Creative games and activities are brilliant for your toddler’s development, and they’re a great way to keep little ones happily amused too. Here are 20 educational and fun toddler activities to get you started – most use things you already have around the house.
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#1. Cushion Path
To help your toddler practise balance, make a path from cushions or pillows and show them how to walk along it. Do this on a carpet or rug if you can, to stop the cushions sliding around. The soft, squishy surface makes balancing tricky at first, but once your toddler has mastered it, try leaving small gaps between the cushions and encourage them to jump across.
#2. I Spy
Playing I Spy helps your toddler learn about the world around them. For younger children, colour I Spy works best – try “I spy with my little eye, something coloured red” – and encourage them to find everything nearby that matches.
#3. Nature Walk
Take your toddler on a fun nature walk and see how many birds, plants, flowers or animals you can spot together. Create a nature table at home and collect little treasures to display on it.
You might also enjoy 15 fun nature activities for kids.
#4. Pasta Shape Sorting
Buy a few different dried pasta shapes and tip some of each into a large bowl. Ask your toddler to sort them into bags or containers by shape. For a twist, try coloured pasta and get them sorting by colour instead.
#5. Collage
Save old magazines, wrapping paper and foil sweet wrappers. Get your toddler to help tear the pages into small pieces. Draw a shape or picture on a sheet of paper, add some craft glue, and let them stick the pieces on to create a colourful collage.
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#6. Water Fun
Any game involving water is a hit with toddlers. Set up a simple pouring game using old plastic drinking bottles, a funnel and a small ladle. Mark a different level on each bottle with tape or a permanent marker, and see if your toddler can fill each one to the right line using the ladle and funnel.
This is perfect for a sunny day outdoors. If you’d rather avoid the mess, swap the water for rice or dried peas.
You may also like 27 Innovative & Fun Ideas for Water Play or Top picks for free online games for toddlers.
#7. Set up Shop
Create a simple shop for your toddler using old cereal packets, margarine tubs, empty bottles or toy fruit and vegetables. Add some play money and a small shopping bag, then draw a picture of what they need to “buy” and send them off shopping. It’s a great way to fill an hour and build early maths and choosing skills.
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#8. Colour Book
Using a spiral notebook with heavier paper, get your child to help you paint each page. Start with red, green, blue and yellow on single pages, then have fun mixing two colours together to create new ones – for example, yellow and red make orange.
On the mixed-colour pages, include a small block of each original colour alongside the new one, and write the colour name underneath. You can return to this book again and again to talk about colours and early reading.
You might also enjoy Best sites for free colouring pages for preschoolers.
#9. Make a Fort
Build a fort from cushions, blankets, chairs or a sofa. Snuggle in together and read a favourite book or play make-believe.
#10. Have a Teddy Bears’ Picnic
Help your toddler make invitations and invite their teddies to a picnic. Get them involved in choosing and laying out the food – you could even leave out a mix of fruits and see if they can pick out the right ones.
You may also like 10 of the Best Learning Games for Toddlers and Preschoolers.
#11. Pairs
Use a set of matching cards, or make your own using card and stickers, to play a simple pairs game. Lay them face down in rows and get your toddler to turn over two cards at a time, removing the pairs as they find them.
#12. Orchard Games
Simple board and card games designed for young children – like matching or shopping-themed games – can be played over and over and are great for building early counting, matching and turn-taking skills.
You may also like 21 Fun Toddler Games Every Preschooler Parent Should Know.
#13. Bowling
Use old drinks bottles filled with a little sand or water, or cardboard inner tubes for indoor bowling. See if your toddler can knock them down using a soft ball or tennis ball. This game helps build hand-eye co-ordination and simple counting skills.
#14. Have a Disco
Turn your lounge into an indoor disco. Put on your child’s favourite music, close the curtains, dim the lights, and do some silly dancing – or see if your toddler can copy your moves.
#15. Simple Sun Catcher
To make a simple sun catcher, use clear, sticky-backed plastic. Shred old wrapping paper, magazines, foil and sweet wrappers and let your toddler stick the pieces onto the sticky side. Add a second layer of sticky-backed plastic on top, trim into a fun shape, punch a small hole, and hang it from a string in the window.
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#16. Baking
Bake some cupcakes and let your toddler help with the decorating. Older toddlers can help with simple weighing and measuring too. Or keep things easy with a no-bake treat like rice krispie buns.
#17. Does It Float?
Fill a basin with water and gather different household objects to test which ones float. Try adding ice cubes and see if your toddler can scoop them out – where does the ice go? Drop in heavier objects and watch the water level rise. It’s a simple, hands-on introduction to science.
You may also like 20 of the Best Outdoor Activities for Toddlers.
#18. Number Steps
Use pavement chalk to draw numbered squares outside, or use sheets of paper numbered 1 to 10 for an indoor version. Lay them out so your toddler can move easily from one to the next, and help them count and hop from square to square in the correct order.
#19. Create a Teddy Bear Hospital
This make-believe game is a firm favourite with many families. Create little beds for dolls and teddies and use toilet roll as bandages for any “broken bones.” An old box makes a great pretend X-ray machine, and you can draw a bone shape on black paper with white chalk for the “results.”
A toy medical set and doctor’s outfit finish the look nicely – toddlers love listening to heartbeats, taking temperatures, and nursing their patients back to health through imaginative play.
#20. Search and Rescue
Cook some spaghetti or pasta and let it go cold. Hide small objects in among it and let your toddler search and rescue each one. They’ll enjoy the cold, squishy texture – and the mess! This one’s great fun around Halloween too; for older children, add red food colouring to the cooking water for a suitably gruesome “guts” effect.
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What’s your toddler’s favourite activity? Let us know in the comments below – we love hearing new ideas from other parents.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the best educational activities for toddlers?
Simple, hands-on activities work best for toddlers – things like sorting, matching, water play, and pretend play. They don’t need to be complicated or expensive; everyday household items are often all you need to keep a toddler engaged and learning.
How much of this kind of play is actually “educational”?
Almost all of it. Sorting pasta by shape builds early maths skills, water play introduces basic science concepts, pretend play builds language and social skills, and even a simple disco helps with movement and listening. Play is how toddlers learn.
Do I need to buy special toys for these activities?
No – most of the ideas here use things you already have at home, like cushions, old bottles, magazines, or dried pasta. A few, like matching card games, can be bought cheaply or made yourself.
More Ideas Like This
- 15 Fun Nature Activities for Kids
- 27 Innovative & Fun Ideas for Water Play
- 10 of the Best Learning Games for Toddlers and Preschoolers
- 21 Fun Toddler Games Every Preschooler Parent Should Know
- 16 Super Easy Craft Activities for Toddlers and Preschoolers
- 20 of the Best Outdoor Activities for Toddlers
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