Creative games and activities are wonderful for your toddler’s development — and they’re a brilliant way to keep them amused too. Here are 20 educational and fun toddler activities to get you started, from quiet indoor games to messy outdoor fun.
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#1. Cushion Path
To help teach your toddler about 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 slipping about!
The soft, squishy path makes it tricky for little ones to balance at first. Once they’ve mastered it, leave a small gap between each cushion and encourage them to jump from one to the next.
#2. I Spy
Playing I Spy with your toddler helps them learn about the world around them. For younger children, colour I Spy works best — for example, “I spy with my little eye something coloured red.” Encourage your toddler to find everything nearby that matches the colour you’ve picked.
#3. Nature Walk
Take your toddler on a fun nature walk. See if you can spot birds, plants, flowers or animals along the way. 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, grouping all the matching pieces together. For a twist, try coloured pasta shapes and get them sorting by colour instead.
#5. Collage
Save old magazines, wrapping paper and foil sweet wrappers. Get your toddler to help rip the pages into small pieces. Draw a shape or picture on a sheet of paper and add some craft glue. Get your toddler to stick the small pieces onto the image 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 soup ladle. Mark a different level on each bottle with tape or a permanent marker, and see if your toddler can fill each bottle to the mark — no further — using ladles of water and the funnel.
This is a great outdoor activity for a sunny day. 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 to buy goods in. Use old cereal packets, margarine tubs, plastic bottles, or toy fruit and vegetables. Pick up some play notes and coins and give your toddler a shopping bag. Draw a picture of what you need and ask them to go “shopping” for it — they’ll have hours of fun choosing and paying for their items.
You might also enjoy Why I Love Toddlers.
#8. Colour Book
Using a spiral notebook with heavier paper, get your child to help you colour each page. Start with red, green, blue and yellow paint on single pages, then have fun mixing two colours together to create new ones. On the new-colour pages, add a small block of each of the original colours so your child can refer back to them.
For example, yellow and red make orange. Orange should be the main colour on the page, with a small block of yellow and a small block of red included too. Write the name of each colour underneath, and you’ll have a book you can use again and again to teach 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 get them to invite their teddies to a picnic. Let them help pick the food and lay it out with you. 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
Get some matching cards and play a simple pairs game with your child. No cards handy? Make your own using card and stickers, keeping them all the same size. Turn them face down and get your toddler to flip two at a time, removing the pairs as they find them.
#12. Orchard Games
Orchard Games has a great range of fun, simple games that toddlers tend to enjoy playing again and again — favourites in our house included Slug in a Jug and Shopping List.
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 pins.” See if your child can knock them down with a soft ball or tennis ball. This game helps with hand-eye co-ordination and simple counting skills.
#14. Have a Disco
Turn your living room into an indoor disco. Put on your child’s favourite songs, close the curtains, dim the lights, and do silly dances — or see if your child 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 plastic sweet wrappers, and get your toddler to stick them onto the sticky side. Once they’ve created their masterpiece, add another layer of sticky-backed plastic on top and cut it into a fun shape. Punch a small hole at the top, add string, and hang it in a window.
You may also like 16 super easy craft activities for toddlers and preschoolers.
#16. Baking
Bake some cupcakes and get your toddler to help decorate them. Older toddlers can help with simple weighing and measuring. Or keep things simple with a no-bake treat like rice krispie buns.
#17. Does It Float?
Fill a basin with water and gather different objects to test whether they float or sink. Or add ice cubes and see if your toddler can scoop them out — where does the ice go if you leave it in the water? Drop heavier objects in 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 on the ground outdoors, or sheets of paper numbered 1 to 10 for an indoor version. Lay them out so your toddler can easily step from one to the next. Help them count aloud as they move from square to square in order.
#19. Create a Teddy Bear Hospital
This make-believe game has lasting appeal well beyond the toddler years. Create 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 — draw a broken bone on black paper with white chalk to show the results.
A toy medical set and doctor’s outfit complete the look. Little ones can listen to heartbeats, take temperatures, give “medicine,” and nurse their patients back to health.
#20. Search and Rescue
Cook some spaghetti or pasta and let it go cold. Hide small objects in among it and let your child search and rescue each one. They’ll enjoy the cold, squishy sensation as much as the mess. This is a great one for Halloween too — add red food colouring to the cooking water for a gruesome “guts” effect that older children will love.
Over to you now! Do you and your toddler have a favourite educational activity? Let us know in the comments below.
More Toddler Activity Ideas
If you enjoyed these ideas, you might also like:
- 15 Fun Nature Activities for Kids
- 27 Innovative & Fun Ideas for Water Play
- 16 Super Easy Craft Activities for Toddlers and Preschoolers
- 20 of the Best Outdoor Activities for Toddlers
- 21 Fun Toddler Games Every Preschooler Parent Should Know
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