Toddler Activities

This page is dedicated to helping fellow parents beat the boredom and monotony often found when caring for a toddler each and every day. It took me a while to admit that I was bored, but after leaving my fast-paced, intellectually stimulating teaching job to become a stay-at-home mom, I soon realized I was bored. Playing with a toddler requires much patience, energy, and plenty of activities, since most little ones have a short attention span and can't entertain themselves for long. Since I am a firm believer in limiting the amount of television children watch, especially alone, I have decided to publish the list of activities I and other moms have found entertaining, effective, and educational for toddlers.

Educational Websites for Toddlers

Alphabet Websites	Number Websites	Shape/Color Websites	Other Fun Websites
ABC Zoo	Lil Fingers	Kinderweb	Sesame Street Workshop
Elmo's Keyboarding	Little Tikes	Fisher Price	Happy Baby
Kiddonet Alphabet	Count Us In	Mix & Paint	Online Stories & More
Starfall ABCs My Son's Favorite!			Starfall

Educational Activities for Toddlers

Here are some great activities that are fun and educational for most toddlers 18 months to 3 years.

Activity	Description	Instructional Aids
Alphabet Practice	Begin by singing the alphabet song, pointing to each letter (written or on a toy) as you sing. Introduce this week's letter and sound. Practice drawing letter with crayon, then identify letter in books. End by visiting one of the alphabet websites listed above.	Leapfrog's Fridge Phonics, Alphabet Puzzle
Number Practice	Choose one number to focus upon (single digit numbers work best). Say the name of the number and ask child to repeat. Use child's finger to trace number's shape on paper. Practice drawing shape and identifying it in books, clocks, calendars, etc... Give child a small pile of objects such as small toys and separate toys into piles of the focus number. Also practice counting to ten. End activity by visiting one of the number websites above.	Number Express Puzzle, Counting Animals Puzzle
Balloon Toss & Hide	Allow child to select color of a small balloon. Inflate and tie balloon. Show your toddler how to toss the balloon into the air and bat at it; allow child to try. Ask child to lay down on his/her back. Stand over child with balloon and drop balloon so child can catch it. When the child tires of this activity, play hide-and-seek with the balloon, practicing having the child hide his/her eyes until the balloon is hidden.	small balloon
Mix and Match Parts	Find a picture that can be cut into a few pieces. Demonstrate to your toddler how to put the pieces back together. Try putting the pieces together in silly ways, then let your child try. Velcro slice and peel play food works well for this. This activity can also be used for older children to demonstrate fractions and parts of a whole.	Picture cut into 4-6 pieces, Velcro Play Food

"Just for Fun" Toddler Activities

These activities may not have much obvious educational value, but kids just need to have fun sometimes!

Activity	Description	Instructional Aids
Foamy Drawing	Purchase a can of the cheapest non-gel shaving cream you can find. Find a low table that you don't mind getting messy, or let your child sit in your lap at the big table. Squirt some foam onto the table or your child's fingers. Encourage your child to make different shapes and designs in the foam. This also can be fun in the bath tub!	Can of shaving cream
Fun with Stamps	Gather several small stamps that you don't mind your child playing with (you scrapbookers and teachers probably have a ton of these!). Select an ink pad with washable ink - or permanent, if you dare! Place a large sheet of paper or newspaper on a table and let your child play with the stamps. This is a great fine motor activity.	small stamps, ink pads
Nature Hike	My son enjoys going on "nature hikes" after lunch on most days. First, we find his bucket and sometimes a small shovel. Then, we take a walk to our mailbox, stopping along the way to explore objects such as gravel, grass, leaves, sticks, bugs - eew!, corn stalks, and anything else that lies in our path. We smell, touch, and taste (everything goes in his mouth!) the objects as well as discuss the color and shape. Anything that fits in the bucket gets taken with us. By the time we return to the house, the bucket is full of goodies that can be saved for play later or glued onto a collage.	small bucket, lots of time and patience!

Sample Toddler Routines & Schedules

Here is a sample schedule I used for my son beginning at age 19 months. Activities are scheduled for either 30 or 15 minute time blocks, but the time and the actual activity we did often varied depending on my son's attention span, visitors, chores, etc... I color-coded outdoor activities in green, places we went in pink, abc practice in red, number practice in blue, art activities in purple, and website time in aqua. Though we sometimes didn't stick to our schedule, just having it available did help to fend off boredom.