We are always looking for more ideas around here, as Lil’ Duck’s ideas of fun usually involve the destruction of my house! Here’s some more activity ideas from moms of toddlers:
- Get a small bag of dried beans or rice and dump it into a large (plastic) mixing bowl. Give them a few other plastic cups, a mixing spoon, some paper towel rolls and put everything on the floor. They love to dump the beans from container to container and you can show them how to dump the beans down the tubes. Just keep those beans stored in a seperate container and don’t use them for anything else. Put everything on a bath towel or blanket and clean up is pretty easy because the beans don’t roll far on a towel. Of course, if your toddler likes to put things in their mouth, don’t try this one….. always supervise them regardless, of course.
- Climbing in empty boxes and “hiding” in them. Use a refrigerator box to build a “house”, smaller ones for sitting in, and stack up the really small ones to make a tower.
- Draw various things on a MagnaDoodle or even on paper. He loves to say whatever I draw. I ask him, “what should I draw next” and sometimes he says exactly what he wants!
- Sit on the balcony and see cars, stars, dogs, say hi and bye to everyone that passes, marvel at the little things they notice.
- Coloring – finger paint, sidewalk chalk, washable markers, etc. Lil’ Duck is a nightmare with crayons, and we restrict him to the outside patio with all of his coloring items to avoid a giant disaster (yes, even washable marker and sidewalk chalk is very hard to get out of furniture and off wooden tables
). - A sand play area – Lil’ Duck loves his sandbox at his grandparents house – you can set up a small (preferably outside) area with some sand and household items as well.
- Along the same lines – a water play area. Just make sure it’s in a waterproof location . Bath time = playtime….. need I say more?!
- Football, soccer, basketball, baseball, etc! We improvise with boxes as goals for soccer, baskets for basketball, etc. – also a simple game of catch can be highly entertaining to a little one!
- Dancing! We also find random items around the house to shake and rub together while we dance around.
- Lil’ Duck loves to tumble around on the floor with us – tickling, bouncing, poking, just generally enjoying each other. Other active games – hide and seek, tag, chase, keep-away, etc – the faster the better, anything to wear him out!
- Puzzles – Lil’ Duck likes to work on even the harder ones with me, we take one piece out and put it back at first. He’s way too good at them though, so we usually go to the library and use all of theirs so we don’t have to keep buying new ones .
- Little helper! He does laundry (loads up the basket, pushes it to the machines, I hold him up to drop the laundry in, then I take the wet laundry out for him and he loads it into the dryer, shuts the door, I hold him up to turn it on, he unloads it when it is done, pushes it back to the bedroom, and helps me fold and put it away. He also helps with the dishes – hands them to me or puts them in cabinets as appropriate – wipes things down with a wet rag, helps tidy up and dust, etc. He helps mix up items if I’m cooking, and putting things in containers to keep for later.
- Playgrounds/mall play areas/library/toy stores/Starbucks/community events/zoos/amusement parks/bookstores/specialty shopping areas/etc. – even the grocery store is fun!
Great Ideas!
We do alot of those with Nate too. Puzzles are a big hit here as is helping with the laundry. We also do craft projects too. You can get some great ideas (and cheap too) from Oriental Traders. They are super easy to make and then you can give them to the grandparents!
Our list is up too!
good stuff as always. perhaps Daniel and I will be checking some fo these ideas out since
mama is off work for a couple days…time to play!’
my tt is up now too.
great helpful ideas. julia loves to do laundry too! it is so cute.
Great ideas. We love doing the dancing one around here!
thank you! this is great!
while Little Princess is no longer a toddler, she enjoys some of these as well.
toddlers like some of the same things as cats.
LOL thanks a lot, Carmen
. Guess I should go tell Kukka and Zeus about this list, eh? 
Great ideas, wonderful list. I’m going to copy and paste that if you don’t mind, and send it on to my girls.
My TT is up
sounds like fun! wish I have thought of some of these when my kids were younger…
hopping from TT.