Fun activities two year olds

80 of the BEST Toddler Activities for 2 Year Olds

If you are looking for ideas as to what to do with your toddler today, you have come to the right place. We have a big list of activities for 2 year olds, toddler games, 2 year old toys and fun things to do with toddlers. Pssst…while this list was created with the 2 year old in mind, younger and older toddlers will enjoy many of the things we have selected.

BEST Activities for 2 Year Olds Toddlers

As my youngest toddler is crossing the threshold and becoming a three-year old, but before they do I want them to get the most out of this year so here are 80 of the BEST Activities for 2 Year Olds!

These are either things that my two year old enjoyed or would if we had thought of doing them this last year! These toddler activities and toddler games are guaranteed to keep little hands busy with great ideas in a bunch of different ways.

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2 Year Olds Love to Play

While every 2 year old is going to be a little different, one of the common traits found in 2-3 year old toddlers is that they love to play.

In fact, anything they do turns into toddler games!

I absolutely love that about two year old children…everything they play turns into toddler games. It is something we should all learn from!

Toddler Physical Abilities

Physically, toddlers are active participants in almost any activity that includes climbing, kicking, running (short distances), scribbling, squatting, hopping and the way they walk starts to appear more like an adult or child than a baby. It is amazing how quickly those gross motor skills develop.

Toddler Mental Abilities

Mentally, two year olds are grasping language with more skill, being more thoughtful and starting to strategize and hold concepts. In fact, it is at age 2 that toddlers often start running through scenarios in their head that can predict outcomes of actions.

Toddler Play Abilities

It is one of the reasons why play is such an important part of a 2 year olds life…it helps them develop both mentally and physically! Oh, and don’t forget that important toddler social component as well…remember that everything is toddler games to a two year old.

Fun Things For 2 Year Olds to Do to Exploring Color

1. Let’s Make Leftovers Art

Create colorful art using leftovers from around the house. Got different colors of scraps of paper, felt, and other odds and ends from other 2 year old crafts? These are perfect to create a wonderfully abstract masterpiece!

2. Play with Erupting Rainbow Chalk Paint

Side walk chalk is always a fun outdoor activity for kids. Let them create colorful designs and pictures. Then add a bit of science. Let them use a spray bottle of vinegar to watch their creations puff up!

3.

Create a color wheel by painting each section of a pie chart a color. Then pick out little toys and trinkets that are the same color. Once you have a basket of goodies allow your child to put each item in its corresponding color. This is such a fun way to learn the colors even on a rainy day.

4. Let’s Make a Summer Time Bucket List for 2 Year Olds

Get outside in the summer time and have fun with one of these simple busy toddler activities or make your summer exciting and try to do them all. It will keep your 2 year old active, exploring, moving, and learning each day.

5. Create Rainbow Hand Kites

These rainbow hand kites are an amazing way to not only learn colors, but to appreciate them as well! Your child will be mesmerized by the way the colorful ribbons and dance and flow with each movement in different ways.

6. Play a Color Wheel Game

Sorting is something that teaches kids patterns, helps them to learn how to differentiate, and is *fun* for little kids! The best part is, toddlers have multiple ideas for learning colors so these activities for 2 year olds never gets dull and are so much fun.

7. Make Rainbow Healthy Gummies Together

Help your kids eat all the colors of the rainbow – these gummy snacks for kids are fun to make, and tasty for even picky kiddos. Your 2 year old will never know they’re eating fruits and veggies, they taste so good.

8. Let’s Play Color And Word Games For 2 Year Olds

Jump through the different shapes and colors with a DIY hopscotch-like mat. Your child must follow the path across the mat by following the same color or the same shape. Plus, looking for some fun activities to do at home to teach your toddler words? There is also a magnetic word game as well!

Easy Crafts For 2 Year Olds

9. Paintsicles are Fun for Toddlers

Make finger painting more exciting by freezing paint in ice cubes for a cool colorful project. Do single colors, mix colors, add glitter, make it unique. Either way, your 2 year old will get to make a neat art project and work on their fine motor skills. It is a win-win.

10. Have Fun with a Sibling Made Toddler Puzzle

Need fun activities at home for older kids? Get an older sibling to paint a picture and turn it into a toddler puzzle. They can do a portrait, make a train, or whatever else your 2 year old may fancy. Plus, it is a great way to get your children to bond and promote kindness.

11. Painting With Cookie Cutters

Make prints with plastic letters – a great way to play with color and the alphabet at the same time. Not only is this a fun way to teach your 2 year old about letters, but it is a great way to start teaching them about words!

12. Teaching Your 2 Year Old About Germs

The year 2020 brought a sobering reminder that germs are very real. Making your own hand sanitizer and cleaning your toddlers hands with homemade hand sanitizer is a great way to remind them we must always clean our hands!

13. Fork Painted Fish Craft

Get creative with paint. Use different objects to make prints. Check out this forked fish. The texture is so neat and makes the fish looks like it has scales. Mix colors, make zig zags, stagger the strokes, these fish are your canvas!

14. Make Paper Plate Roses Together

Roses are such beautiful flowers with such deep meanings. Now your toddler can make their own Paper Plate Roses. They are colorful, fun, and an easy craft for your toddler. The best part is you can make different colored ones! All you need is different colored paper plates.

