10 Easy Toddler Activities with Household Items
Here are 10 easy toddler activities that will actually keep your toddler busy, with things you probably have at home!
Keeping a toddler busy is no easy task.
That’s not to say that sometimes a little boredom is okay, even good, but all parents have those moments where you need your toddler to be distracted so you can get stuff done!
Whether you are a work from home mom (or dad, or grandparent), a stay at home mom, or a busy working mom who needs to get dinner in the oven, these activities will be sure to keep your toddler busy.
The best part about all of these activities, is they are easy to set up with items you probably have around the house!
If you don’t happen to have a certain item you want for an activity, all the items needed are pretty cheap and easy to access.
Enjoy and have fun!
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Paint in a Bag
This one is really great for really young toddlers, or even babies. All you do is put some blobs of paint on a piece of paper or cardstock, put that in a large Ziploc bag, and then your baby or toddler can move the paint around with their hands without actually getting any paint on their hands!
I did this one so many times when my kids were little and it kept them busy at their highchair while I made dinner. It’s so easy and quick to set up, and the painting looks so cute after!
You could even make designs on the paper with painters tape and then take the tape off after they are done painting to reveal the design.
Materials
Play-Doh Activities
There are so many fun things you can do with playdoh!
My kids love to cover toys in playdoh, or push different objects into the playdoh to make designs and imprints.
- Playdoh faces : Use things like googly eyes and pipe cleaners to make faces in the playdoh.
- Playdoh themes : You can create themed activities, like monster trucks in the mud, dinosaur fossils, or flower shop.
Here is my favorite playdoh recipe if you want to try making your own with your child.
Fruit Loops Color Sorting
This one is probably the fastest and easiest, and pretty self explanatory!
Grab some fruit loops and use them for a color sorting activity. You can color some circles on a piece of paper or cardboard, or color in some egg cartons to the appropriate colors.
Animal Rescue with Painters Tape
I have on clue why this one is always such a big hit with toddlers, but it is.
Grab some toy animals or characters you have probably laying around your living room floor (if you are like me) and use some painters tape to tape them either on a table, or a wall.
Toddlers love to un-tape the animals!
You can always use something like tinfoil to wrap the animals up and your child would have to unwrap all of them to ‘save’ them.
Animal or Car Line up with Painters Tape
Another great way to use painters tape is to create zig zag lines or shapes and have your child line up some animals or cars along the lines.
There are different ways you can personalize this, like writing your child’s name in painters tape for them to line up the animals or cars on.
This one is so great for fine and gross motor skills!
Flower Strainer Arrangement
This is another great one using home items.
Grab that spaghetti strainer and some cheap fake flowers (or real!) and have your child fill the strainer holes with the flower stems.
Another great one for concentration and those fine motor skills!
Circle Sticker Activities
There are so many different activities you can do with those circle dot stickers.
You can easily create your own work sheets by drawing something, or writing words in bubble letters, and filling those with dots for your child to fill with the stickers.
You can even buy pre-made worksheets specifically for this as well, if you would prefer! The worksheets are great to use with dot markers as well.
Straws in a Bottle
This one is just as easy as it sounds. Get a plastic bottle, or a thin water bottle, and some straws, plastic or metal, and get them to put the straws in the bottle.
If it is a plastic water bottle, you could even cut holes in the lid to really make it a bit more difficult, depending on your toddler’s motor skills.
This one is great for working on concentration and – you guessed it – those fine motor skills.
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Have fun trying these easy at home activities with your toddler today!
