Toddlers require a significant amount of stimulation to aid in developing their cognitive, deductive, gross, and fine motor skills.
They must get to channel their seemingly boundless energy into activities that can hold their interests and teach them a thing or two while they are at it.
Coming up with exciting things that will keep a child busy might seem daunting, but all you need is a little creativity.
With a few tweaks and additions, even the most basic household items can be used as play instruments. To get you started, here are eight fun things you can do with your toddler.
Painting and Colouring
The act of creating art pieces on various mediums with colours is an activity that is both soothing and entertaining for kids and even adults.
There is no limit to the kind of canvas that can be used during this kind of activity. Apart from paper, you can use cardboard, wood, nylon, ice cubes, plastic, and toys.
This activity has the potential to become messy, so be sure to place tarps or sheaths over the area being used.
Organizing and Sorting
Pour items of different colours, at least four or five, into a tray or bowl. On another set of containers, indicate a particular colour using paint swatches and then let your toddler sort the items into the appropriate spaces by colour.
Instead of colours, you could ask them to organize by shapes, types of animals, or size.
Food Preparation
Preparing food together with your child will keep them busy and provide some quality bonding time with them.
To remove the height barrier, toddlers can use learning towers, safe and highly secure platforms that enable kids to reach higher places.
Give them little tasks, such as passing utensils or being more involved in the cooking process.
Play Pretend
Let your child spend a day as their favourite book character, cartoon, superhero, animal, or actor.
Dress them in similar clothes or, if unavailable, improvise with items peculiar to the character such as a fake sword, moustache, backpack, or tiara.
You can act out scenes from the books or movies from which the characters come.
Build Forts
No matter how simple, Forts are usually fascinating to kids, and they can spend countless amounts of time playing with them.
Use boxes, cardboard, or blankets to build an enclosed area. You can choose to give it a specific theme like a castle, skyscraper, cave, or fortress, or let your child come up with something on their own.
You and your child can then decorate the interior with their toys, books, or artwork.
Form a Band
Children love listening to music while singing and dancing along with it. You can bring out your kid’s inner singer by forming a small band.
Set up a few objects to use as musical instruments like bowls, spoons, forks, and cups. Assign the role of the lead singer or instrumentalist to your toddler and let them sing, bang, or strum to their heart’s content.
Maintain a Garden
Gardening can be a sensory and educational experience for toddlers. You can create a small garden and enlist your child’s help with planting, watering, weeding, pruning, and harvesting the plants.
If possible, give them their own tools and little tasks to take care of to make them feel useful and involved.
Have a Picnic
Arm yourself with blankets and a basket filled with food and set out to enjoy a day in the great outdoors.
You can use your backyard, lawn, or the nearest park as the venue for the picnic. Let your child explore their surroundings and give them the chance to ask questions, touch, and feel things that they discover.
An afternoon or evening spent surrounded by nature and learning new things can be memorable for your toddler.
