When toddlers are on their tiny feet, they love to indulge in different activities. Fun activities help keep your toddlers engaged. And, one need not step out for them, as there are a lot of activities for toddlers to do at home as well. It is an interesting way to develop motor skills and help them learn new things. We know a lot of mommies go blank when it comes to choosing activities that can keep their little munchkins busy and engaged.
Games and activities are a fun way to improve their skills and help toddlers become familiar with objects. If you’re hunting for activities to keep your little ones busy and make them learn new things, here are some top activities for toddlers to do at home. Let’s take a quick look at them.
In This Article
Importance of Activities For Toddlers
Activities are extremely beneficial for toddlers in learning new things and basic education. The activities help in enhancing learning power that benefits your little one for future growth. Some more significant benefits of activities for toddlers are as follows-
1. Sensory Development
Your little one’s brain has an overabundance of synapses (cell connections). When you enroll your toddlers in different creative activities, these cells help stimulate information from different senses. These interactive activities help to develop observation skills and listening abilities, recognize different textures, and gain insight about things around them.
2. Sparks Creative Thinking
Creativity is directly associated with divergent thinking. With a creative mind, toddlers can process different information and generate unique ideas. You can use art and craft activities to keep your toddlers engaged. Moreover, the fun activities help toddlers to think innovatively and make connections between objects. Involving your little munchkin in different activities helps them organize, sort, and analyze information differently.
3. Improves Vocabulary and Communication
Engaging your little one in actionable activities helps develop skills, languages, feelings, expression and more. Activities such as singing rhymes, numbers, name the sound, artwork, and more help your little one to improve vocabulary and communication skills.
4. Promotes Impulse Control and Emotion Regulation
Self-regulation is the key skill for preschooler readiness. Involving your kids in interactive learning or educational activities promotes impulse control and emotional regulation. Some challenging activities help control negative emotions as well.
5. Better Mental and Physical Health
Play is an important part of a toddler’s physical and mental development. Simply put, emotional intelligence is crucial to a toddler’s resilience and overall growth. You can keep your little one engaged in physical activities that promote gross strength, motor skills, endurance and cognitive skills, and physical health.
List of Top Activities For Toddlers to Do at Home
Engaging the toddler does not always require expensive equipment and games etc. There are a lot of things you can do without spending a single penny within the confines of your home. If you are looking for some interesting activities for toddlers to do at home, the following may help keep your little ones busy while improving their motor skills.
1. Developmental Activities For Toddlers
Engaging your toddlers in fun activities promotes their brain development in several ways. Activities such as sensory play, playing with toys, and more help in your little one’s brain development. Toddlers’ brains are equipped with synapses that allow them to capture information quickly. Some of the top developmental activities for toddlers are –
a. Building Blocks
Building blocks are one of the most popular games that help toddlers learn about shape, weight, size, and balance. These are easily available in the market. You can choose a set of colorful building blocks labeled with numbers and alphabets. Give it to your toddlers and help them stack according to numbers and alphabet series. It helps in improving fine motor skills and learning abilities.
[Read : Back To ABC…Teach Your Toddler!]
b. Object Line Tracing
Object line tracing is a fun way to explore creativity and improve learning skills. Line tracing is an impactful way to improve fine motor control. Simple activities such as shapes and tracing lines can improve coordination and strength between toddlers’ wrists and fingers. Most importantly, it helps improve the grasping power of the little ones.
c. Name the Sound
This game is an interactive way to help toddlers learn about different sounds. Gather some things such as bells, keys, whistles, etc., which you can easily find at home. Make a sound with the help of these objects. Ask your little one to guess the sound and relate it with corresponding objects. Moreover, you can use some sound videos of birds, animals and other objects like vehicles etc.
Obstacle Course
An obstacle course activity is an interesting way to keep toddlers busy in interactive play sessions. Make a small obstacle course in your home or backyard with cushions, hoops, cones etc. Give them some signs so your toddler can easily navigate and listen to commands. Encourage them to jump and crawl over the objects. The obstacle course is a great way to improve gross motor skills and coordination in the body and build problem-solving skills.
d. Bubble Wrap Activity
This may sound like a simple playing activity, but popping the bubble wrap helps to improve pincer grasp. You can bring some bubble wrap from the market or use the one that comes in packaging when you order stuff online. Put it in front of your toddler, and let them pop the bubbles on the wrap. It will be a fun and interesting way to keep your little bundle of joy happy and engaged. Popping bubble wrap will not only make them happy, but will also work on their pincer grip.
