Wondering how to entertain the toddlers and preschoolers in your life without electronic devices? As a mom of 4, I’ve been there and I’ve got you covered in this post.
These fun indoor activities for toddlers are simple and cheap. You mostly likely have everything needed already on hand. Skip the screen time this winter and keep your little one busy with these easy indoor toddler activities.
15 Easy Indoor Activities for Toddlers
#1 Fill a Box
This is one of my go-to favorite indoor activities for toddlers and infants. Children between six months and 2 years old will enjoy this simple game.
Fill a box with simple items from your home, seal it up, and give it to your little one.
Not long ago, I stuffed a cardboard box with a plastic ice cream scoop, a baby spoon, a (clean) balled up pair of adult socks, a board book, and a wash cloth. I shut the box and handed it to my son in his high chair.
He occupied himself for fifteen minutes straight as he figured out how to open the box, dug around, and inspected each item.
When he finished, I refilled the box and he tackled the challenge all over again.
Bonus: Give Your Toddler a Big Box
Recently, we had to upgrade one of our children to a larger car seat. This meant that we had a cardboard box the size of a refrigerator sitting in our living room for several days. All of our kids, especially our toddler and preschooler, flocked to this box.
Eventually, my seven year old cut a large circular hole in the box to make himself a shield. Suddenly there was a window in the tower and my toddler was all the more amused. He climbed in and out of the box for days.
He liked the box lying on its side as well as right side up. It became a place to hide, a tunnel to army crawl through, and a race car for his big sister to push him on rides down the hallway. I have learned this lesson over and over again in my motherhood—kids don’t need much to keep busy. Give them a box and let them play!
#2 Indoor Shopping
One of my favorite indoor toddler activities at home is play shopping. My daughter used to love to do this when she was little. She’d get a brown paper shopping bag from our recycle area and go “shopping” all around our house.
She would pick out things she liked, fill up her bag, and show me her findings.
We’d even play “check out” as if I were the cashier ringing up her things. She’d hand me pretend money and I’d give her back pretend change.
This simple activity would occupy her for hours.
Bonus Tip: Toddler Toys
Skip the giant playroom and start a simple toy rotation for your toddler. Instead of letting your little one have access to all the toys, bring out one toy at a time and then return it to its hiding spot at the end of the day. This can help reduce overwhelm and keep the toys exciting.
Most of my toddler’s favorite toys are things I already have in my home like empty cardboard boxes, plastic bowls, wooden spatulas, measuring cups, and instruments. It doesn’t take much to get the imagination of a child going. Kids will cultivate creativity and figure out how to entertain themselves with the most basic of supplies when we give them lots of opportunities to play and protect them from screen time in the toddler years.
I’ve accumulated a collection of toys mostly second hand from friends and thrift stores. Consider putting these toys on your child’s holiday wish list and building up a toy rotation that suits your storage space without driving you crazy as a mama. Clutter is so overwhelming. Keep the toys to a minimum and let your toddler play with safe items around your home.
I have found that outdoor play entertains my little people far longer than toys, but here are some of our tried and true favorites for rainy days when we can’t get outside for as much natural play as I would like.
Favorite Toddler Toys
- Animal Board Books with soft fur and material for toddler to touch
- Baby Playmat Piano
- Board books with buttons to push (The talking version of Brown Bear, Brown Bear is great)
- Child sized guitar (My one year old loves to use his big brother’s guitar. We lay it flat on the ground and he strums away.)
- Cocomelon First Act Musical Keyboard
- Indoor Trampoline
- Toy Push Vacuum
- Kid’s Toy Drum Set
- Lift the Flap Board Books
- Magnetic Building Tiles
- Mega Blocks
- Melissa and Doug Abacus (Yes, the kind you use for math with big kids!)
- Melissa and Doug Solid Wood Building Blocks
- Police Car Pop Up Play Tent
- Pop Up Play Tunnel
- Real Swiffer Wet Jet (My one year old loves when this is lying flat on the floor. He sits and pushes it back and forth as if he is cleaning or rowing a boat.)
- Silicone Pull String Montessori toy
- Stuffed Animals and Squishmallows
- Toy Shopping Cart with Pretend Food
- Vtech Drop and Go Dump Truck
- Xylophone
Want smoother days with your little one? Grab these free printables below!
- Toddler Visual Morning Routine
- Toddler Visual Evening Routine
- Screen Free Activities For Toddler List
#3 Fine Motor Activities
Try some of these easy indoor toddler activities at home to help your child develop their fine motor skills. These simple supplies are perfect rainy day activities for preschoolers too!
- Chunky wooden puzzles (Melissa and Doug has the best)
- Sorting and matching blocks of various shapes and colors
- Kinetic sand sensory bins with shapes to mold (AVOID any sensory bins with hazardous water beads. They are unsafe for children.)
