I know we’re all at a loss for what to do now that we’re in quarantine. After a few days, I started having a hard time coming up with activities that we could do in the house. We love going to parks and playing outside so this is a new adventure for us! So I decided to jot down a few easy, quick toddler activities ideas for you to utilize when you’re at a loss.
INDOOR ACTIVITIES
- Dramatic Play – My toddler is a fan of all things capes and masks – but pulling out our other costumes has made it easier to try and explain what is going on in our world through this pandemic and all the professions working hard for our communities. We bought this set from Amazon last year and have gotten so much use out of it!
- Homemade painting templates
- Baking – We love these healthy baby bombs! We also just tackled my FAMOUS holiday breakfast casserole for Easter. Click here to make it with your little one.
- Sensory Box Play – Try an Easter or Spring theme! All you have to do is pick a base (dry rice, dry pasta, water beads), add tools like mixing spoons, plastic eggs, squirt guns, and measure cups for enhanced exploration
- Notebook + Stickers = endless entertainment and hand-eye coordination practice!
- Obstacle Course – Jump over pillows, dive under chairs, your house can become a fun adventure! Use whatever you have and make clean up a part of the fun afterward.
- Homemade Forts/Tents – Extra cardboard, blankets and pillows can turn into something magical!
- Painting – Grab an old shirt, lay down an old sheet and you have the perfect set up for painting! We use this wipeable and waterproof leather mat for easy cleaning after crafts, beaches, parks and picnics.
- DIY Playdough
- Animal Line Up – Tape zig-zag and squiggly lines on the floor and have your toddler line up their toys.
- Box Decorating – Grab an empty cardboard box, give your toddler stickers, markers, crayons or paint and let their imagination go wild!
- Play Restaurant! – Either with pretend food or REAL lunch.
- Dance Party! –We have loved bringing our music toys into the living room and air-playing the Disney playlists on Apple Music.
- Build Towers – Practice stacking using different items around the house like cups and bowls
- DIY Bathtub Paint
- “Drive-In Movie”: Toddler activity fav!
- Ball Bath – During bathtime, toss balls into the bath for a fun, new game!
- Make a Tape Road – Use painters tape on your floor and have your toddler follow the road with their cars!
OUTDOOR ACTIVITIES
- Sidewalk Chalk – Our favorite thing to do is make obstacle courses on the driveway. We draw circles for stepping stones, a tree to climb, water to swim through and usually a pit stop for a dance party.
- Paint rocks and hide them outside – Go for a walk and have your toddler find the rocks!
- Scavenger Hunt – Draw nature items (tree, leaves, rocks, etc.) to find on a walk and have your toddler find them!
- Cleaning Pool Party – You may have seen on my Instastories, we love having ‘Pool Parties’. We get out all of our outdoor toys, give Roux the hose and we clean all of our toys! Water + sun = toddler activity win!
- Bike Rides – The fresh air is EVERYTHING right now!
- Look for bugs with a magnifying glass or birds with binoculars.
- Go for an Art Walk – Pick up items on the walk to use to create art at home (i.e. leaves, twigs, etc.)
- “Car Wash” – Get out your toddlers Hotwheels and give them a bucket of water and a paintbrush!
- Water Painting – Use fingers and cardboard or a driveway and paintbrushes!
DIGITAL ACTIVITIES
- Learning Screen Time – We really love DIGITAL learning but have stocked up on a ton of other learning resources that are EASY toddler activities to do with Roux during the day. OSMO is our favorite digital learning system right now, but we also love ABCmouse! Here is a collection of some of our other favorites.
- Cosmic Yoga
- Family Movie Night – We are loving our Disney+ account – and don’t forget a few MOVIE THEATER movies have been released early because of quarantine. Onward and Frozen 2 have been our recent favs. We just watched Trolls this weekend too. Although it was a little “scary” during parts, the MUSIC keeps everyone happy!
EDUCATION-FOCUSED ACTIVITIES
- Volcano Science Experiment – We just tried this Rainbow Volcano Science Experiment. It was a great outdoor activity using simple things we already had in the house!
- Art For Kids Hub Videos
- ABC Post-it Match – Match up the ABCs on sticky notes. If you are looking for an Easter matching theme, you can take a sharpie and draw the UPPER CASE letter on one end of the egg and the LOWER CASE letter on the other end!
- Shape Sorting – Sort everyday objects by shape.
- Find Your Colors – Use color construction paper or blocks, put them in the other room and tell your child to bring back one color at a time!
- Busy Board – If you’re particularly handy, try building your very own Busy Board.
- Tour Museums Virtually!
- Cutting – Get kid scissors and let them cut up junk mail!
- Book Extension Activities – Use their favorite book to create a game like these for Dr. Suess!
- Color Sorting – Tape construction paper to the ground and sort toys by color! If you have the colorful bears – we practice color sorting and pattern learning all the time! Here is a link to our bears.
What are your favorite toddler activities your kids love? Let me know in the comments below so Roux and I can try them out!
