16 fun and easy activities for your toddler to try with things you have at home!

If you have a toddler at home who’s going up the walls and looking to burn off some energy, check out our activities below to help them get in touch with their creative side and try some new things! Easy, simple and fun tasks will keep them occupied and learning, all with things you have around the house!

Toddlers should always be supervised during these activities to ensure they don’t swallow or ingest any harmful materials.

Explore bubbles

Fill up a jar or bottle with water and washing up liquid. Tightly seal it and shake it up! Allow your toddler to make and explore bubbles with this cute and safe idea.

Bang on pots and pans

This is a loud one, but one they always get so much enjoyment out of! It allows them to explore sounds and get out some of that energy.

Set up a finger-painting table

Set them up at the table with newspaper laid down to avoid stains and allow them to explore and play with colours and blending to their hearts content!

Blanket fort

There’s nothing more exciting than a blanket fort day! For some reason toddlers love a blanket fort and piling all their toys into it.

Scavenger hunt

Give them items to find, like ‘something red’, ‘something soft’, ‘something you love’ which will get them to burn off energy and develop their senses.

Threading art

Using a piece of thread or pipe cleaner, thread cheerios or pasta to create caterpillars, jewellery or other shapes to get artsy and let out their creative side!

Make towers

Using cardboard toilet rolls, and pieces of flat card, show them how to stack them and create towers and structures – they’ll be able to practice their balance and creativity!

Create playdough shapes

Use playdough and cookie cutters to make different shapes and cut outs with your playdough. Have them make a picture using all the shapes afterwards.

Create an obstacle course

Make it manageable of course – it’s more about remembering the sequence of things – like jump into that hula hoop, then throw the ball onto the couch, hop over those shoes and spin three times!

Balloon toss

Blow up a balloon and show them how to keep it off the ground, and enjoy them having a ball trying to keep it aloft! Throw in a second one to keep it interesting!

Bath time

Partially fill up the bath with lukewarm water and bring their toys in for a wash! Keep away from plush items like teddy bears and felt toys of course, but cars and dolls are fair game! Never leave your toddler unattended around water.

Make train tracks

Sellotape lots of paper together and flip it over so the sellotape doesn’t show. Make a long, large, squiggly track that goes all over the sheets of paper and make train tracks or a road for their toy cars to follow along.

Make prints

Slice an apple and a potato in half and set them alongside a sponge. Set down newspapers and lay out a sheet of paper and some paint to allow them to make print mark pictures with their prints!

Counting game

Use a marker to write different numbers your toddler can count to inside cupcake cases. Place the cupcake cases into a cupcake tray and fill a lunchbox with cheerios, cornflakes or some sort of small, individual cereal. Your toddler must then place the right amount of cereal into the right number cupcake case.

Shape match

If you toddler has blocks in different shapes, trace them onto a sheet of paper. Spread out the shapes and have them match up the shape to the tracing on the page.

Paint nails

On a sheet of cardboard trace yours and your toddler’s hands as well anyone else’s hand who are around! Set your toddler up with paint and brush to paint the tracing’s nails!