- Toddler beads with string
- Wooden animal lacing cards
#4 Build a fort
What better way to spend a rainy afternoon than inside of a cozy fort? This has been one of my boys’ favorite indoor toddler activities over the years.
Provide blankets, pillows, stuffed animals, and flashlights. Let the big siblings build an awesome fort for your toddler while you supervise nearby.
Fort building is one of the most classic rainy day activities for preschoolers. Children both young and old will enjoy.
#5 Play Toddler Games
Board games can be very fun indoor activities for toddlers once your little one is old enough to understand the game. My kids have typically been ready to play most of these games by 3 years old.
Board Games for Older Toddlers and Preschoolers
- The Sneaky Snacky Squirrel Game
- Disney Princess Matching Game
- Eric Carle’s Matching Game
- Grocery Go Karts
- Learning Resources Lil’ Lemonade Stand Off
- Let’s Go Fishin’
- Hi Ho Cherry-O
- Candy Land
- Connect 4
- Twister
Need a solid 3 year old schedule to keep your toddler busy each day? Check out this post:
#6 Magnetic building blocks
Need a mom break? Provide your toddler with large, child-safe magnetic building blocks. Keep an eye on them while they entertain themselves and construct all kinds of cool creations.
Magnetic building blocks are one of my favorite rainy day activities for preschoolers. Our kids have all enjoyed building with these blocks at various stages of development.
#7 Dress up
If you want your child to entertain themselves, one of the easiest indoor activities for toddlers is imaginative dress up play. All you have to do is provide a bin of costumes.
Your child will get creative and take care of the rest.
I like to save money and build up our collection for dress up play by purchasing costumes the day after Halloween when they go on sale.
Dress Up Supplies Toddlers Love
- Community helper costumes such as police officer, firefighter, doctor, nurse, and military personnel
- Assorted superhero capes and masks in various colors
- Cowboy and cowgirl hats
- Royal dress up hats and gloves
- Military hats and masks
- Princess dresses and shoes
- Animal ears and costumes
- Butterfly wings
- Astronaut costume
- Paw Patrol costume
- Super hero costume
- Pirate costume
#8 Bubble bath filled with toys
If it is witching hour at your house and your toddler is getting fussy, try a relaxing bath filled with age appropriate toys. This has been one of my no-fail indoor toddler activities to get through long days with energetic little people. Toddlers know how to make their own water fun with the simplest of supplies.
If you don’t have any specific bath toys on hand, try plastic cups for scooping water. You can also cover the bath wall with shaving cream and allow your child to “draw” pictures in the cream with their finger. As always, stick close and supervise your toddler.
Favorite Bath Toys for Kids
*Use discernment to purchase age appropriate bath toys that your unique child can handle.*
- Rubber duckies
- Bath bubble maker
- Floating animal toys
- Foam letters and numbers
- Toy boats and submarines
- Floating octopus with rings
- Bathtub basketball hoop and ball
- Bath toy fishing net, rod, and fish
- Suction building toys
- Squirting toys
#9 Paint with water
Give your child some paper, a paintbrush, and a small bowl of water. Let them “paint” pictures until their little heart is content. Avoid the mess of regular paint with this mess free indoor toddler activity.
#10 Bear Fun
What toddler doesn’t love bears? Some of the very best picture books for kids are full of these adorable creatures. If you have a growing collection of stuffed animals, entertain your toddler with a teddy bear scavenger hunt. Hide the soft bears all over your house. Give your child a basket and send him on a bear hunt.
Be sure to grab these delightful bear themed children’s books from your local library first. After you get your toddler’s imagination going with a grand story, bring that story to life with a stuffed bear scavenger hunt.
Best Bear Books for Toddlers and Preschoolers
- Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin Jr.
- Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear? by Bill Martin Jr.
- Baby Bear, Baby Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin Jr.
- Panda Bear, Panda Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin Jr.
- Jesse Bear, What Will You Wear? By Nancy White Carlstrom
- We’re Going on a Bear Hunt by Helen Oxenbury
- Jamberry by Bruce Degan
- The Three Bears by Byron Barton
- The Three Bears by Paul Galdone
- Bears Snores On by Karma Wilson
- Bear Wants More by Karma Wilson
- Bear Feels Sick by Karma Wilson
- Corduroy by Don Freeman
#11 Teddy Bear Tea Party
After your bear themed read aloud session and scavenger hunt, finish off the afternoon with a delightful teddy bear tea party. Set your toddler up in a cozy environment with their stuffed animal collection. Provide light snacks and sippy cups for all!
#12 Flip through books
Children naturally love story. The more you limit screen time and saturate your toddler’s life with delightful books, the longer their attention span will be.