15. Let’s Play with Kids Face Painting

Face painting is something that my kiddos love. The first thing they do with markers is draw on themselves. Now you can put together a face painting kit! Use non-toxic paints and markers in your kits and add things like napkins, a towel, paintbrushes, and a couple other items you they will need.

16. Hey, Let’s Make DIY Chalk

Another favorite at our house is diy side walk chalk. They love to smash the chalk to bits in colorful blotches. Make your own paintable chalk version. Or you could make spray chalk, erupting ice chalk, glow in the dark chalk, there are so many options.

17. Oh So Many Crafts For 2 Year Olds

Get crafting with our huge list of toddler crafts. We have over 100 toddler crafts available from parents and bloggers just like you! From painting, tea parties, dry erase games, educational activities, dress up, gifts,, we have a little bit of everything!

18. Let’s Paint with Bathtub Paint

Bathtub paint for kids is one of our favorite ways to make bath time fun! It is so easy to make! You probably have most of the ingredients already in your pantry.

19. Sensory Paint Play

Explore different textures! Paint on unusual surfaces, like bubble wrap with your kids. You can add other textures like pebbles and beads! Paint in a bin, on skin, it is fun and makes finger painting more exciting.

Sensory Activities Your 2 Year old will Love!

20. Easy Rainbow Pasta Fun

Rainbow Spaghetti is a fun medium for kids to explore. Dye it for extra fun. Noodles have a very squishy and sticky texture, it is fun to place with, safe if your toddler puts it in their mouth, plus, save some for later for a fun dinner.

21. Kool Aid Shaving Cream Sensory Play

Shaving cream is a great sensory tool for kids. Add Koolaid for colors and scent variations. If you want to make this a little safer for 2 year olds and babies who may still stick their fingers in their mouths you can substitute shaving cream for Cool Whip.

23. Make a Paper Plate Bird Craft

Feathers are a fun thing to craft and play with. Create a fun, colorful bird in this preschool craft. This is a fun and colorful craft, not only because of the paint, but because of the rainbow feathers! Feathers are such a fun texture to play with.

24. Play in a Rainbow Sensory Tub

Pasta is a blast to play with in a sensory tub. Dye it and add some element shapes for kids to have fun digging, sorting, and touching. Add in colorful rings and plastic coins for even more textures. Add cups for the kids to shake the noodles and trinkets around.

25. Process Art is Fun Toddler Play

Kids love big canvases. Keep one around the house for your kids to paint whenever the desire strikes. Let them spray the paint, mix it, use rollers, and brushes to create a giant, beautiful, piece of art.

26. Rainbow Finger Bath Paint

If you don’t like mess, maybe the bath tub will be a better place for your kids to explore color mixing. These paints are non-toxic and safe for kids and your bathtub and the best part is, while they’re learning their colors you won’t be scrubbing paint off of chairs and the floor.

27. Make a Confetti Collage

Give your kids a hole punch and colorful sheets of paper. They will have a blast creating confetti – and afterwards craft with the bits. Use a paintbrush and glue and then sprinkle the confetti on top to create a rainbow masterpiece.

28. Play with Rainbows

Preschoolers can learn about more than color as they explore. This is a fun rainbow-themed math activity. It uses paint, toilet paper rolls, stickers, clay, and coins! Who knew math could be so fun?

Toddler Games & Sensory Play Ideas for 2 Year Olds

29. Playdough, Beads, And Pipe Cleaners Toddler Activities

Add pipe cleaners and large beads to playdough play – it will help your kids develop fine motor skills. Plus, they create all sorts of creatures and monsters! Let their imaginations run wild.

30. Stacking Cups for Gross Motor Play

Two year olds have fun rolling stacking cups, and pretending to drink/eat. Add beans or rice and let them scoop and pour. Even better, let them shake them all around to make neat sounds. Worried they’ll put a bean in their mouth? Use Fruity Pebbles instead any round cereal like Coco Puffs or Cheerios for their toddler game.

31. Make Chocolate Ice Cream Play Dough

Chocolate Ice Cream, our preschoolers love to eat it – and this play dough recipe smells delish! Let them pretend to work at an ice cream shop. Give them other color playdough to make sprinkles and cherries! Just a heads up, this chocolate ice cream playdough may smell amazing, however, it is not edible! A taste won’t hurt, it won’t taste good, but this is not one of our edible recipes.

32. Creative Activities For Toddlers At Home

Rice is a fun sensory table addition. It’s cheap and easy to find, and kids love the texture falling through their fingers. Add wooden spoons, tiny cups, hide treasure in the rice, let them pour the rice through a funnel.

33. Arts And Crafts For 2 Year Olds

Toddler art projects can be daunting. Here are 10 easy and fun sensory arts and crafts for two year olds. Promote imaginary play with an ice cream dough bar, play with water beads, paint with yogurt, and there are so many more fun activities to choose from.

34. Who Made That Footprint

Make footprints in playdough with your 2 year old’s favorite toys, then see if they can match the footprints to the toys! It is such a cute game and a great problem solving game as they have to match each footprint with their toys. Plus, it teaches about body parts like feet as they have to search for toys with feet.

35. Let’s Make Homemade Story Stones

Story-telling is a great way to help toddlers develop language patterns and learn sequencing of events. Make your own story stones using pictures of: animals, bugs, aliens, toys, and automobiles. Put them all in a basket and then let the pick one at a time to continue the story.

36. Play Concentration Game

Play a learning game of concentration with your kiddo. Put three items up and remove one. Have your child identify which object was removed. It is a great way to work on problem solving and refine your child’s memory and teaches them to pay attention.

