their time.
- Ride bikes.
- Hunt for bugs. There are some great nets and insect catching kits available – or simply make your own with food storage containers.
- Dig in the dirt. Messy but fun, kids can dig and make believe they are unearthing dinosaur bones or treasures from the past.
- Paint with leaves. Go outside and find a bunch of non-dried out leaves. Use as stamps and “paint” your own creation.
- Find shapes in the clouds. Grab a picnic blanket and stare at the sky. Free entertainment and great for the imagination.
Top 10 Online Activities for Toddlers At Home
- Watch a live feed at a zoo. Zoos all over the United States are offering live camera views of various animals giving your toddler the opportunity to get up close and personal with his/her favorite animal. Just be careful the zoo isn’t airing a live birth. Speaking from experience.
- ABCya! is a website and app best for toddlers on the older side as the site begins with pre-K. ABCya! offers numerous learning games focusing on numbers, letters, shapes, and colors.
- Zdoodle is a freeform drawing app targeting children 2-5 years old. Great for learning hand/eye coordination and expressing creativity digitally.
- Audible offers audiobooks from Amazon Prime and has a great selection of books for toddlers. The site currently has a free 30-day trial with a $14.95/mo fee following the trial.
- Tozzle is a free app that offers puzzles suitable for children 2+. With more than 40 puzzles, your toddler will not only be entertained by the puzzles but by the sounds and movements of completed work.
- PBS Kids app gives parents and toddlers access to videos and clips of their favorite characters from PBS Kids shows.
- ABC Mouse is currently offering a free 30 day online trial with content for kids as young as two. The site boasts of having more than 850 lessons across 10 levels.
- Disney Plus is new – but already widely known to parents everywhere. One thing you may not know about it: Verizon is offering a year of free streaming to its users.
- Education.com is similar to ABCya! in that it has free online games suitable for children in preschool up through grade school.
- Storyline Online showcases videos of people in entertainment reading your child’s favorite books. There are quite a few famous faces!
Read more: Complete list of free or cheap online homeschooling resources
Top 10 Educational Activities for Toddlers At Home
- Math Cubes. These are a great resource for counting, early math skills, stacking, color sorting, and more. Fortunately, they cost right around $12 on Amazon.
- Puzzles. So many are available – Melissa and Doug offer some great wooden versions!
- Search and find books. By looking on Amazon or any book selling retailer, you should be able to locate “Look and Find” books with your child’s favorite characters.
- Activity books. Whether purchasing a book or printing out PDFs from Pinterest, the internet offers thousands of pages of activities suitable for helping teach your child.
- Alphabet bingo. Create your own bingo cards and instead of numbers, use letters. With an award like an M&M, your child will be interested for days.
- Color by numbers. Similar to activity books, color by number pages can be found online in PDFs or can be purchased in a book for your child.
- Shape scavenger hunt. Go around the house searching for every shape. Give your toddler a list of every shape to cross off as you spot them!
- Separating food or objects by color. While most fun with M&Ms, just about anything can be sorted by color.
- Opposite quiz. Challenge your toddler to opposites. Start with the the opposite of “in” is “out” and before you know it, your three-year-old will be telling people that the opposite of “dorsal” is “ventral”.
- Memory Game. Memory or Concentration is a game that can start out with 2-3 matching sets and multiply quickly depending on the child.
Read more: Educational toys for toddlers and children with Lakeshore Learning
Toddlers will always have more energy than their parents. By coming into the day prepared with a list of ideas and activities, parents will have a better chance of focusing that energy for the good. With most toddlers having the attention span of a gnat, there can never be enough activities for toddlers at home to occupy their (and your!) time.
WANT TO READ MORE?
Check out this article on Fun Indoor activities for toddlers!
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