Toddler Play and Learning Activities - Resources
Toddler Activities
Keep your active toddler busy with lots of toddler activities. By taking a little while to plan some activities for your toddler, you'll be better prepared to occupy your toddler's day with meaningful activities that stimulate their minds but still feel and look like play.
Keep in mind that your toddler is in a stage of development that is all their own. They're no longer babies, but not yet able to do the things that preschoolers are able to do. Full of energy and emerging independence, your toddler will challenge you daily and bring great joy too!
Toddlers enjoy learning by doing and require activities that provide a wide variety of experiences that involve both their senses and their growing bodies. Don't push activities on your toddler, but give them room to have 'free time' where they explore and learn. Guide and love your toddler. This is a wonderful time in your child's life that passes quickly; make it meaningful for both of you..
Toddler Activity: Indoor Maze/Tent
The toddlers in my home child care, as well as my own, love to play with chairs. It doesn't matter if they're the small child size chairs or my dining room table chairs, they love to arrange them into tents and mazes. Once arranged, they crawl under the chairs pretending they're inside tunnels or tents. Supply them with a big blanket to make a tent and you'll have a happy toddler!
Shake It Up Toddler!
Make a fun shaker toy for your toddler. In fact, let them help you make their shaker using an empty soda bottle with a lid. Get some rice and fill up the bottle or can and then hot glue the lid on real tight. Your toddler will love shaking the bottle and watching the rice dance around.
Sorting Fun Toddler Activity
Toddlers love to sort objects. Some of their favorite objects of course are blocks, so why not make a cool block sorter for your toddler using a shoebox with a lid and your toddler's own assorted shape blocks. Trace around each different shape block on the shoe box lid, and then using an exacto knife, cut out each shape. Let your toddler have fun putting stickers on their sorting box and then turn them loose with their new homemade block sorting toy!
Toddler Ring Toss
Here's a fun twist on a ring toss activity. A family child care provider I know made this a while back for her kids and it was a huge hit. Recyle a plastic butter or margarine bowl by filling it with play dough (either make it yourself or get it real cheap at your local dollar store) and cutting a hole in the bowl lid. Put a wooden spoon or dowel in the play dough and through the hole in the bowl lid; close lid on bowl. Now, get some canning rings or make some rings from other recyled plastic bowls by cutting the center out of the lids to make rings (that's my favorite version.) Give your toddlers lots of the rings and let them have fun playing ring toss with this unique game
'Packing Stuff Around' Toddler Activity
Something I've noticed with toddlers is that right after they're able to walk, they begin to love filling up baskets, bags and boxes...with anything. They fill up their containers and then toddle around the house with their packs. Once they reach their chosen destination, the toddlers love to either dump out the contents or take them out one at a time and start over. They also enjoy transferring 'stuff' from one basket or bag to another. Supply your toddler with a variety of stuff to pack around. I've recylced empty food boxes and bowls/containers. They love to carry their own little toys around too of course, so have handy their blocks and little people and cars/trucks etc. Find plastic toy food and let them play store or house.
Family Puppets
We love puppets at hour house. When my children were toddlers they loved to play with Mommy with puppets. We had lots of puppets that I purchased, but I remember well some of the best fun came with the sock puppets my oldest son (now in his early 20's) made when he was a wee little guy. Here's a cute way to have fun with your toddler: Gather up pictures of your family. You can either use your scrapbooking expertise and cut out around the particular family member's body, or just use the photo. I've found that making the photo a bit smaller helps keep the 'puppet' sturdy. Tape or glue a popsicle stick to the back of the photo and their you have it - a Family Puppet. Make your whole family and pretend with your toddler with this fun toddler activity!
Toddler Puzzle
This toddler activity is one that goes back a ways! My mother was an elementary school teacher, so I remember many times the activities that she 'created' for her classroom. One that I enjoyed myself was making puzzles out of empty cereal boxes. I've seen this activity presented several times over the years in magazines as well. With the even larger number of cereals to choose from, you can have lots of variety in your puzzle collection. Just take an empty cereal box and cut the front side off the box. Draw with a marker different size interlocking shapes. Make sure to make your toddler puzzle pieces big enough to not be too challenging or they'll get frustrated and won't enjoy the activity. You can also make the pieces sturdier by gluing them onto poster or tag board and then covering them with contact paper.
Toddler Tube Play Activity
Find a variety of clear plastic tubes at your hardware store. They can be used as funnels if you leave an open end. You can also use them as scoops. Here's a very fun toddler activity to use with clear tubes: Fill a large plastic toy bin with Cheerios cereal with your toddler in the bin too! They love to watch you take a clear plastic tube filled with the cereal and then pour the cereal into the toy bin on them! I thought that was bit different when I first saw it on a toddler tv show recently, but after seeing the fun and how long they had fun scooping and filling over and over again it just made sense! The cereal is a clean, safe alternative to rice or plastic beads etc. You can use it several times and then feed to the birds when you're done.