37. Playdough Kabobs are Fun to Make

Make Kabobs of play dough. Form beads and thread them. Great way for kids to explore texture and motor control. Plus it will teach your child about colors and they can count each playdough balls.

38. Fruity Bubble Tea for Play

Water beads are the rage. Here are water beads that toddlers can play with, and even eat as part of a bubble tea. It is a fun texture to play with, to eat, plus they’re full of calories if your child doesn’t like to eat a lot.

Toddler Games & Fun Things to Do with a 2 Year Old Outside

39. Play in a Mud Pie Kitchen

Mudpies!! It’s a quintessential kids activity – make an mini-outdoor kitchen for your kids to cook and create in. Use a wooden crate and add a bowl, a whisk, spoons, pans, a kettle full of water, and don’t forget the chalkboard menu.

40. Colored Cloud Dough Play

Cloud dough is so soft and squishy, they will play with it for hours. Plus, it is made from a lot of things you may already have at home. It is a fun sensory craft for 2 year olds. Let them build, squish, and smash this soft cloud dough.

41. Make Sandbox On Wheels

Sandboxes are a mess… but what if they were small, easy to cover, and you could drag it into the garage when you were done?? Win! This is a sandbox on wheels. Pile on the toys to hide them and keep your yard clean.

42. Ways To Spend Time With Your 2 Year Old

When was the last time you surprised your child with a picnic – for breakfast? This site has a bunch of other creative ways to connect with your kids. It has great tips to spend time with your kids everyday even in the smallest of moments.

43. Playing with Frozen Water Beads

On a hot afternoon, frozen water beads are a huge hit! Fill a big bucket with them. They’re cold and great for a hot day, but you can spray water on them to thaw them out. There textures change and it makes a fun sensory bin.

44. Outdoor Activities For Toddlers

Do your kids hide in clothes at a department store? Mine do! Recreate that experience by hanging fabric for your kids to run through at home. You can hang sheets, blankets, dresses, long shirts and let them run through!

45. DIY Outdoor Sound/Music Station

This is so cool! Create a sound/music station for your 2 year old using pots, pans, racks, and bells. Bang the afternoon away with a fun musical wall – attach it to a fence in your back yard.

46. Nature And Water Play For Toddlers

It’s a soup!! Only you can’t eat it. This soup is made from flower petals and cut up fruit and water. Smells lovely, and is a hit with the kids! You can add other things too like leaves, stones, and stir with sticks or spoons. Make this nature soup your own.

47. Egg Carton Color Sorting

Use egg cartons to help your kids differentiate between colors with this fun sorting activity. Paint each egg carton a different color and then fill a bowl full of pom poms. Put each pom pom in its correlating colors. If you use spoons and tongs it also helps refine your child’s fine motor skills.

48. How To Make Sponge Bombs

Sponge bombs are the BEST! Make a big batch of them, and add them to your tots bath toys. They also make amazing summer toys as well! Plus, they’re safer for 2 year olds than water balloons.

49. Sidewalk Simon Game

Play with all the colors of the rainbow in this fun Simon Says game. This is a fun outdoors game that will teach your 2 year old about colors while keeping them moving. Say a color and they will need to hop to that color.

50. Cardboard Boat For 2 Year Olds

Card board boats are a blast. This is a fun pretend version you can add to your backyard. It will be loved until it can no longer hold it together anymore. It promotes pretend play, and if you’re able to tape boxes together or use a large box there will even be room for you!

51. Rainbow Bubble Snakes

2 year olds love bubbles, colors, and messy activities! These rainbow bubble snakes are all 3! Bubbles are a blast, especially lots of them. These bubble snakes are perfect for kids who want to learn to blow or who love popping bubbles and they are rainbow!

Fun Toddler Activities For 2 Year Olds Who Are Active

52. Exploring Color Theory

Summer time ice-cube sculptures. Your two year old can stack colored blocks of ice and watch the colors melt together. Not only is this a fun way to beat the heat, but it is a fun way to learn colors and learn about mixing colors like red and blue make purple. Make this even more fun, and tasty, and freeze different color Kool-Aid’s!

53. Make a Snack Together

Is your child a snacker? Spend time together cooking and make a batch of snacks for toddlers and have a picnic together. Make popsicles from real fruit, muffins, fruit snacks, yogurt gummies, trail mix and more.

54. Water Bead And Flower Sensory Tub

Do your kids love flowers?? Mine do! Check out this flower sensory bin. Add water beads and different flowers and water! This changes the texture of the water beads and each flower feels different as some will be wet and others dry. Dip your hands or feet in the bin.

55. Let’s Make an Indoor Fort Together

Who doesn’t love pillow forts? Building forts and hanging out inside forts is a blast for kids. They love cubbies to crawl into. We love these indoor forts for toddlers. There are 25 to choose from and each one is cool and unique in its own right.

56.

Pretend play is such an important thing for kids to do. It promotes social skills, cooperative play, and problem solving. Young preschoolers are just beginning to play pretend. These 75+ Pretend games help them build an imaginary world.

57. Watermelon Activities

Your kids don’t need to have blocks to build. Use chunks of watermelon this summer with your preschoolers. Not only can you build with it, but you can make squish bags, math bags, and best of all, snack!

