Fun things to do with 2 year olds at home
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.
The best thing about 2 year olds is they LOVE to play!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.
Through play, 2 year olds develop coordination, spacial recognition and so much more…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.
The world is full of color & 2 year olds want to see and taste it all!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.
Color Learning Activities For 2 Year OldsCreate 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!
Yes, 2 year olds love to craft and make art…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?
Sensory play is just plain PLAY…so many things to touch and explore with 2 year olds…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.
There is a world of wonder outside for a 2 year old!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!
Let’s keep those 2 year olds busy at home!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 Toddler FunPretend 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.
Free Quiet Book TemplateCreate 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!
Almost anything is fun when it is play!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.
Oh so many ways for toddlers to play!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!
So many fun things to do…More Fun Activities For Kids from Kids Activities Blog
- Handbag organizer ideas
- Easy healthy snacks for kids they’ll love
- Dr. Seuss birthday celebration ideas
- Process art projects for small children
- Smart organizing ideas for your home
- Science for preschoolers
- Oobleck recipe for science and play time
What 2-year-old activities are your toddler’s favorite play ideas?
What to do with a child at 2 years old at home
03/15/2022 15120
Article contents
- Games and activities for children
- What to draw at 2 years old
- Dancing at 2 years old
- What can a child do alone at 2 years old?
- What else can you do with children at 2 years old?
Games and activities for 2 year olds
When choosing what to do with children, change activities every day - this way you can interest the baby.
The child will daily receive new knowledge, delight and surprise you with his ingenuity. And there won't be a moment of boredom.
Reading educational books. Pay attention to reusable workbooks, books with stickers, magnetic books. Everything where there are tasks that can be performed with the baby. Read, play and develop together.
Lessons on developing cards. Purchase or make your own educational flashcards. They have images on various topics. For example, “vegetables”, “animals”, “geometric shapes”, “household items”, etc. Give the child cards, name and describe the object, suggest sorting into categories and colors. Train your baby's thinking and logic.
Learning colors and counting. In any game, show the child objects and name their color. Then ask the baby to give you this item, name its color again. Learn to count to three: “turn one page”, “give two dice”, show “three fingers”.
Studying the properties of an object.
Teach your baby the concepts of "big-small", "thick-thin", "soft-prickly". When teaching, it is important to let the baby touch the object. So you develop the attentiveness of the crumbs, while memorization will occur at the tactile level.
Role-playing games. Play with your child as a cook, doctor, builder, mechanic. For games you will need the appropriate props. Offer the crumbs a plot: for example, all the animals got sick - you need to treat them; build a house for dolls from a designer or cubes; organize a car repair shop and repair cars. Be the main character yourself - the kid will begin to repeat with pleasure.
Practice with frame inserts. This is the frame where the cut out image is placed. The item must be removed and then placed back. This may require turning or flipping the toy.
This is important!
Starting at the age of two years, offer your baby earmuffs with small handles. The kid will grab the object with three fingers - thumb, index and middle.
These fingers, subsequently, are involved in the writing process.
Puzzle activities . Puzzles from 4-8 parts can be easily assembled with a baby, starting from two years. To begin with, show the crumbs the puzzle in finished form and offer to pull out one picture. Surprised and ask to insert back. Praise. Then remove 2 pictures, etc. Oddly enough, it can be difficult to find simple puzzles on sale. Mom can easily make them herself. Take a picture, cut it with scissors into 2-4 parts in front of the baby and ask to collect. Offer images that interest the baby the most: for example, the baby loves cars, dolls, birds, etc. This way you will involve the child in the game as much as possible. Puzzles are one of the best activities for developing spatial thinking.
Ball games. Intellectual pursuits require mental effort. Alternate them with physical activity so that the baby relaxes and rests. For example, teach your child to roll a ball, throw it against a wall, throw it into a basket, roll it over a goal, and knock down skittles.
Train your baby's agility and physical endurance.
Sorter toys. At the age of 2, the baby really likes to pick up figures and insert them into the right boxes. Even if the baby has not yet played such a game, you can safely offer options for 10-12 or more elements. 2-3 lessons and the kid will understand the essence and will be happy to play on his own.
Tactile sorting games. Mix the items and ask the kid to sort them: by color, size or theme (animals, vegetables, cars). Help and praise. Make tasks more difficult, for example, take small items - buttons, beans, bottle caps. Such an activity will develop the logic and fine motor skills of the baby.
Logic games. Match where whose tail is, who lives where, where whose house is. You can engage in developmental aids, books or thematic cards.
Entertaining molding. You can sculpt from plasticine, modeling mass or clay. Any material will do, as long as it is not too hard so that the baby has the opportunity to work with it himself.
At this age, it is important to teach the baby:
- pluck pieces;
- roll sausage or ball between palms;
- flatten the pieces and knead them with your fingers.