Homemade Blocks
Many years ago, I worked at a church child care center. The money was always tight for supplies, toys etc., so we had to use our imaginations to come up with ways to make homemade versions of toddler toys. One fun idea a gal had was to make blocks from empty tissue boxes (rectangle shaped.) We covered them with colorful contact paper and had the same size block as the expensive verions found in catalogs. Another idea for making toddler blocks is to use empty milk cartons (paper kind.) You'll need an even number of milk cartons. Take your first milk carton and draw a line around the middle of the carton. Cut on the line and then do the same with another carton. Take the open cubes you just made and put one inside another. I've used duct tape to secure it soundly. You can also cover these cute blocks with colorful contact paper. Ask your family and friends to buy paper cartons rather than jugs for you for a few weeks so you can collect a bunch of cartons to make this fun toddler activity.
Fun with Bean Bags
What is more basic than a bean bag? We all played with them as kids and they're a great way to recycle old socks! There are lots of fun ways to play with toddlers and bean bags, but one easy, 'spur-of-the-moment' way to play with a bean bag is to simply let your toddler have fun tossing the bags into a basket or empty toy box. They can play together well with this toddler activity as long as there's an ample number of bean bags to go round. Make quick and easy bean bags from old socks that you fill with dried beans or peas. Secure tightly with tape.
Bowl-a-Rama Toddler Activity
I discovered the joy of toddler bowling about 2 years ago when my youngest son was 2. It was summer, and I had purchased a big box of bottled water, about 24 bottles I believe. Not long after we opened the box to get at the water bottles, my little boy and one of my day care kids, also 2 years old, started taking the bottles out of the box and lining them up on the kitchen floor. They at first just had fun knocking the bottles down and then uprighting them again etc. But once I saw what they were doing, and introduced a ball into the mix, they really had fun! I let them do their own thing for a little while and then showed them different ways to arrange the bottles before they bowled them over with the ball. You can do the same thing of course once the bottles are empty. In fact, that's exactly what we did. The water was drank up rather quickly and then recycled as Toddler Bowling Pins! Fun stuff...:-)
Funny Flashlights
My son loves flashlights. I did too as a kid both indoors and outside at night. You can have fun with your toddler and a flashlight during the day as well. You can take your light and point it to different items and areas in your house and then name the item/object/area. After a couple of times let your toddler do the same and see how many items they can name. You can also make shadow animals with your flashlight, or tell stories by flashlight under an indoor tent of chairs and a blanket.
Match the Shapes and Colors Toddler Activity
You can teach toddlers to identify shapes and colors by cutting out different color shapes from construction paper and then covering them with clear contact paper. Make two sets, one for you and one for your toddler. Sit on the floor with your toddler. Give him the same shape/colors that you have in your lap and hold up a shape/color paper and ask him to find the same one that you have in your hand.
Make a Toddler Drum
Simple and basic fun toddler activities. We've made enough homemade drums to fit a college marching band over the years. Toddlers love it. Take an empty coffee can and cover it with paper that your toddler has decorated with either crayons or stickers or whatever. Fill the can with beans and then secure the lid on the can tightly. You may want to add some hot glue to the lid just in case. You can do the same with an empty oatmeal box too. We go through more coffee here than oatmeal, so it was the easy choice...;-) Use a wooden spoon as a drum stick and let the toddlers lead the parade!
Do the Scarf Dance
Oh the joy of lightweight scarves! What is the deal with toddlers and scarves? I played with my mother's scarves as a child and my own kids have as well. They're not as plentiful in the stores as they were in previous years, but you can find them if you look. You can also go to your fabric store and buy lightweight fabric and make your own. There are online toy stores that sell silk scarves particularly for children to play with. Let your toddler dance around with her scarves. She'll enjoy moving the scarf to music and using it in a variety of activities. Watch out for the toddler who can tie though. Once they're older toddlers they often tend to like tying the scarves to door knobs and other toys. Nylon or silk scarves can tie very tightly becoming hard to get loose.
Pillow Mountain Climb Indoor Toddler Activity
Here's the reason why my living room sofa no longer sports its matching pillows. Toddlers can't resist using pillows or cushions as climbing toys. Either buy them or make them yourself. You can find a large variety of different size pillows at yard sales or thrift stores. You can of course cover them with fabric or a pillow case. Pile up the pillows on the floor and let your toddler climb and roll around on them. They love to throw the pillows and let them land on top of their bodies. You can get right down there on the floor with your toddler and play! Get out your child's stuffed animal/toy collection and add different characters to the play! This is one of my day care's favorite toddler activities.
Toddler Activities
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