58. No-Mess Finger Painting

You can fill bags of paint for kids to squish and trace in as mess free finger paint. It is clean play so you don’t have to worry about any scrubbing or baths afterwards. They can still draw pictures in the paint and even mix the colors.

59. Play with a Ball Maze

Drop the ball through a fun maze – your kids can create and explore with long paper tubes. You could even use toy cars with this maze. Either way, it is a lot of fun! All you need is cardboard tubes, can boxes, cutting utensils and a hot glue gun as well as ping pong balls.

60. Spaghetti Shop Play

Promote pretend play with this fun activity. Make an “invitation to play” for your kids cooked noodles (plain and red dyed), paper plates, tongues, forks and strainers – it’s a pasta party! Not only will it promote pretend play, but using tongues and letting two year olds move noodles from various containers is a great way to promote fine motor skill practice.

61. Play with Learning Letters

Water – everything is more fun with water. Use a squirt gun or spray bottle to learn the letters with your toddler. Write letters on a chalkboard. They can be in order or they can be all mixed up. Then name a letter and let your child find it and spray it with a water bottle to erase it from the lineup. A normal water bottle may be hard for 2 year olds, so a wet rag or sponge could also work.

Fun Activity Ideas For Toddlers At Home

62. Quiet Play for Toddlers

It isn’t often you can get 2 year olds to be quiet or settle down. But this toilet paper activity is perfect. You don’t need fancy toys to build towers. Use toilet paper – if your kids are like mine, they will enjoy unraveling a roll or two, too. But they can build, drive cars over and around them, and knock them down!

63. Water Play Ideas For 2 Year Olds

We have 20 easy young toddler water play ideas will get them outside on a hot day! Splash in puddles, dance in the rain, wash the car, build your own water table, paint with water, and there are many more fun ideas that you can do together!

64. Five Senses Exploration

Learn all about the five senses with this fun printable for kids. This is such a well-rounded sensory activity as it focuses on: touching, hearing, smelling, sight, and tasting. It is a great way to teach 2 year olds about the world around them and help them explore different textures and different items around them.

65. Simple Play With A Ramp

This is one of our go-to activities for 2 year olds. Grab a box – it can be a terrific launch ramp for toy cars. If you have stairs you can lay the box against them or if you don’t a chair or the couch. But then watch the cars and bikes fly!

66. Make Toddler Friendship Bracelets

Toddler friendship bracelets are a fun way to practice cutting and threading fine motor skills. Plus, they are super cute! Cut up different colored straws and use the pieces as beads and loop them onto a pipe cleaner.

67. Easy Indoor Ring Toss For Toddlers

Use a lump of play dough and a wooden spoon to create a pole to toss rings on. This is a great way for kids to develop hand-eye coordination. Use plastic bracelets as the rings.

68. Bucket List For Toddlers

Encourage your kids to be active with one of these 25 super simple activities. We have silly activities like singing into a fan (robot voice!) and simple activities like moping the floor with socks, or building forts, and so many more! Your 2 year old will love them all!

69.

Create a quiet book to entertain your 2 year olds during nap time or another calm period. This free template helps you put together a book full of fun felt puzzles and activities. It will keep your child busy for hours!

70. Toddler Kerplunk Game

Kerplunk is such a fun classic game and is one of our favorite activities for 2 year olds. Grab a spaghetti strainer and some pom-poms for a fun game. Don’t worry the plastic sticks aren’t sharp because they are straws! This is such a fun problem solving game!

71. Rock Sensory Box

Rocks. My kids love to play with them when they are at the park. Teach them not to throw rocks at home with a fun box. Plus, each rock has different textures. Some are smooth, some are tiny, some are jagged, and some are rough like pumice.

72. Edible Sand For 2 Year Olds

Do your kids want to play in the sandbox, but they are just a touch to young as they put everything in their mouths?? Create edible sand! All you need is a food processor and crackers! You could probably also use something like cheerios or graham crackers for a sweeter version of this edible sand. Either way, your 2 year old will love it!

73. Foam Block Building Ideas

Build with blocks in a water table – a fun outdoor experience. Trace the foam blocks with chalk! That way 2 year olds can learn colors and shapes. Work on your 2 year olds motor skills by sticking the foam blocks to sticky paper. Last, promote pretend play while working on your 2 year olds fine motor skills by letting them build. Use shaving cream as cement!

Activities to Encourage Independence in our 2 Year Olds

74. Printable Chore List

Help foster independence and teach work ethic with ideas from our chore list for your preschooler. Each chore list is sectioned off by age groups. So there are lists for toddlers, preschoolers, elementary kids, older elementary kids, and middle schoolers.

75. Building Towers

Build towers with all the old boxes you can collect – use tape to keep them together and bring a step stool. Let the kids do all the “heavy lifting” (they’re empty so no back brace is needed) and then let them decorate their amazing towers with paint!

76. Introduction To A Ruler

Your kids may not understand lengths and how to use a ruler yet, but they can learn to intuitively grasp varying amounts with the help of scissors, play dough and a ruler. It is a great way to introduce tools they’ll need for school and work on their fine motor skills.

77. Fine Motor Activities For Toddlers At Home

Colanders and straws are the perfect way to help 2 year olds practice their fine motor skills. This can even be used as one of our fun games for 3 years old. It is simple, let your child stick straws through the holes in the colander. It will take precision to get them in!

