30 Educational Activities For Toddlers To Do At Home

I’ve been spoiled these past 2 months. George is on paternity leave so we’ve been tag-teaming parenting. I’m sad that his time is almost up. In two weeks, I’ll be on my own. I’m sure it’ll be pretty hard to juggle a two-year-old toddler and two-month-old baby but I’ve been trying to do some prep to make the transition easier. I’ve been compiling a list of indoor learning activities that I think my toddler would enjoy. I want to share it with you too! These activities are fun (obviously) and also provide learning opportunities to help your toddler meet her developmental milestones. Here are 30 educational activities for toddlers to do at home:

1. Trace your toddler’s body outline on a large piece of paper. Talk about each body part. Colour the poster.

2. Collect different textured materials such as sandpaper, cotton balls, silk, velcro and feathers. Describe each texture: rough, smooth, hard, soft, etc.

3. Play “big or little.” Gather big and small items such as balls, plates and shoes. Ask your toddler to give you the biggest shoe or the littlest ball.

4. Make a poster of your toddler’s favourite things. Cut out some pictures from a magazine and your toddler can use a glue stick to stick them together.

5. Teach your toddler to do a somersault!

6. Pretend to be different animals. Gallop like a horse. Bark like a dog. Walk like an elephant. It’s so silly but educational too!

7. Make a playlist with fast and slow tunes. Move fast and slow with the music. This is one of my toddler’s favourite tunes.

8. Set up a small dishpan with water. Let your toddler wash “dirty” toy dishes and utensils with a washcloth.

9. Play a matching game with household items like socks, shoes, or utensils. Hold up one item and see if your toddler can find one just like yours.

10. Set up make-shift bowling pins with household items like empty plastic water bottles or pop cans. Practice rolling a ball to knock down the pins.

11. Use farm animal toys to sing “Old McDonald had a farm”. Don’t forget to use sound effects.

12. Look at picture books or magazines and play the “show me” game. Ask your toddler to identify different objects.

13. Make necklaces by lacing household items like macaroni, buttons, beads or cheerios onto a thick piece of string or yarn. This is one of my toddler’s favourite activities!

14. Play with PlayDoh. Make snakes, balls and roll out pancakes with a rolling pin. Use cookie cutters to make different shapes.

15. Use crayons or markers to trace around different objects like cups, blocks or your hands.

16. Play follow the leader. Go fast and slow, high and low, take big steps and small steps, walk backwards and forwards.

17. Make an obstacle course at home with cushions, pillows, chairs, etc. Direct your child to crawl over, under, through, behind, or between objects.

18. Make up your own actions to dance to your favourite toddler songs. We love dancing to Elmo’s Happy Dance at home.

19. Fill plastic Easter eggs with different objects like rice, sand or beans. Fill two eggs with the same ingredient. Try to find the eggs that have matching sounds. This learning activity encourages toddlers to be attentive to different sounds!

20. Put a few lines of masking tape on the floor. Your toddler has to jump over each line.

21. Find an assortment of household objects to use as bath toys.  Test out which items will float and sink.

22. Lay out a bucket or a box and bean bags or balls. Play a target game by throwing the bean bags into the bucket.

23. Sing “Head, Shoulders, Knees & Toes” to learn about body parts. Get specific with body parts like fingernails, elbows, eyelashes, and so on.

24. Cut a slit in the top of a small box. Pretend it is a mailbox and Insert your mail (playing cards or envelopes).

25. Play Simon Says with a ball. Give directions like “roll the ball,” “kick the ball,” or “throw the ball.”

26. Don’t throw out large cardboard boxes! Cut some holes for windows and doors. Let your toddler sit inside and decorate it with crayons, markers, or paint.

27. Your toddler can help you set the table for herself. Show her where to place her plate, cup, and utensils.

28. Involve your toddler with washing fruits and veggies. Let her pull grapes off the cluster and count together. It’s a great learning activity!

29. Make your own puzzle by cutting a picture into several pieces. Glue the pieces together on cardboard.

30. Race toy cars on a homemade ramp. Make a ramp by placing a long piece of cardboard on stacks of books. Which car will make it down first?

I’m looking forward to trying these educational activities for my toddler at home. Here are some more toddler activity ideas that worked well for us! Is there an activity you really enjoy doing with your toddler? Let me know! 

Note: many of these activity ideas were taken from The ASQ User’s Guide, Second Edition, Squires, Potter & Bricker, 1999 Paul H. Brookes Publishing Co.