Between rainy, cold weather and our fair share of winter colds, we’ve been inside for what seems like forever. In effort to save our sanity, I decided to start rounding up some easy, at-home, indoor activities for toddlers!
When the weather started getting nicer I got sidetracked from this post and spent a few glorious days outside. However, with fears of the coronavirus and much of the country on lockdown, I had to hurry up and get these easy indoor activities out!
I will continue to add to this list as we get creative working with what we have at home. I also plan to share what we’re doing each day on my Instagram stories, so follow us at @happytoddlerclub for more toddler activities to do at home!
Related Post: NEW Quarantine Activities for Toddlers (that you haven’t tried yet!)
12 Easy Activities to do at Home with your Toddler
This post contains affiliate links for your convenience. All opinions are our own.
Adult supervision is required for all activities on this website. Some materials may pose a choking hazard. Use good judgement when selecting activities – nobody knows your child better than you!
Easy Toddler Sensory Bin
The best sensory bins are the ones that can be made using things you already have around the house.
Examples:
- measuring cups
- water
- dried beans, rice or pasta
- cotton balls
- toilet paper rolls
Throw it all in an empty plastic bin and call it a day!
Need some inspiration? Check out our most popular sensory bin posts:
Pom-Pom Push
All you need for this one is pom-poms and an empty container. A shoebox, empty coffee tin, or empty oatmeal carton works great.
Add small holes to the lid using a knife or scissors. You want the holes to be small enough that the pom-poms cannot just be dropped in. Your toddler will have to use their little fingers to push the pom-poms through.
Along with facilitating fine motor development, this creates a challenge that is sure to hold your little one’s attention!
If your toddler is old enough to understand colors, you can make this a color matching game by using a sharpie or sticker to make each hole a different color.
Sticky Wall
Sticky walls can be set up in less than 5 minutes and played with for days! All you need for this versatile activity is some contact paper and painters tape. Tape the contact paper to the wall sticky side out and let your little toddler stick whatever you’d like up there.
Need some inspiration?
Check out our favorite sticky wall ideas here!
Shaving Cream Play
Step 1: Squirt some shaving cream on a table or flat surface.
Step 2: Relax. You’re done!
Your toddler can play in the shaving cream, pile it up, finger paint in it, draw shapes in it, whatever.
I set a small bin of water next to ours so my girl could rinse her hands when she wanted to because sometimes she doesn’t like them to be messy.
Just rinsing her hands repeatedly kept her entertained for about 20 minutes, and that’s not including the time she spent actually playing with the shaving cream!
Pom-Pom Color Sort
One of our most popular (yet so simple) toddler activities! This can be modified so many different ways depending on your child’s age, but all you really need is a bag of pom-poms and a few containers!
I like to start with the pom-poms in a bin and have my daughter sort them by color in a Dollar Tree vegetable serving tray. For an added challenge, you can add a spoon to scoop with. We have a whole post on this activity here.
Smush Paint
Smush paint is the only ZERO MESS way to paint with a toddler, or even a baby! Sounds unbelievable but I promise it truly does not make any mess.
It also turns out super pretty – like pretty enough to frame and hang on the wall.
Check out our smush painting post to learn the easiest way to smush paint, along with several different ways to turn this activity into a beautiful craft!
Spaghetti or Pipe Cleaner Threading
Two things I always have in my pantry are spaghetti and cheerios. You can use these items to create a fun fine motor game for your toddler!
Stand a piece of spaghetti up by sticking it in a mound of playdough. Have your toddler thread on some cheerios. Done.
This is actually super challenging for younger toddlers. If your toddler isn’t there yet, try it threading larger objects, like pipe cleaners and fruit loops, or large beads if you feel comfortable with that (be sure to supervise!).
Cook or Bake Something Toddler-Friendly
Muffins, cookies, pancakes for dinner – no matter what you are making, there are so many ways toddlers can help in the kitchen!
- Scooping & pouring with measuring cups & spoons
- Mixing
- Rolling with a rolling pin
- Making cookie cutter shapes
- Pushing the button on kitchen appliances
We recently got a learning tower which makes cooking with a toddler so easy and fun! They are a little pricey but we found ours on Facebook Marketplace for a fraction of the price.
Let me tell you, these things are SO worth the investment. Your toddler can help wash dishes, measure and pour ingredients in a bowl, mix with a spoon, etc.
Even if my toddler is just standing up there watching me chop vegetables while eating a snack, there is something about standing up on my level that makes her content to just watch for a bit!
Try making our healthy banana oat pancakes for breakfast or dinner. They only have 5 ingredients and are the perfect thing for your toddler to help with. Or make our healthy strawberry banana muffins, which make a great breakfast or snack!
Ice Cream in a Bag
You can make ice cream in a ziploc bag using just milk, ice, and a few other simple ingredients! This is another opportunity for your toddler to help with measuring, scooping, and pouring. They also will get to shake the bag until the ice cream freezes, which makes a fun noise and builds gross motor muscles!
Homemade Playdough
Playdough is perfect for an easy rainy day activity. If you don’t have any or you’re worried about the ingredients in store bought playdough, you can easily make your own!
Making homemade playdough is just one more great way to involve your toddler in the kitchen. Check out our favorite homemade playdough recipe!
Toy Tape Rescue
Gather some small toys that your child is interested in – for us it’s our little Mickey Mouse Clubhouse figures. You could use toy animals, balls, trucks, whatever.
Use painters tape to secure the toys to the wall or floor. Let your toddler “rescue” them by peeling them from the tape!
This is a tricky task for little fingers, so they will spend a good amount of time on this activity while working those essential fine motor muscles!
Megablok Color Sort
Megabloks are one of those things every toddler parent should have on hand. Obviously you can kill plenty of time just building and creating with them. But when that grows old and you need a new way to play, try a Megablok color sort!
Lay out different colored sheets of paper on the floor. You can tape them down with painters tape if you want, or just lay them flat. Encourage your toddler to sort the blocks by color. You could really complete this activity with any colored toys, but Megabloks work great because you can extend into building when they’re done sorting to buy yourself even more time!
More Indoor Activities for Toddlers at Home
We will continue to add to this list as we navigate these tricky times, but these are just a few of our favorite indoor activities for toddlers off the top of my head to get you started.
Looking for ideas that are more “outside the box”? Check out these NEW Quarantine Activity Ideas for Toddlers (that you haven’t tried yet!)
Please save this post to Pinterest so you can continue to check back as I update the list!
If you are on Instagram, follow us at @happytoddlerclub to see what we’re doing at home each day. Feel free to share what you are doing as well – tag us and use the hashtag #happytoddlerclub!
Stay safe & stay healthy!
This was such a great activity. I added it into my list of 101 fun family activities to do when you are stuck at home over this break. You can check it out here. Thanks again for a great activity idea.https://allmodernmommy.com/101-family-activities-to-do-while-at-home/