12 Great, Easy Activities for Toddlers at Home

Unfortunately, I sometimes find that what my youngest ones are doing during school is a bit of an afterthought for me. This is a mistake by me. What they need is so important to me and I want to be sure their time is well-spent, not just spent. But, I also need the preparation of these activities to be simple and quick – like pull it off the shelf and place in front of them in less than five minutes quick. You know what I’m saying? Here are some great, easy ideas that have worked for us (most of which require 5 minutes or less of preparation time):

 

Playdough: No joke, play dough can keep their attention for an hour. When the weather is nice, I set them up at the outdoor table with all their supplies and they go to town. Inside or out, we use these trays. Keeping the play dough contained minimizes the clean-up, which is really the worst part of play dough. The rest is all fun and great for building fine motor skills.

 

School manipulatives: By keeping the counting bears and pattern beads just for school time, they keep their intrigue making each time spent with them special. I’ve also picked up several toys, like this, at used homeschool sales and consignment stores to keep in the school room for school time. Often when I work with my five year old on his Saxon math lesson, I include my three year old, because so many manipulatives are involved and the directions are simple. She’s learning a bit, her brother likes the chance to teach her, and they’re both enjoying “school.”

 

Books: We have books in various places throughout our home, including a ledge in our school room, built-in shelves in our living room, and bookshelves in our “lego room.” At the end of the day, I often find books scattered about in each of these spots. I think having them in various spots keeps them easily accessible and that may affect how often they’re explored. I love seeing how comfortable they are with settling in with a good book.

 

Drawing: This is definitely child specific, because I know not all children like to draw. But, I’ve found that if you mix up the mediums, it keeps the activity of drawing fresh. So we use chalk, (washable!) markers, crayons, colored pencils, an aqua doodle mat, and magna doodle boards.

 

 

Toys: My crew all tends to stick close together when we’re “doing” school. If there’s one who has no activity they need to do at the moment, it’s good for me to release them to a specific area to play. I’ll say, “Hey, can you play calico critters with your sister?” Most of the time, they both get excited and run off to play together. Somehow suggesting a specific toy often encourages them more then me just saying, “Why don’t y’all go play?”

 

Pack n play/high chair time: I remember using pack n play time with my daughter occasionally, but I’m sure I wasn’t intentional enough about it. The idea is just to give them that for a limited amount of time with special toys when you really need to concentrate on an activity with older ones and know that they’re safely contained and content. I’ve also seen it done with a high chair and finger paints, for example. As they grow older, this might look like room time.

 

Water: Pretty much add water to any activity and toddlers, preschoolers, all kids think it’s better. On a warm day, this could mean outside play. On a cold day, this could be pulling the stool up to the sink, filling with water part way and letting them “wash” their play dishes or give baths to their Little People. The activity doesn’t have to be complicated for them to enjoy it!

 

Outdoors: Nothing like being able to throw them outside on a beautiful day. 🙂 Depending on their age, that might mean sitting outside at our deck table working with the older ones while the younger ones play or working inside but keeping them in sight. Our deck even has a built-in baby gate, which has been a lifesaver when they’re real young. Even my infant baby loves it when we change things up and head outside. I joke with my husband that he’s never been upset, as long as we’re outside.

 

Chores with Mommy: Who thinks chores are fun? Toddlers and preschoolers, that’s who! When I invite one to help me with laundry or prepare lunch, they get a little gleam in their eye and quickly say “yes!” So don’t just do chores, do them with your young ones. One thing that’s made meal prep even more fun for my crew? Safe knives for them to cut food for me. Cutting all types of things or peeling vegetables is their favorite way to help me in the kitchen.

 

Preschool busy bags: A few years back, a friend organized a toddler activity bag swap. Each mom made duplicates of one type of activity bag (maybe 20?) to distribute. We met, exchanged bags, enjoyed snacks, and went home with 20 different bags. Our family is still using most of those bags now, just with different younger ones! I’ll set two of my young ones up with one activity each on a tray. They’ll do theirs then swap!

 

Videos: Yup, sometimes I let them watch videos. Classical Baby and Preschool Prep are the videos I specifically have for my toddler/preschooler to watch during school. Typically they watch 1-2 per week. Maybe more if they’re sick or I’m sick. Sometimes my older guys hurry to finish their work so they can watch them too. I like that my older guys have that innocence and can enjoy these little kid videos still. 🙂

 

Their interests: What’s your toddler or preschooler into? I have one guy who was very interested in baseball as a toddler and preschooler. He still is. So, he’d spend a lot of his day throwing a soft baseball into the air and catching it in his glove. When myself or one of his older siblings had time, we’d practice throwing and catching with him. My little girl loves puzzles! None of my boys have, so it’s so fascinating to me to watch her focus so intently on completing a puzzle. I encourage her whenever she shows the interest!

 

Want some more ideas for educating tots while entertaining them. Check out my CC Tots board on Pinterest! There are some seriously great, easy ideas there.

 

{In the top picture, my daughter is fishing for laminated Dr. Seuss fish with a rod made from rope, a dowel rod, and a magnet. The fish have paper clips attached near their mouths.}