2. Educational and Learning Activities For Toddlers
Toddlers learn quickly while engaging in activities. In a nutshell, indulging in any activities is educational for toddlers. Here are some educational and learning activities that will help them learn while having fun –
a. Colorful Balls
Colorful ball activities are excellent for eye-hand coordination. Also, toddlers love throwing, kicking, and rolling the balls. Bring some colorful balls to your home and let your toddler play with them. You can also let your toddler match balls of the same color by sorting the balls color wise and putting them in a bucket or container. This also helps to develop motor skills and improve their learning power.
b. Count Everything
Use cards, alphabet, and number blocks to let your kids count everything. You can use bottle-top count games, counting walk games, bean bag counting games, and toilet roll tower games that encourage toddlers to learn to count creatively.
[Read : Top 10 Engaging Number Activities and Games For Toddlers to Teach Numbers]
c. Matching Game
Shape matching is an easy way to help toddlers learn about shapes. You can also use shape cutouts and let your toddlers match the shapes. Or simply get a sheet of paper and draw vertical lines with different colors. Tell your toddler to match lines having similar colors. This kind of matching game helps to improve cognitive skills and hand-eye coordination. Moreover, you can draw different shapes, vegetables, or fruits and let your little one recognize and match them.
d. Color Sorting
Bring colorful pom poms and put them into the bowl. Keep the toddler’s hands on a pair of tongs and let them sort these colorful pompoms according to colors. Likewise, you can use different colorful boxes and balls to sort them based on colors. You can also use household stuff like clothespins, pens, socks, colored pasta, etc. This helps toddlers learn about colors.
[Read : Top 10 Color Activities and Games For Toddlers to Teach Colors]
3. Art And Craft Activities For Toddlers
Most toddlers love to do art and craft activities. These activities allow toddlers to explore their creative side and make new things. The below-listed activities will surely help to kindle your toddler’s creativity-
a. Color Mixing
Like color sorting, color mixing is a wonderful way to keep your toddler engaged. Also, color-mixing activities build a sense of accomplishment and offer unlimited fun. You can use primary colors like red, blue, green, and yellow, and let your toddlers mix and create new colors out of them.
If you are okay with messy play, give them 2-3 different colors and paper cups filled with water. Let your kid mix the colors in each of the cups one by one. Let them observe how by mixing different colors in the same water, colors change. This could be unlimited fun for your toddlers.
b. Lacing Cards
Lacing cards is a great game if you’re looking for some activities for toddlers that improve hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills. Get some cardboard cuttings in different shapes and designs with holes. Give your toddler a lace string and help them in and out of the holes of the cut shapes. Alternatively, you can buy some lacing toys that come in different shapes and lace. This game helps to improve the pincer grasp as well as hand and eye coordination.
c. Sponge Stamping
DIY hacks always work best to keep your toddlers engaged. Wet some sponges with water, and squeeze them to remove excess water. Take some amount of paint and dip the sponge in the paint. Place a cardboard and give it to your toddler to stamp the sponge. You can also cut different styles and designs of sponges to create unique patterns. Sponge stamping can be done multiple times through paint.
d. Playdough
Playdough simply refers to modeling clay designed for kids for interactive playtime. This non toxic clay comes in different colors with a mold. Give it to your toddler and play with them by creating different shapes and designs using the mold or just freestyle using the hands. The dough can be easily molded into different shapes. So, help your toddlers create unique shapes and watch them have fun.
Keeping your toddler engaged is tricky at times. But activities for toddlers are an interactive way to teach them about things like- colors, counting things, and familiarizing them with shapes. And contrary to what you may think, it’s not necessary to spend money to engage and teach your kids. The activities provided here are an interesting way to enhance the motor skills of toddlers and involve them in playful learning. So, let your toddler explore and gather knowledge by indulging in these top activities to do at home.
[Raed : Top 10 Shape Activities and Games For Toddlers to Teach Shapes]
FAQ’s
1. What is the Best Age to Teach About Colors?
Ideally, around 18 months of age is the right time to begin teaching about colors. However, some toddlers may start learning or recognizing colors at 2-3 years old. You can start teaching about different colors by using different color sorting and color-matching games.
2. What is the Best Activity For Toddlers?
DIY marble maze, sticker art, excavation site, building block bath, card dealer, and color sorting are some of the best activities for toddlers.
3. How Do I Keep My 2-Year-Old Entertained at Home?
Build a busy box, use sensory bins, and use painter’s tape to create obstacles for jumping. Ball, cup games, and hopscotch are some of the top indoor games to keep your 2-year-old entertained at home.
4. How Do I Mentally Stimulate My 2-Year-Old’s Brain?
Toddlers learn easily when they are involved in different activities. Engage your toddlers in cognitive developmental activities, including puzzle games, reading, drawing, crafts, and sorting. Let them play outside in parks and explore new things. Interactive games help to stimulate the brain.
Read Also: Activity Boxes For Toddlers – Skills it Helps to Improve and Benefits