78. DIY Cutting Station

Create a cutting station! It is one of our fun activities to do at home. Not only is it fun, but helps your 2 year old practice their fine motor skills as well. Use a bucket and tie a pair of scissors to it. Hopefully, kids will keep the scraps contained this way.

79. Making Clean Up Fun

How to get kids to clean? Make cleaning fun! Add music, set a timer, hide prizes around the room! Also breaking down the cleaning tasks and even taking a before an after picture will make it easier on kids and make them feel more accomplished for doing their chores.

80. Toddlers can Help Clean

Encourage your kids to contribute and clean with some of these tips. Mop the floors with socks! Make your own cleaner out of non-toxic items in your home and let your child spray and wipe! This will make cleaning fun, but also teach them responsibility.

More Kids Activities for 2 year olds

Leave a Comment: Which of these toddler activities did your 2 year old enjoy the most? Did we miss a great activity on our list of toddler activities?

40+ Quick & Easy Activities for Two-Year-Olds

Our two-year-old kids *love* to BE BUSY with all sorts of activities.   We have a two-year-old boy and girl and they are constantly doing and creating. I am sure my toddlers are not alone in the seemingly boundless energy. Below are some of the games that my 2-year-olds love to play.

Fun Activities for Two Year Olds

1. Measuring Activity for 2-Year-olds

Help your child learn how to measure using kitchen stuff in this fun activity from Kids Activities Blog.

2. Letter Recognition Activity

Your 2-year-old will enjoy learning about letters when you make letters with playdough along with them!

3. Simple Baking Soda and Vinegar Experiment

Awaken the scientist in your toddler as you both explore chemical reactions with baking soda and vinegar.

4. Fun Music Time with Toddlers

Jam to musical instruments with your 2-year-old in this fun musical activity!

5. Cool Color Game for Your Little One

Play with a muffin tin and toy balls as a color game for toddlers.

6. Colorful Playdough Hair Activity

Get wacky with your 2-year-old as you both decorate faces with playdough hair.

7. Fun Squishy Aquarium Project

Make Squishy bags into an aquarium for your kids to explore.

8. Healthy Snack Necklace

Make a fruit (or veggie) snack necklace for your little ones to make and eat.

9. Wondeful Toddler Birthday Party Ideas

Throw your child’s favorite toy, a birthday party.

10. Bubbles and Balls Bath Play

Play with bubbles and balls in a tub.

11. Awesome Music Tubes for 2-year-olds

Get some PVC pipes, add some seeds – tubes for toddlers!

12. Foam Plate Fun Activity

Stab at a foam plate with this toddler activity.

Help your Child Develop With these Fun Toddler Activities

13. Cut-Up Straw Bracelets

Make bracelets from cut-up straws. Great for fine motor development!

14. Pick-Up Items Game for 2-Year-Olds

Dig out the kitchen tongs and have fun picking up items.

15. Super Fun Pompom Game Idea

Play with pompoms! Let your kiddo try blowing them across the floor.

16. Fun Craft Stick Ideas For 2-Year-Olds

Build with craft sticks –  just use Velcro dots to make them reusable.

17. Collage-Making Toddler Project

Make collages together – a fun two-year-old activity.

18. Basketful of Play Items for Toddlers

18. Create a basket of play items – great for the development of play!

19. Plank Walk Balancing Game

Practice balancing with a plank of wood (aka. Balance beam).

20. Yummy Edible Sand

Create an edible “sand” using cheerios and start the afternoon toddler fun!

Easy Toddler Crafts & Ways to Get creative with Play

21. Crafty Beads and Pipe Cleaners Project

Use beads and pipe cleaners to create sculptures.

22. Colorful Spray Bottle Paint

Watch your kids have fun and create with “spray bottle” paint.

23. Fun Outdoor Nature Activity

Go on a nature hunt around your neighborhood with your 2-year-old.

24. Lovely Halloween Luminary Project

Make a night light for your kids to interact with. This tutorial is for a Halloween luminary but you can easily make it with any shapes and characters your child loves.

25. Edible Jewels for 2-Year-Olds

Play with “edible jewels” and eat pomegranate seeds.

26. Toddler Finger Painting Activity

Finger paint while in the bath. It is a great way to have less-mess art time.

27. Fun Chalkboard Games

Make chalkboard games with your kiddo, outside!

28. Clever Animal Tracks in Playdough

Let your little ones make tracks in playdough with their favorite toy animals.

29. Awesome Pouring Activity with 2-Year-Olds

Practice pouring with your child. Give them a pitcher and some cups.

30. Crafty Slime Recipes for Kiddos

Make different slime recipes with your kids to expose them to many weird and ooey-gooey textures.

More Toddler Fun for 2 Year Olds

31. Baby Shark in the Bathtub Game

Your 2-year-old will love playing with Baby Shark crayons in the bathtub.

32. Fine Motor Practice with Scissors

Give your child a pair of funky scissors and let them shred paper.

33. Lovely Floating Bouquet

Let your little ones play with petals in a floating bouquet.

34. Playdough and LEGO Activity

Make lego puzzles in playdough to teach your 2-year-old about shape matching.

35. Crafty Felt Binder Activity

For a quiet-time Kids Activity, have your kids play with a felt activity binder.

36. Floating Bouquet Project for Toddlers

Play with petals in a floating bouquet in this super fun activity!

37. Toddler-Friendly Edible Playdough

Make edible play dough, just in case.

38. Fun Crafts and Activities for Toddlers

Here are 32 *other* fun ideas of things to do with your kids.

