Here are few activities that are favorites of my toddler. I got the ideas for these activities over the Internet, from my friends and children’s museum. I hope you will find them useful.

• Lacing Plastic lids

  Materials Needed: Plastic lids (lids of plastic boxes such as yogurt, butter, cottage cheese, raisins and so on); Shoe lace

  Make a hole in the center of each lid. Tie a knot(s) on one end of the shoe lace securing that end of the shoe lace. Then show your toddler how to insert the free end of the shoe lace in the hole of the plastic lid. I was surprised to see how much my toddler loves this activity.

• Large cardboard box, bubble wrap, old magazines

  My son has a lot of fun with these especially when he bursts the bubbles of the bubble wrap accidentally.

• Tupperware, pretend food, spoons, plastic cups, whip

  I have a cabinet in my kitchen where I keep all these and my son knows that he can play with these. It’s so amusing to watch him cook. I bought a whip, measuring spoon and some cooking utensils for him from dollar tree.

• Paper towel roll

  I save the empty cardboard of the paper towel roll. My son uses it as a microphone, telescope and just loves to walk around with his hands inside the roll.

• Nails and Hammer

  Materials Needed: Styrofoam, plastic/wooden golf tee, plastic/wooden hammer, burlap cloth

  Wrap the Styrofoam with the burlap cloth so that you wouldn’t have to clean the Styrofoam pieces in the house. Golf tee works as nails. Then show your toddler how to hammer tee in the Styrofoam. You can also show him/her how to take them out using hammer. My son loves to take out the tee using hammer.

• Dressing up

  I have a laundry hamper with my gloves, scarf, hat, cap, plastic watch, whistle, plastic sun glasses, shoes and so on. My son loves to take them out and try to wear them on his own. Also, when we read books where they have photos of any of these items, I take them out and show it to him. Then he can compare the real item with the photos in the book.

• Broom, a spray bottle filled with water and a rag

  My son can be kept busy with these for at least an hour.

• Chalk

  My son loves to scribble on the driveway with chalk.

• Rocks and Cups

  I got a small bag of rocks and few cups/bowls. My son enjoys making mess with these. It’s a chore to clean up but the fun is worth it. If your toddler doesn’t put stuff in mouth, you can use beans of different colors and sizes instead of rocks. You can show him/her how to separate beans based on color, shape or size. I had tried using baked trail mix at first. My son ended up eating it all.

• Bubbles
• Pairing

  I let my son pair items such as socks, sippy cups and their caps. It’s fascinating to see how he can match colors and patterns.

• Hide and seek
• Nursery Rhymes
• Balls and basket

  You can take a cardboard box or plastic box that works as a basket and show your toddler to throw all the balls into the basket.

• Sandbox
• Color
• Playdoh

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