Activity ideas for toddlers

At home with young children? These activities are good for building motor skills (building strength and movement), having fun and encouraging creativity.

• Make sock puppets. Glue on old buttons for the eyes or draw on some whiskers. Then make a theatre out of an old cardboard box and host your own puppet show.
• Get painting. You can use brushes, stencils or your fingers to make pictures. Or try face painting.
• Playing with playdough is one way to develop motor skills. You can make your own with our recipe.
• Make a print with some paint and leaves from the garden. Count the leaves together for a quick maths lesson.
• Pick a theme each week and base your activities around that. Try ‘dinosaurs’, ‘under the sea’ or ‘people who help us’.
• Make cards for friends and family to celebrate events like summer or a birthday.
• Create a collage from old newspapers and magazines. Using scissors under supervision helps with their motor skills.
• Make a ‘touchy-feely’ box with different textured items from around the house. Ask your child to reach their hand in and describe what they can feel.
• Practise cutting skills by making snowflakes and other shapes out of folded up paper.
• Become a fashion designer for the day and get them drawing on an old plain t-shirt.

• Board games can help to teach your pre-schooler how to take turns and share.
• Have a ‘snowball’ fight. Create snowballs from rolled up bits of newspaper and split into two teams. Use cushions to create a dividing line, set a timer and the team with the fewest balls on their side at the end wins.
• Play a round of musical chairs. ‘Musical cushions’ works well for much younger children.
• Come up with a treasure hunt and leave clues around a room for your child to follow. The treasure at the end could be anything: some fruit, costume jewellery or a teddy bear.
• Play ‘Pin the Tail on the Donkey’ with slightly older children. If they don’t like wearing a blindfold, ask them to close their eyes instead.

• Get dancing. Put on your favourite tunes and have a disco.
• Create your own soft play experience from pillows and cushions. It will burn off some energy and help physical development.
• Play balloon catch with a rule that the balloon can’t touch the floor.
• Kick a football around. Count the goals and it becomes a maths lesson too.
• Take it in turns to blow bubbles. When it’s your turn to blow, ask your child to run around and pop them.
• Play a game of ‘Simon Says’. ‘Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes’ or the ‘Hokey Cokey’ will get them moving.

• Make patterns with pasta, rice or lentils. Tip them into a tray or fill different sized containers. You can do this with flour too, but grab your apron or an old t-shirt first.
• If the weather is bad, make an indoor picnic and take turns to serve or be the chef.
• Bake together, and everyone can enjoy the end product.
• Decorate plain biscuits with some icing sugar or sweets.

• Make your own musical instruments. A box and some string can become a guitar, or put some rice in a plastic bottle for homemade maracas. Then put on a show with your new instruments.
• Fill a bath with toys that your child wouldn’t normally play with at bath time. A funnel and jug from the kitchen or toys that fit your ‘theme of the week’ are good options.

• Dig out the dressing up box. You don’t need expensive, shop-bought costumes – old clothes will work.
• Pretend you’re heading off on a camping adventure and make a den with duvets, pillows and cushions.
• Collect toy motor vehicles and create a mini car wash in the sink.
• Have a tea party for teddies and dolls. Ask your child to share out food (try breadsticks) with them, counting as they do so.

• Go cloud watching. What shapes can you see in the sky?
• Plant some seeds or small plants in the garden or in a pot. Watch them grow.
• Share favourite stories and books. It’s a great way to help your child with their reading skills, speech and language.
• Teach your child about different emotions by drawing emotion faces on paper plates. Copy those faces in the mirror together and talk about what they might be feeling.
• Do simple puzzles together. This can help with problem solving.