39. Colorful Sensory Bags for Little Ones

Create sensory bags with your toddler and watch them get amazed!

40. Clever Invitation Ideas

Create an invitation to playtime – in a bag! Every kid will love to get one.

Toddler Early Learning Fun

Have you tried the ABC Mouse app? Our toddlers learned how to count and learned the alphabet from playing games on it! Check it out and get a 30-day FREE trial here!

More Fun Activities For Kids from Kids Activities Blog

What 2-year-old activities are your toddler’s favorite play ideas?

Educational activities for children 2–3 years old

At the age of two or three years, a child actively explores the world around him, learns to talk and communicate with adults and peers. During this period, his personality begins to form. Therefore, parents need to pay special attention to the development of speech, thinking, social skills.

Contents of the article:

• Classes for the development of logical and mathematical thinking
• Lessons for the development of speech
• Gross and fine motor activities
• Classes on the study of the properties of objects
• Getting to know the outside world
• Output

Classes for the development of logical and mathematical thinking

The thinking of two and three year olds is clearly effective. The ability to think logically implies the ability to analyze, compare and generalize. You can develop logic and teach your little one basic math skills with the help of the following exercises.

✅Comparison

Take a handful of buttons or other small items and divide them into two unequal piles. The child must determine which pile has a lot of buttons, and which has few. If he does not see the difference between the concepts of "a lot and a little", explain to him what it is.

The second variation of this exercise is the value comparison. Take several objects or toys of different sizes. Ask the baby to show where the small objects are and where the large ones are.

✅Score

Children at the age of two or three are not yet familiar with numbers. It is better to master the counting skill on surrounding objects or on the fingers. Teach your child to show his age on his fingers, tell him how old he will be in a year, two, three.

It is convenient to use counting sticks or any other items for counting. Climbing the stairs with your child, count the steps, passing houses - windows, walking along the alley - trees or lampposts.

✅ Hidden Object

Hide the toy in the room and ask your baby to find it. Help him by suggesting places to search - under the sofa, behind the armchair, in the closet, etc. Then you can switch roles - the child hides the toy, and you are looking for it.

Speech development classes

Between the ages of two and three, children experience a significant leap in speech development. Their vocabulary is replenished very quickly. Having become acquainted with a new word, children bring it into their vocabulary and begin to actively use it. Simple exercises will help develop speech skills.

✅Reading

The best way to develop speech is reading. Buy picture books for 2-3 year olds. Choose poems, fairy tales, nursery rhymes. It is useful for a child to listen to both prose and poetry.

When reading a fairy tale, ask your child questions about the plot. If he finds it difficult to answer, help him. Explain the meaning of each unknown word. Look at the illustrations in the book and discuss with your child.

✅Singing

This fun activity encourages speech development and voice training. Sing with your baby children's songs with and without musical accompaniment. Children quickly memorize rhyming lines and a motive, and sing along with adults with pleasure.

✅Composing proposals

Think of the beginning of a sentence and ask your child to continue it. For example, "Mom bought today in the store ..." or "Black runs down the street ...".

✅ Discuss the events of the day

Discuss the events with your child every day. For example, “You and I went to the park today and fed the ducks in the pond. And in the evening, my grandmother came to visit and brought a delicious pie, ”etc. If the baby goes to kindergarten, ask him to tell you how the day went, what he did, what interesting things happened.

✅Describing objects

Take an object and ask the child to describe it, asking leading questions (What color is it? Is it big or small? What does it look like? What is it for? etc.).

At the age of 2–3, children still do not pronounce words well, many of them abbreviate and distort. Be sure to correct your child when they speak incorrectly. Of course, he still does not know how to pronounce all the sounds, so a clear pronunciation will not work. But still, try to teach the baby to speak as correctly as possible.

Classes for the development of attention

At such an early age, attention is involuntary. This means that the child does not yet know how to concentrate it by willpower. His attention is attracted by what is of interest (a bright toy, the sound of music, people around him). Attention, like other mental processes, can and should be developed.

✅Search for an object

Take a picture with a story and ask the child to find a certain object or character in it. The same exercise can be performed outdoors. Ask the baby to show a flower, a red car, a cat, a girl in a green jacket, etc.

✅Similar Detection

Take an object, such as a book, and ask the baby to look around the room for things similar in shape to her. It can be a phone, a tablet, a picture on the wall. You can search for objects that are similar not in shape, but in color, size and other features.

✅Finding the Missing Item

Take some toys, arrange them on the table and ask your child to look at them carefully and memorize them. Then he should turn away or leave the room, and at this time you remove one toy. The task of the child is to determine which toy has disappeared.

Classes for the development of gross and fine motor skills

Finger motor skills are directly related to cognitive processes - speech, memory, thinking. Therefore, it needs to be developed. There are many exercises for this.

✅ Games with small objects

Invite your child to sort the buttons by size, string large beads on a string, roll the balls in his hands. Be careful not to put a small object in your mouth, nose, or ear.

✅Construction set and jigsaw puzzle

Buy your child a construction kit or jigsaw puzzle for kids and build with him. This exciting activity strengthens the small muscles of the hand, makes the fingers more dexterous, trains attention and imagination.

✅Sculpting

Sculpt with your child various figures from clay, plasticine or salt dough. To make the lesson more interesting and exciting, read a fairy tale or watch a cartoon, and then try to make a character you like.

