30+ simple indoor games and activities for toddlers

Wondering what to do when you are expected to stay at home with your child, all day? This list of indoor activities for toddlers will surely help them burn off their energy!

It can be quite stressful when you’re stuck at home, and your toddler’s energy seems to go through the roof. You really want to engage them but with their short attention span you cannot understand what will help.

The following indoor activities are simple, easy to do, with minimum set up and use common household materials that you can quickly put together. In fact many of them are adopted from our own childhood!

Try them and please let us know if you need a detailed post for any of them, in the comment section at the end of this post

Some tips to make these indoor activities easier

• Before you start any activity make sure all the materials are clean and usable for your toddler
• Wash hands (you and your child) before you begin and once you finish of course.
• Have a plan of how these activities need to go in your mind but leave some exploration out for your toddler.
• Be prepared for the activity to go absolutely chaotic since toddlers are very unpredictable
• Place a mat, whenever required, to ensure the mess is contained.
• Toddlers may not show an interest in an activity initially. That’s okay. Keep offering these options time and again. Encourage and praise often.
• Don’t try more than one idea at a time.
• Be patient. If they don’t understand something, abandon the activity and try something else.
• Let your child play in their own way. Don’t over-impose your ideas. Learn the art of sitting back and watching what they do. You will be truly surprised!
• No matter how independent these activities can be, a little supervision is always required when it comes to toddlers
• Use these activities to genuinely engage with your toddler and not just to keep them occupied. While they explore, ask them questions and encourage them to express what they feel. Remember that these activities are also opportunities for you to understand your child and the perspective that they see their environment in.
• Some of the materials in these activities can be choking hazards, so again parental supervision is required.

Balloon games

Play badminton by hitting the balloons

Create any object with the paper mache method.

Hang some balloons from a height, by sticking their ends with long cotton threads or strings. Let your child hit the swaying balloons, with the help of a ladle or spoon.

Stick any coloured paper on the baloons to make smiley faces or animal faces and pretend play.

Paper or plastic glass games

Stack up the glasses to make a tower

Take some glasses and thread them onto a string, to make a snake or caterpillar.

Painting

Palm prints and foot prints

Using sponge to paint on a surface.

Freehand painting

Using vegetables to get fun prints

Kitchen play

Use dough to make monsters out of animals

Use cookie cutters to making different shapes from dough. You can even practice alphabets with the dough.

Let your child help you with plucking from a bunch of mint leaves or coriander leaves

Simple counting with fruits and vegetables

Where does this come from? Showing the product and source. For eg: Milk comes from cow

Reading out

Read to your toddler interesting story books with pictures.

Spot objects that are inside the book, from inside the house.

Body parts- Spot different birds and animals and make comparisons. For example- The elephant has 2 big ears. The giraffe has a long neck.

Cardboard activities

Place your child inside a big cardboard box with the top portion, cut away. Give them some colours and let them do anything on the walls of the box.

Give them cardboard cut outs or boxes and let them play with their imagination. My son has made cupboards, trains, houses and slides with these things.

Tape activities

Create car tracks just the way you see in real life, with junctions and obstacles. Let your child race his cars or pretend play. You can make it even more engaging by asking him to add some buildings with blocks by the tracks, so it looks realistic.

Create some shapes on the floor with a tape and let your child jump from one shape to the other.

Tape curvy or straight lines on the floor and have them walk forward and backwards. Section the taped line or track and place treasures for them to collect as they progress.

Ball games

Bowling

Catch

Place an empty cardboard box about 2 feet away from your child and encourage your child to aim for it. You can practice counting and colours while they’re at it.

Sensory activities

Put some hair gel in a zip lock bag with some other small items like buttons and close.

Add some shampoo to a plastic jar along with food colouring and glitter. Close tightly and let your child enjoy shaking it up and watching the mixture settle.

Water games

Take a sieve into the bath and let your child enjoy the water flowing through.

Give them a small brush and let them wash their animals with soap and water

Explore ice cubes

Sound and Music

Play a peppy track and dance with your child

Sing some songs together

Hide a loudly ticking clock or a radio with the volume turned down and see how quickly your child can find it.

Try to mimic sounds that your child knows of, like a pigeon, pressure cooker whistle, train, plane, bees, a ticking clock, etc

What are your go-to indoor activities for the “at home” days? We’d love to hear about it- let us know in the comments below.

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Hi! My name is Rubitah. I’m a Content Writer certified Life Coach, Counselor, Social Work professional and the Founder of Being Rubitah. Over the years through my professional and personal life, I have realized that prayers and love can do wonders to family life once you come to terms with yourself and surrender to God. Do you relate to me? Then you may like what I post here! Read more about me

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