Need simple toddler activities to keep your little one busy that do not involve a screen? You’re in the right place.
Sometimes you want your toddler to play independently, but you don’t want to spend ages setting up activities for them. These easy activities for toddlers will keep them entertained for ages, and take hardly any time at all to set up.
What to do with your toddler all day
These simple low prep play ideas are great for when you want your toddler to entertain themselves or you’re looking for something you can do with them at home.
We all get a little bored of the usual routine, so these will help both of you when it comes to rainy days at home. Your toddler will be given new activities to help them learn and explore their environment, while you’ll appreciate the opportunity to either get something done while they play or bond with them.
Sensory bin
Gather together a number of different items and place them in a small or large tray for your toddler to explore.
Some ideas for what to put in your sensory bins (all items you may well have at home already):
- Rice Bin – fill with dry rice, add scoops, cups, or toy animals.
- Pasta Bin – different shapes of pasta for pouring and sorting.
- Oats Bin – like sand, but safe if tasted; hide spoons or toys inside.
- Bean Bin – big dried beans for scooping and pouring.
- Cereal Crunch – Cheerios or cornflakes to scoop, crush, and munch
- Leaves & Sticks – collected from the garden/park for a mini forest.
- Shell Bin – shells, pebbles, and a bit of sand for a “beach day.”
- Snow/Ice Bin – in winter, use real snow; in summer, crushed ice or ice cubes.
- Flower Bin – petals, stems, and leaves in water for “flower soup.”
- Rock Bin – smooth stones to sort by size/colour.
- Construction Site – dry rice as “sand,” small diggers or trucks inside.
- Farmyard Bin – oats for “dirt,” toy animals, and a tractor.
- Arctic Bin – ice cubes, water, and plastic polar animals.
- Ocean Bin – blue water with toy fish and scoops.
- Treasure Bin – dry pasta mixed with coins/buttons to “dig” for treasure.
- Pom-Pom Bin – different sizes and colours of craft pom-poms.
- Foam Block Bin – soft blocks for stacking and knocking down.
- Cotton Ball Bin – “snow” for scooping, squeezing, or hiding toys.
- Shredded Paper Bin – hide toys inside paper strips.
Random crafting
Go through your craft supplies and pull out all of the off-cuts of card and fabric, ribbons and anything else you can find.
Now challenge your toddler to create bright art using these items. They can stick them to card to make a collage or portrait.
Giant self-portrait
Draw around your toddler on a large piece of paper. Then let them colour themselves in.
You can use a large roll of paper like this one to do this.
Paper plate faces
Get plain white paper plates. Draw the basic features on, unless your toddler wants to do this themselves, and then let your toddler colour them in with pens or paint.
If you’re feeling really creative you can stick some strips of paper on top for hair.
You could also try cutting out simple facial features and then letting your child change them around to create silly faces.
Toy wash
Get a bowl of soapy water, a sponge and get your toddler to wash their toys. If they’re into cars then get out all of their toy cars and pretend that it’s a car wash.
Make binoculars
Get two toilet rolls and glue or tape them together. Next get a piece of string and tie each end around each loo roll to make a loop. Now go out into the garden and spot some birds.
Bubble wrap print
Don’t ditch the bubble wrap that came with your latest Amazon order. Cut out squares of it and your toddler can use it for print painting.
Simply put some paint in flat paint trays or a plate, then encourage them to put the wrap in the paint before pressing it to a piece of paper.
Finger paint butterflies
Draw the butterfly’s body in the middle of a piece of paper (it basically just needs to be an oval with some antenna on top). Then encourage your toddler to create the wings using their hand print or with their fingers. You can draw an outline of the wings to help your toddler.
Leaf painting
Gather some leaves from outside. Encourage your toddler to paint them different colours and then press them to a piece of paper to create a pretty autumnal collage.
Sponge painting
Get a cheap bath or cleaning sponge and cut it into squares.
Let your child smear, print and brush on a piece of paper with lots of different colours of paint.
