If you have a two-year-old toddler at home, you know how difficult it is to keep up with their energy and to keep them engaged with something or the other.
Keeping a two-year-old entertained is surely a full-time job in itself.
To ease your struggle, we have put together this list of 20 fun and educational activities that you can do to keep your child engaged.
Without further delay, let’s look at the activities!
- Sorting and color recognition
Ask your kid to sort their toys by colors. The primary colors red, green, and blue are the best to start this activity with. - Making shapes with toys
You can ask your toddler to arrange their toys to form a triangle or any other shape. You can start by helping them for the first few tries. This is a great tool for their gross motor development. -
Sorting Beans
Mix two types of beans in a container and give them two empty containers to sort into. It is a good activity for hand-eye coordination and concentration. -
Musical Instrument
Your toddler will be delighted to make their own melodies and beats. opt for music makers like drums, tambourines, xylophones, and simple keyboards over music boxes or music toys that only require the push of a button. Of course, a pot and a wooden spoon work too! -
Play Dough
Play Dough is a great tool for teaching your child fine motor skills and encouraging creativity. Let them use their fine motor skills by trying to take bits and pieces off of one large ball of play doh. This will help them practice grabbing small objects while they’re still learning how to use their fingers properly! -
Freeze Dance
Play any music and encourage your kid to dance, then have them freeze when you stop the music. It’s fun and it helps your little one learn about self-regulation. -
Playing Cards
Give your toddler a deck of cards and ask them to sort them by the color – red and black. Once they get that, ask them to sort by shape – hearts, spades, clubs, and diamonds. To make it harder, ask them to sort by numbers – aces, twos, threes, etc. You can make as many games as you can out of this. -
Counting
Count anything and everything with them. Like, If you are in your car, count the cars you see around you. -
I Spy
Start the game by picking an object that your child can see. Then give the color or shape of the object as a clue. For example, if you choose a banana, then say, ‘I spy with my little eye something yellow.’ Then your kid has to name yellow things around them until they end up with a banana. Take turns in asking so that it helps to develop your child’s social skills. When your child waits for their turn, they’re learning how to play and cooperate with others. ‘I spy’ is also great for building your child’s vocabulary and understanding of language. -
Sing interactive Songs
Try tunes along with hand movements (“Head – shoulder – knees and toes”) and encourage your toddler to move their body (“Macarena”) to allow them to take charge of the musical experience. -
Nature Scavenger Hunt
Nature is full of surprises and it’s fun to explore. Make a list of items your child will likely find outdoors and help them collect their findings. A few ideas include leaves, feathers, rocks, pebbles, or flowers. Bring a bag to store the items, and cross the item off your list once you’ve found what you were looking for. To make this game easier, task them to find just one type of item during your nature walk. For instance, ask them to collect only feathers and maybe you can help them start their own feather collection of different birds! -
Plant A Seed
Plant a seed with them and watch it grow over the next few weeks. Depending on the weather, you can plant the seeds in small containers indoors or sow them directly into the ground outside. This is a great way to show your child how beautiful nature is and how life grows, from a seed to a plant. -
Card Making
Give your toddler some paper and colors and help them make birthday or holiday cards for family and friends. This is a good way to enhance their creativity and they will also feel happy and accomplished when people compliment them. -
Dress Up
Play dress-up games with your toddler by giving them a pile of old clothes, let them select what they want to wear and style themselves. This will help them create their own style and be more imaginative. -
Make Paper Boats
This is the best activity for a rainy day! Teach them how to make paper boats and then sail the boats in the rainwater. -
Red Light/Green Light
It is a very simple game, when you say green light your kid can move from the starting line towards the finishing line but when you say red red light, they have to stop where they are and remain there until you say green light again. This game is very effective in teaching children self-control. -
Paint a Puzzle
First draw something easy on a paper and then cut it up in simple pieces. Now ask your kid to arrange them back into the painting. It is an easy game for memory development. -
Sensory Paint Play
Sensory paint is a great way to get toddlers to feel, explore and express themselves in ways they haven’t before! Paint on unusual surfaces, like bubble wrap with your kid. You can add other textures like pebbles and beads! Paint in on a leaf, on skin, it is fun and makes finger painting more exciting! -
Storytelling
Storytelling is a great way to help your toddler develop language patterns and learn sequencing of events. Make your own story stones using pictures of animals, bugs, dinosaurs, toys, and automobiles. Put them all in a basket and then let them pick one at a time to continue the story. -
Pretend Play
Pretend play is an important thing for kids as it promotes social skills, cooperative play, and problem-solving. Let them pretend to be doctors, chefs, waiters, etc. Play along with their disguise and teach them what their roles are in the real world through play.
Now you have a collection of creative activities to start. And most importantly, your child will develop a love of learning!
You can do these activities with your child, even with limited crafty materials and minimum preparations. Let us know what you do to keep your little one busy at home.
