Where can we find ideas for activities for our toddler?
I have twin boys who are 15 months old. My mother-in-law does daycare for us and also lives with us. Recently I have noticed a trend where they are spending more and more time watching TV during the day. I am starting to look for some books and other resources with games and activities that they can do with Grandma. They cannot go outside as Grandma can't keep up with them so they are stuck indoors most of the time during the week.
There are a lot of options out there and I am looking for specific books and/or websites that you have used with your children that were good ones.
Update: My boys are now 17 months old and we are running an experiment where we took the TV away completely. Now things are crazy. They don't do any one activity for more than 2 - 5 minutes at a time and appear to be bored silly.
I am still looking for activities, books, websites and anything that we can use to help create a more structured day for everyone.
(3)3 Comments
Sorted by latest first Latest Oldest Best
If you want to avoid TV then avoid the computer as well. Some things we did were get:
Foam Blocks, big and easy to handle though at a teething stage you have to watch them
Baby Book readers, LeapFrog has an infant version of stories and does both music and reading
VTech has some very simple games with lights and music, kept our 1+ year old entertained
Dolls that dance and or sing
Play Mats or the Child Tents and tubes you can put together to make mazes
Inflatable ball pits, or a kiddie pool with lots of small balls - my kids love that stuff, even the oldest
Little People sets, most have action and or sound
We found anything that made noise tended to be good distractions for our kids, our toddler loves my oldest's Zhu Zhu Pet. They are kind of annoying but he loves the toy running around and making weird noises.
As I go for work i will be busy in my work after reaching home. When I get time I spend the whole day with my DS. I just find it hard for the activities but I go online for the activities so that I can engage my kid and has lot of fun.
I would like to share few of the activities that i do with my son. I use to play
Indoor basket ball: This one of the best game for the toddlers were they can have lot of exercise.
Cardboard box car I make a car with the cardboard box. Take big box and turn it into a car for your kid.
Paintings: My kids love doing this activity. Every kid would be attracted towards colors. So most of the time my kid will be doing paintings.
For kids painting with the bubbles artful-kids.com/blog/2012/02/02/3-ways-to-paint-with-bubbles/
Pillow jump: As kids love to jump on the pillow so make a small playground.
Play with the musical jars
Coloring pages As this also one of the best activity were kids love doing this. So take any sheets and make our kids to color those with the crayons.
here is the cat coloring pages which i have made my kid to color those. www.momjunction.com/articles/cat-coloring-pages_00103938/
Playing with clay: Make any thing with the clay and paint them.
Type in "activities for toddlers" and "preschool crafts" to a search bar and you will find a million things to do online. Also try "sensory activities" because these are pretty engaging for some reason.
There is a wonderful book called, "the busy book" that will help
Give them water to splash in, dough to knead, cook with them and let them do the measuring and stirring (with your close supervision and help of course). Have them chop and mash bananas. . .
Read stories together.
Little people toys are especially popular with two's.
Act out favorite fairy tales by dressing up or using puppets.
Seat them somewhere and give each a pair of children's safety scissors and a piece of paper and just let them snip away. Yes, you'll have to sweep up (or grandma) but used once/month or so it'll probably keep them busy for awhile.
There are more ideas on my website.
Terms of Use Privacy policy Contact About Cancellation policy © freshhoot.com2025 All Rights reserved.