Simple At Home Activities for 2 Year Old Toddlers
Toddlerhood can be a tough age- add in a lot of extra time spent at home over the last year (thanks to the pandemic)- and it can feel EXTRA tough. While although I am a stay at home mom, before the pandemic, we rarely stayed home all day, every day. Now, we are home a LOT and frankly, it is boring at times. I have been trying to incorporate more intentional activities with Henry each day, for both his development AND my sanity 😉 We’ve tried a LOT of different activities over the last year- here are some of our favorites. These held my son’s attention for a decent amount of time (toddler speakng) and were easy and inexpensive to set up.
He completed these activities from 2-2.5 years old, but they would likely work for a little younger or older children. Also make sure to check out this post for more activity ideas we have done in the past!
Please make sure that all activities are done with adult supervision.
Magnetic Letter Fishing
I pulled out letter magnets from my classroom storage and paired it with a magnetic fishing pole from a puzzle Henry already had and let him go to town! He LOVED “fishing” for letters and I loved that it was giving him some exposure to letters. For each letter that he caught I would tell him the letter and something that started with that letter- “H for Henry” etc.
Puzzle find and sort
This is one of our “go to” activities that is easy to switch up to make it “new”. I simply hide the pieces from two or more puzzles in a sensory bin and have him find the pieces and place them where they belong. This is a great early introduction to sorting (animals vs vehicles in this case) and also gives new life to puzzles that are getting a little easy.
Paper Tunnels
If you have a vehicle lover, this activity is really fun AND easy! I just cut strips of construction paper and taped them on the ground for him to drive his cars through. Activity inspiration from The Mama Notes.
Animal Hospital
A fun way to teach both body parts and empathy! We pretended that his animals got hurt in specific parts of their bodies and played doctor to fix them up- adding bandaids was the best part of course! 😉
Invitation to thread
Place any beads, buttons, straws, pasta, etc in a bin with some pipe cleaners or shoe laces and let your littles ones thread away! I was surprised that Henry enjoyed this one as much as he did & it was a great way to discuss shapes, sizes, colors and practice counting. Idea inspiration from Busy Toddler.
Scavenger Hunt
These are fun to do both inside and outside! Simply draw a simple picture of items for your toddler to find and show them how to check it off once found. This is a great way to get your little one moving if they’re stuck inside due to weather.
Water beads
These do need to be purchased in advance, but are such a fun sensory bin activity that your little one will love. As far as sensory bins go, it’s an engaging one, but quick and easy to set up! Simply add some water to the beads, watch them expand, add some scoops and it’s time to play!
Letter board sensory bin
Does your toddler love playing with your letter board? Make an activity out of it! We have black letters for our board so I “hid” them in a bin of dry black beans. Henry found them and got to put them on the board. So simple, but he loved it!
Muffin tin match up
For this activity I wrote familiar letters on the back of a muffin tin with a dry erase marker. Henry’s job was to match the alphabet magnets to the correct letter.
Nature hunt sticky board
This has been a favorite activity since Henry could walk! I put a piece of clear contact paper sticky side out on a clipboard and then taped it down with clear packing tape. Henry then carried this around our yard and found different items to stick on!
Homemade playdough
For whatever reason, Henry wasn’t a huge fan of playdough until we made our own! I used this recipe and had Henry help me make it. It makes quite a bit and it was really soft which I think Henry enjoyed. We have seriously played with it almost every day since making it! I’ve been finding random things around the house to use in addition to the few playdough tools that we have- blocks from a shape sorter have been a big hit recently!
Letter sticker match
Another fun idea from the Busy Toddler! Write letters or numbers on a cardboard roll (or piece of paper) and then matching letters on round dot stickers. Have your little one match the stickers to the letters on the roll! You could also do a similar activity using a sheet of paper and stickers.
Sink play
This activity happened on a whim one day when I was feeling desperate- but the novelty of playing in the sink was SO enticing for Henry- he loved it! I just added a doll and some dishes from his play kitchen and he played for almost 45 minutes! *They definitely do not need to go IN the sink for this to be fun- a step stool works just as well 😉
“Baking”
I know the idea of baking with young toddlers doesn’t sound that fun- BUT it is a great way to pass the time that toddlers typically really like and it is a great way to practice counting, following directions, etc. These peanut butter cheerio bars are super easy to make with a little one, and a great healthyish snack option too! (I just microwave the peanut butter and honey for 45 seconds or so instead of using the stove)
Animal line up
This is an activity that I saw on Busy Toddler that I thought Henry would love for sure…but it admittedly wasn’t his favorite. Instead of lining his toys up, he preferred to race his cars along the strips of painter’s tape instead!
Popsicle stick color match
This one takes a little more preparation on the front end, but I will say ours has gotten a LOT of use! I just painted the bottom of an egg carton with acrylic paint, poked holes in them with a knife and then gave Henry colored popsicle sticks to match. We used this a lot around 2 years old and I swear this is what taught him his colors! (To make it more challenging you could write letters or numbers for your LO to match!)
Rock Painting
Rock painting is perfect if you have a rock loving toddler like I do! I like to break this into a few different “activities”. First, go on a rock hunt, then “paint” them with water (this acts as cleaning them!) and then after they are dry let your little one paint them with paint!
Painting
Henry was not always the biggest fan of painting if I just gave him a black piece of paper- but if I gave him a little more structure, he enjoyed it and the activity lasted much longer. Here are a few ideas if your toddler is the same:
(We like using this paint because it is just the right amount- I find if I give him too much…then he uses too much! We just refill the containers once empty)
- Cotton swab painting: Little ones can use the cotton swabs to make dots. Henry liked when I drew simple shapes for him to “trace”-but it’s fun to just free play with these as well!
2. Paint coloring sheets: Having something to fill in made painting SO much more interesting to Henry. I just tear pages out of a good quality coloring book and let him paint!
3. Magic painting: If you haven’t tried these yet- do it! The pages are white until activated with water and then they turn into vibrant paintings!
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