Toilet roll multi-pen
Get a used toilet roll or kitchen roll. Gather five or six different coloured pens. Stick them all around the outside of the roll with sellotape.
Now your toddler can create cool multi-coloured patterns.
Blow painting
Use a foil tray or do this one outside. Put a piece of paper in the tray. Put a dollop of paint on the paper and then give your toddler a straw. They can blow through it, aiming at the paint. To make it splatter across the paper. Remember to tell your toddler not to suck on the straw, they don’t want a mouthful of paint!
Cup painting
Get plastic or paper cups. Any size will do. Put paint into flat-bottomed bowls or on plates. Press the cup upside down into the paint, then press onto paper.
Encourage your toddler to make flowers or pretty patterns with the circles.
Duplo painting
Similar to cup painting above, but use Lego blocks instead. You can chuck them in the dishwashers afterwards or put them into hot, soapy water.
Stickers
People might call this a cheat’s craft. I don’t care. My toddler loves stickers. You can get so many different ones now that they never get boring. You could encourage your toddler to decorate a toy box with stickers or they could put some stickers on a plastic cup which they could then use as a pen holder.
Egg carton caterpillars
Save some empty egg cartons. Cut them up so all of the egg holes are separated.
Punch holes in the sides of the egg holes. Thread a piece of string, or a pipe cleaner through the holes of each egg hole and tie a knot at either side. You could also draw a face at the head end of the caterpillar.
Cardboard box drawing
Got a large cardboard box from the last time you moved house? Stick your toddler inside it with pens and let her go crazy colouring all sides of the inside of the box.
An easy and limited clean-up activity. Plus the box should still be ok to use again afterwards.
Leaf and petal collage
Take your toddler for a walk to gather leaves and flowers.
Pick the petals from the flowers and then encourage your toddler to create a nature collage by sticking them down on a piece of paper or thin card.
Icing and decorating cookies
If you don’t have time or don’t fancy the effort of baking, this is a brilliant option. Simply buy a packet of cookies, mix up some icing (or buy some readymade in a can) and let your toddler decorate them.
Tree Finger painting
Draw the trunk and branches of a tree with a brown pen. Then get some green and yellow paints in bowls. Encourage your toddler to use their finger to dip into the paint, then splodge some leaves on the branches.
Potato stamps
You can make elaborate shapes with this or keep it simple.
Get a potato (the variety really doesn’t matter) and cut it in half. If you want to make a specific shape, draw it on the flat side of the potato and then cut out with a sharp knife. Alternatively just use the potato half as it is.
All your child needs to do is paint the flat side and press it to the paper they’re painting on.
Card-making
Got a special occasion coming up?
Get your toddler to make a card using the craft, colour or design of their choice. Your relative will love the personal touch.
Put smiley faces on their toes!
This is a two-for-one idea! At Halloween when pumpkins are easy to come by, get a miniature pumpkin or two and draw smiley faces on them.
You can go one further and draw little smiley faces on their toes too! My daughter loved doing this!
Extra ideas for simple toddler activities
Dance party – put on music and let them dance.
Animal walks – crawl like a bear, hop like a frog, slither like a snake.
Follow the leader – copycat movements around the room.
Pillow mountain – stack pillows/cushions and let them climb.
Tunnel crawl – crawl under chairs or a table.
Simon Says – classic game, no props needed.
Sock skating – sliding across a smooth floor in socks.
Balloon play – keep a balloon in the air as long as possible.
Water play at the sink – supervised fun with cups and spoons.
Sock puppets – put socks on hands and make silly voices.
Bubble play – if you’ve got soap and water, that’s enough.
Texture hunt – find things that feel soft, rough, smooth.
Colour hunt – challenge them to find things around the house in every colour of the rainbow.
Echo game – repeat each other’s sounds or words.
Guess the object – close eyes and feel an object, guess what it is.
Hand clapping games – simple rhythms and rhymes.
Mirror faces – pull funny faces together in front of a mirror.
Sing-alongs – nursery rhymes or songs they know.