✅Finger games

Not only babies love to play finger games. Toddlers aged two or three love them too. Teach your baby to fold fingers into different shapes:

• fold your thumb and forefinger into a ring and bring it to your eyes - you get glasses, and if you use all your fingers - binoculars;
• clench the hand into a fist and stick out the index finger and little finger - these are the horns of a goat;
• "Step" with your index and middle fingers on the table, representing the legs.

Invite your child to show their imagination by inventing and putting together unusual shapes from their fingers.

Gross motor skills are developed by ball games, cycling, jumping, wall bars and any physical activity. Teach your child to fasten and unfasten buttons, Velcro, hooks on clothes, put on and take off things on their own.

Classes for the development of intellectual abilities

Reading, music, creative work, solving logical and mathematical problems contribute to the development of the baby's intellect.

✅Drawing

Invite your child to draw a house, himself, mother. Set a theme for the picture, tell the child what details can be added to it. For example, a house can be surrounded by trees, the sun and clouds can be depicted in the sky.

✅ Role-playing games

Make up a story, choose the right toys and play it out with your baby. For example, a doll is sick: you need to put her to bed, take her temperature, give her medicine in a spoon.

✅Music

Listening to classical music has a positive effect on the mental development of children, and also brings up a sense of beauty in them. It is useful not only to listen to music, but also to dance to it. This has a positive effect on both mental and physical development.

✅Puzzles

Collecting puzzles trains attention, thinking, memory. Buy your child large puzzles with a small amount of detail and a clear image. First collect them together with the baby, and then invite him to do it on his own.

✅Sorting items

Shuffle the cards with different items and ask the child to sort them into categories, eg vegetables, fruits, clothes, furniture.

✅Riddles

Riddles are good for training the intellect. The main thing is to select tasks that are age-appropriate and understandable to the child.

✅Sunny bunny

On a clear day you can play with sun bunnies. Take a mirror and start letting bunnies on the ceiling, floor, walls. Then give the mirror to the child and let him try it himself. Coordinate his movements, suggesting how to catch a ray of the sun and direct it in the right direction.

Classes to study the properties of objects

Learning the properties of various objects develops the thinking of the baby, helping him to understand how and for what this or that thing can be used.

Teach your child to compare objects according to the following criteria:

• size - big, small, tall, low, long, short;
• state - hard, soft, liquid, warm, cold;
• shape - round, square, rectangular, etc.;
• color.

Anything can be used as a "learning tool".

• Pour cold water into one glass and warm tea into another and ask your child how they differ (color, temperature, taste).
• Sew a few fabric bags (you can use old socks) and fill them with sand, beans, small stones, balls, etc. Let the child try to feel what is in each bag.
• Buy a sorter - a special container with slots in the form of different geometric shapes and a set of matching inserts. The task of the child is to choose the right figure for each hole.
• Invite the baby to feel different materials - leather, fur, silicone, wood. Let him tell you how they differ (fluffy fur, smooth skin, etc.).

Getting to know the outside world

The scope for exploring the outside world is very wide:

• Animals. Tell your child which animals are domestic and which are wild, in what conditions they live, what their cubs are called. If you have the opportunity to visit the zoo, be sure to do so.
• Plants. On a walk, pay your baby's attention to the trees, flowers, shrubs growing around. Tell us what they are called, which ones are fruit. Collect the leaves and look at them with your baby.
• Natural phenomena. Tell your child about different natural phenomena, the change of seasons and the weather. By the age of three, the baby should already know the name of the seasons and their main features.
• Materials. Tell your child about the materials from which various things are made (wood, metals, fabrics, paper, plastic).

At the age of two or three years, learning takes place in the form of a game. The main thing is to interest the child, and then he will be happy to study. Try to spend as much time as possible with the baby, do not dismiss his questions, but always answer them.

Invite the baby to help with the housework, give him small tasks (bring bread to the table, pour food for the cat, put away toys). Daily activities contribute to the development of independence and discipline.

Withdrawal

Child development centers and kindergartens "Baby Club" conduct classes for children of younger and older preschool age. Experienced teachers will help to reveal the abilities of your baby and teach him useful skills. We have general and individual development programs. Sign up for a consultation and come to a trial lesson. We look forward to seeing you and your child!

12 ideas from experienced mothers on what to do with their child 2

We all have experienced situations when, for one reason or another, we cannot leave the house with the child: whether it is a ban on walking due to vaccinations or just on the street the weather is so bad that there is no desire to go out into the “fresh air”.
In this article we will tell you how and how to entertain a two-year-old child in order to usefully and have fun:

1. Sports at home

You can do sports at home. To do this, it is not at all necessary to run around the site and collect abrasions and bruises. You will need a ball, a radio or a children's music tablet with your favorite fun songs, soft toys.

1.1. Ortho mats:

No one canceled the benefits of morning exercises. It is doubly good to spend it with cheerful music, you can always dance and make a little face at the end. Kids love it when serious parents start falling into childhood. But any daily procedure can be slightly diversified. For example, we all know how important it is at such a tender age to strengthen the muscles of the feet and legs. Special ortho-rugs can be a great help in this.

Take off your shoes and socks and go to the spikes. They are made of soft plastic, and of course will not harm your child. Only 15 minutes of training on such mats contributes to the proper formation of the foot, stimulates nerve endings, so that the effect is not only on the legs, but on the whole body as a whole, and of course this is an excellent prevention of flat feet. Walk back and forth, run back and forth, trample like a bear cub on the outside of your foot, then on the inside. Walk on your toes and then on your heels. Toddlers love this game, especially if you set an example for them.

