Entertaining 2 year old? Easy! Throw them outside, let them collect rocks, water plants, move around boxes in garage and pretty much anything that picks there interest and gives you 5 minutes to breath and relax.
But what if that’s not the option? In summer, small pool will do wanders, but what if it’s raining all week? What do you do in fall and winter when the kids will be confined to indoors pretty much most of the time?
Luckily, the DIY moms put their best tips together and I have hand-picked some of the best activities to keep even the most energetic 2 year old busy.
Play Dress Up
Materials Needed: Old clothes, costumes, accessories
You can either bring a group of moms with their toddlers and have a dress up a play date for the day. Have each mom bring their own sets of fun old clothes and accessories, pile them up along with what you have and let your kiddies have fun creating their own image! Doing this with a group enhances your child’s imagination, creativity and social skills.
If it’s too much of a logistic hassle to invite people over, you and/or your partner can play dress up with your 2-year-olds.
And since it’s already the age of modern technology and high-tech mobile phone cameras, take lots of pictures of every costume your toddler comes up with!
Tea Party
Materials Needed: Cookies, drinks, tables, chairs, toys and plastic tea set
A tea party is one of the few indoor activities that can either be played for real or pretend. Simply set up the chairs and table, add some stuffed toys on the seats, put some cookies on a plate and set up a party set for your kids.
You may think that this kind of activity is only meant for girls. It’s actually not. Little boys can still join. This would be the perfect to start teaching them table manners.
But if you must, you can exclude your boys and invite some of your friends’ daughters to join in the fun.
Blanket Fort
Materials Needed: Blankets, chairs, lights, toys
If your little girls are busy playing tea party, your active boys can build their own blanket fort. Have your partner assist them in bringing chairs and enough blankets to make a cool fort they can crawl into. Add some pillows, lights and toys inside to keep them entertained.
You can also darken up the place and play a movie on the laptop.
This is good bonding time for daddies and their boys. You can also help them build their social skills by inviting neighborhood kids of the same age.
Paper Plate Toss Rings
Materials Needed: Paper plates, paint, tissue cores
The process of making this is already a fun indoor activity itself. Of course, you wouldn’t want a 2-year-old to be near paint or scissors but if you have older kids, you can have them help their younger siblings.
Simply cut a hole big enough to accommodate a tissue cure in the middle of the paper plate. You can have your kids paint their rings with whatever color they like and let the tossing begin!
Toss rings can also be a very helpful method for your toddlers to learn different colors and retain the information.
Toy Hide and Seek
Materials Needed: Toy
Explain the simple hide and seek game to your toddler. You can show them how it works and they’ll pick up pretty fast.
Simply choose a toy (their favorite toy would actually work best) and hide it from them. For sure they will look for it. Do it several times until they completely understand the concept and have fun!
Toddler Ball Drop
Materials Needed: 5Gal water container, golf balls, bucket
Set a marker for a start and end point. Place the golf balls inside the bucket by the start point. Then, place the water container at the end point. Show your toddler how the game works.
Pick up a golf ball from the bucket, walk towards the water container and drop the ball inside the container. Have your toddler repeat the process until you run out of balls. Get him excited by clapping or praising him every time he successfully drops a ball into the water container.
Puppet Show
Materials Needed: Old socks, brown paper bags, cardboard box, colored paper
Creating a puppet show with your older kids is a great way to have them bond with their siblings. Your toddlers can sit back, watch and be amazed while your older kids put on the show. If you do not have older kids, you can enlist the help of your partner or bring some of your girlfriends over so their kids can enjoy the show too!
Keeping the puppet show option as one of your go-to indoor activities can help enhance your child’s comprehension and imagination.
Red Light, Green Light
Materials Needed: Popsicle sticks, traffic light cut outs, glue and glitters
Explain what the traffic lights stand for to your child. Green means go, red means stop and yellow means slow down. This will teach your child how to have self-control and associate obeying your commands with fun.
You are bound to get fits of giggles here and there when your child has fully grasped the concept and is able to obey the paddles in a faster pace. Don’t forget to praise your child every time he gets it right.
Bowl-A-Rama
Materials Needed: Empty water bottles, a ball and paint
Color the insides of the water bottles with different colors by pouring some paint in it. Shake the contents until the entire area is covered with paint. Dump out the rest back into the paint can. Make sure the lid is secured shut to avoid paint splatters on your living room floor.
Set up a starting point and set the bottles the way bowling pins are set. Show your child how to play a few times and see the fun unfold!
Marble Racetrack
Materials Needed: Marbles, pool noodle and a shoebox
Cut the pool noodle in half and tape them side by side each other to make the racetrack. Place the starting line end of the noodle at the edge of an end table or coffee table to provide a slope and place the finish line inside the shoebox to catch the marbles. You can have your older kids play marble races with your toddler or play with him yourself.
This will train your child’s motor skills and strategic thinking. That is, of course, on top of all the fun both of you will be having!
Sponge Boats
Materials Needed: Sponge, wooden chopsticks, colorful paper, ruler, scissors and glue
Looking at it from the picture, it is quite easy to make. Simple cutouts of sponges and you have yourself a fun bathtime with your toddler. Choose colorful and interesting decorated paper for your sails. Something along the lines of their favorite cartoon character maybe?
Many thanks to Community Table for these indoor activities instructable!
Mini Car Wash
Materials Needed: Tub, water, soap, brush and plant sprayer
There are different variations of this activity. You can have your child play it in your bath tub where getting wet is no problem at all or you can provide a storage bin big and deep enough. Gather 5-8 of your son’s toy cars okay with water, fill the tub half way with soapy water and have your son wash his toy cars all the while pretending he owns a car wash. The plant sprayer can be added fun but can also be a lot messier.
You can also role play and be the customer. This would add excitement to the activity and teach your child social skills.
All Aboard
Materials Needed: Blanket
One of the simplest yet most fun indoor activities you can ever play with your two-year-old. Lay him on the blanket, tell him to hold on and take him for a fun ride across the floor!
This can also be done using a towel.
Pirate Play
Materials Needed: Wooden blocks and aluminum foil
Every kid, male or female, has dreamed of playing pirate even once in their childhood. I can’t blame them. It’s fun and exciting.
Wrap some wooden blocks with aluminum foil to make them look like gold and silver bars. Hide them around the house and have your toddler collect them by finding them. Dress them up in pirate costumes to make it even more real for them.
Family Room Picnic
Materials Needed: Blanket, plastic plates and cups, food and drinks
Indeed, this is a different version of a tea party but less formal and more unisex. Simply lay out a blanket on your family room floor, put some of your child’s favorite snacks on plastic plates and fill their cups with juice. Invite some of your neighbor’s kids and have a blast!
What are you waiting for? Get your creative juices flowing and plan out your daily indoor activities with your two-year-olds!
They’re not that difficult to entertain. Anything colorful would catch their attention already. One thing you need to make sure of is that you don’t get too repetitive. You can recycle activities on a weekly basis while you’re trying to come up with other indoor activities.
But, you have to accept that sooner or later, they will want to see what it’s like on the other side of that glass door where your family pet runs around all day.
Don’t think way ahead of yourself and enjoy every single day of your toddler’s years to the fullest! Got any indoor activities you’d like to share? Hit us up with a comment below!
Featured image: Parent Globe