In my experience, kids who get a lot of time on electronic devices consider books boring. Their minds have been trained to expect the next quick transition and dopamine hit that screens strategically provide.
Skip screen time in the toddler years and make reading a regular part of your little one’s daily routine.
Read aloud short stories to them at breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Snuggle up for a cozy read aloud session before and after nap time.
Each picture book you read to your child will only take a few minutes, but those minutes are big investments in your child’s brain development.
In between family read aloud times, set your toddler up with a pile of books of their own to peruse. Here are some of our favorite beautiful and silly books with gorgeous illustrations.
Books for Toddlers and Preschoolers to Flip Through
- Favorite Nursery Rhymes from Mother Goose by Scott Gustafson
- Quick as a Cricket by Audrey Wood
- The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry, and the Big Hungry Bear by Audrey Wood
- Silly Sally by Audrey Wood
- The Seven Silly Eaters by Mary Ann Hoberman
- 5-Minute Adventure Bible Stories by Catherine DeVries
- Alfie books by Shirley Hughes
- Winnie the Pooh by A.A. Milne
- Goodnight, Gorilla by Peggy Rathmann
- Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs by Judi Barrett
- Going to Sleep on the Farm by Wendy Cheyette Lewison
#13 Cup Fun
Most of us parents are eager to buy the most engaging toy on the market to occupy our children. But typically, after said toy comes, our kid is happier to play with the plain old box it came in.
For this indoor toddler activity, you need look no further than your kitchen cupboard.
My firstborn used to spend long stretches of time on the floor nearby me pulling red solo cups out of our cabinet.
She stacked the cups, flipped the cups, pretended to drink from the cups, put things in the cups, pulled things out of the cups, and restacked the cups.
Now, here I am eight and a half years later and our youngest baby is finding just as much joy in cups as our oldest did.
If you need a fun indoor toddler activity to entertain your little one, try keep a stack of cups in a low cabinet just for him. Let him open the door, investigate, and retrieve the cups on his own.
Watch from a distance as your toddler entertains himself with something as simple as cups.
#14 Write Letters
Help your child write letters to family and friends. Jot down what they want to say as they dictate their message to you. Have them add a picture and stickers to the page. Let them stamp the envelope and put it in the big blue mail box.
#15 Read Interactively
Reading aloud is one of the very best indoor activities for toddlers. Children who are read aloud to are at an advantage over their peers who are handed screens.
Toddlers love to be read to, but you can go the extra mile by reading interactively. Caregivers have the power to make read aloud time extra enjoyable for their children. Here are some easy ways to get your toddler excited about the books you read to them.
Read Aloud Tips
- Reread the story as many times as your little one wants to hear it
- Ask your child to find certain things on the page (“Can you find the girl wearing the purple shoes on the page?”)
- Go slow and take time to savor the illustrations together
- Have your child count items in the pictures (How many ducklings are there on this page?”)
- Pause to laugh at the funny parts of the story
- Allow your child to turn the pages
- Use expression in your voice
- Snuggle up and smile at your child
- Don’t rush the process
How To Entertain Toddlers
How do I entertain my 2 year old inside?
Create a safe space for your little one with fun indoor activities for toddlers. Kids this age generally love things like…
- Children’s pop up play tunnels
- Baskets of board books and lift the flap books
- Bubble machines
- Mega building blocks
- Magnetic building blocks
- Wooden blocks
How do I keep my 3 year old entertained indoors?
Many 3 year old children are developmentally capable of listening to intriguing stories for longer periods of time. Especially is they are already used to being read aloud to and not addicted electronic devices.
Set your 3 year old up with some simple indoor toddler activities such as lacing cards, play dough, kinetic sand, or stickers. While your child works on one of these rainy day activities, turn on a high quality audiobook for them.
I have a post with the best children’s audiobooks for you here:
How do I entertain my toddler on a rainy day?
There are many easy rainy day activities for toddlers to enjoy. Play peek-a-boo, hide and seek, or a board game with your toddler to pass the time during inclement weather.
Also, don’t be afraid to take your child outside in less than ideal weather. Each season offers a unique sensory experience vital to healthy childhood development.
Bundle your toddler up in a poncho and rainboots and allow them to splash in puddles on a rainy day.
Indoor Things To Do With Toddlers
- Draw custom pictures of your family and let your preschooler color them in
- Hide apples around your house and do a scavenger hunt
- Pretend care for baby dolls with bottles and blankets
- Play with cars, trucks, and trains together
- Memorize Mother Goose Poems
- Make bracelets and necklaces
- Play with farm animal toys
- Color in coloring books
- Sing songs together
- Have a dance party
- Play board games
Need more ideas to occupy your children? The easiest way by far is to remove screen time and whet your child’s appetite for unstructured outdoor play. Learn about the importance of play in the early years in this post:
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