1.2. Ball games:

Of course, we do not offer you to play football at home, although the decision is in any case at the discretion of adults. The simplest ball games are throwing and catching. Or, for example, sit opposite each other and roll it.
You can diversify the game by adding a small element of learning "edible-non-edible".

1.3. Dancing:

Invite your child to learn any dance - well, at least the dance of little ducklings. The melody is cheerful, the movements are simple. First together, and then solo, the child will be happy to repeat the movements. This is a great workout for muscle memory and overall movement coordination.

2.

Of course, you can't dance all the time or run around the room. The baby needs variety and rest. And that means it's time to load your head a little. There are a lot of options here:

2.1. Educational cards

By the age of two, the child already speaks well, and if the process is not yet established, then he understands everything 100%.

Offer your child educational cards with pictures of animals, birds, household items, fruits, vegetables, transportation, natural phenomena. To begin with, just introduce him, what is the name, what this or that object is intended for. Soon your baby will learn all the concepts and you can start sorting, for example. Animals to animals, birds to birds, edible/inedible, flies/crawls/swims, hot/cold, dangerous/safe, etc.
Such exercises perfectly develop memory and logical thinking.

2.2. Books.

The benefits of reading are invaluable. For example, the author of the popular book Mathematics and ABCs for Geniuses, Maria Bakhtina, believes that a child at the age of 2 years old is able to learn to read and do simple mathematical calculations.

Don't try to make a kid a genius if he's not ready for it, which means that learning letters and counting can be postponed until later. However, no one bothers you to read. Without exception, all children love fairy tales, do not change them for audio books. The child will become older and will be able to perceive them, but now he needs your story, your emotions, your interpretation of what is told. Do not forget that there are many old words in fairy tales that are not used now, so be sure to explain their meanings to your child.

A 2-year-old child absorbs vocabulary like a sponge, the more varied the books, the better. Time-tested Russian folk tales, poems by Chukovsky, Marshak, Barto - there is nothing better than time-tested authors.

But there are books without words at all, they contain only drawings. The beauty of these books is that adults each tell their own story. Dads in their way, moms in theirs. For example, picture books from the famous German designer Susanna Berner Rotraut. Books give an idea of ​​the daily life of the city, the rules of conduct and the consequences of certain actions. You can look at this book for a long time and still find something new every time. The main thing is your desire and imagination.

2.3. Educational toys.

At the moment, a huge number of educational toys are presented, many of which are already available for two-year-olds:

2.3.1. Sorters - allow you to study the shape, color, develop fine motor skills of hands, logic, memory. Many are made in the form of houses, cars or animals to attract the attention of a child.
- Labyrinths. They can be a little tricky for a two year old as they use both hands, but if you want you can practice so that the baby will play with them without the help of adults.
2.3.2. Knockers . We learn to hammer carnations or drive in multi-colored balls. Fun and interesting to develop fine motor skills.
2.3.3. Puzzle inserts . A 2-year-old child has not yet grown up to adult puzzles. And the puzzle insert is an intermediate stage. So to speak, zero in front of real puzzles.
The child's task is to put the picture in a pre-designated place on the board. Very exciting, and most importantly, the baby can play independently.
2.3.4. Laces and beads . This game is for co-creation: although the beads are big, if your baby still puts everything in his mouth, it is better to play together. The task is to string the beads on a cord-rope (at the end there is a wooden “needle”).

2.4. Modeling and painting

Many things are available to children today, including quick-wash markers and paints. You can draw whatever comes to your mind, or, for example, numbers or letters, you can buy ready-made coloring pages. By the way, bookstores often sell many-time water coloring pages - very convenient, and most importantly, not marco.

Not a bad thing - a drawing board, compact and convenient, "a sheet of paper and paint" in one bottle.
There is also a wide range for modeling, from the simplest plasticine to kinetic sand. Why go outside when you can set up your own sandbox without leaving your home. Due to its properties, kinetic sand is easily collected and practically does not remain on hands and objects. In many sets, ready-made sandboxes and molds are sold immediately.

2.5. Musical instruments

Well, where without music and creativity. Invite your child to play the xylophone, pipe, drum, or dance to a synthesizer or music player or tape recorder. Great release of energy.

3. Time just to play and have fun

And of course, you can always offer your child just to play with his toys.

3.1. Dollhouses and parking garages

Girls can get carried away playing with dolls and dollhouse for a long time, arranging for example a tea party or a gathering of guests on the occasion of Barbie's birthday.
Boys can race around the tracks or play with the multi-level car parks. Everything is so exciting there: elevators raise cars, there is a gas station and a car wash nearby.

3.2. Constructor

It's not even necessary to explain here, most of today's children at the age of 1.5 start playing their first role-playing games. Whether it's Lego Duplo or a wooden constructor - a model of a city or a steam locomotive.

3.3 Role play

If you want to relax a bit and lie down in peace and quiet, invite your child to play doctor. Let him heal you. You can offer him a ready-made doctor's kit or just put a hat, gown and mask on him. All children love to dress up or imitate adults. Fun for kids, relaxation for you.

4. Joint household chores

Who said that parents should cook and clean only when the baby is sleeping or walking? Nonsense!

A child from an early age should see the work of his parents.

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