For example, a ladybug, a chicken and a tree. Ask for grains on the chicken, spots on the ladybug, and apples on the tree. Show how to attach them to an image.
Games for the development of memory. Hide 4-5 toys in the room with your child. Then offer to find them from memory.
What to draw at 2 years old
When a child is busy drawing, he develops imagination, thinking and fine motor skills. Offer the crumbs various types of drawing: with finger paints, crayons, pencils, felt-tip pens and a brush.
Draw preferably 2-3 times a week for 10-15 minutes. So the lesson will arouse interest and not get bored with the baby. First, teach your child to hold a brush or pencil: hold it together with the baby and move it in the air.
At 2 years old, the baby can draw lines and dots. You can also splatter paint on paper. In order for the baby to be interested, come up with stories and situations in which the baby can participate. For example, ask the baby to draw:
- fence for a house to keep out an angry dog
- spines for the hedgehog to collect mushrooms
- rays of the sun so that it can shine
- comb teeth for the doll to brush her hair
Apply finger paints to the baby's palms and offer to leave marks on the paper. This is one of the favorite activities for children. Draw eyes and fins for the traces - you will get fish in an aquarium.
One of the best games to keep kids busy is stamp painting. You can buy them ready-made or make your own. To do this, take a sponge and cut out a butterfly, circle or hare from it. Dip in the paint and invite the baby to leave a mark. Such an activity can captivate the baby for a long time.
Dancing at 2 years old
Dance develops coordination of movements, logic, strengthens the spine and trains the vestibular apparatus.
It is not any specific movements that are important, but pleasure, physical activity and emancipation.
Play a rhythmic tune and show how to spin, clap, jump and squat. Then learn to shake your head to the rhythm and walk back and forth to the music. Dream up and add scarves, bright ribbons and balloons to the dance. Take toys with you to dance - dance with a bear and a doll.
This is important!
When teaching dance, listen to your baby: offer different movements and develop those that he does best. The pleasure of dancing instills in the child a love of movement and helps to throw out the accumulated energy. This has a positive effect on his psychophysiological development.
What can a 2 year old child do alone?
Musical toys
Cars and dolls with sound, children's phones and music centers. Anything where you can press buttons and make sounds.
This is important!
It is necessary to teach the child to periodically play by himself during the day.
This develops independence, which will later help the baby to cope with difficulties more easily and be a successful person.
Large car or motorcycle
On such a machine, the baby can sit down on his own and push off with his legs. Give the baby a task: to bring toys, refuel with gasoline from an impromptu dispenser.Building
You can build from the designer, cubes, pillows and bedspreads. Let the baby make houses for animals or for himself and his mother.fashion show
Give the baby a bag with unnecessary things: panama hats, scarves and sweaters. Children love to dress up in different outfits and show off in front of the mirror.Feed toys
Place dolls and animals in front of the baby. Place plastic plates in front of them and ask the baby to lay out food - plastic or cardboard-cut vegetables, fruits, meat and sweets.Games for socialization and familiarization with homework.
At the age of 2, one of the favorite activities of children is to imitate adults.
If you are talking on the phone - give the baby an old tube, write a text - sit next to him and give out a pencil and paper. And when you are cooking, put a pot next to the stool and give out ladles and plastic vegetables. Let him cook the soup: it interferes, “salts”, tries. Wash the floor - give out a rag and show the corner that needs to be washed. Let him vacuum with a children's vacuum cleaner or iron with a toy iron.
This is important!
Help the baby find activities on his own: change toys every 3-4 weeks so that he forgets them and perceives them as new. If the baby asks for attention all the time, talk affectionately and captivate the game. At first it will be 2-3 minutes of independent games, but then, the time will start to increase. The child will begin to understand that mom is busy now, but then she will definitely play with him.
What else can you do with children at 2 years old?
Appliqués and crafts
They can be made from cardboard, cotton pads, matches, colored paper, herbarium leaves or felt.
Make a chicken, fish, house or little man with your baby.
Puppet theater
Purchase at the store or make hand puppets with your own hands. Finger puppets or just toy characters are also suitable. Put up an impromptu curtain and show the kid a performance. Ruffled Hen, Teremok, Kolobok or any plot that you come up with yourself - all this will certainly captivate the baby.
Tactile truss
A very useful game. Develops fine motor skills, thinking, memory and logic. It is optimal to play in the kitchen while mom, for example, is preparing dinner. Take a large container with low sides 10-15 cm. A box is also suitable, in which you can cut the walls to the desired height. Place containers with various cereals inside. You can make cardboard fences with your baby, put small boxes-houses.
Seed small animals and men and play farm. Learn the names of animals and the sounds they make. Let the baby sprinkle the cereals with handles and feed the animals.
Each character can be moved, sorted by color and size, hidden at night in houses.
Finger Maze
Labyrinths teach children to navigate logically and find different options. Teach your child to lead through the drawn maze with your finger, stop at the forks and mentally look for the right way out.
Finger mazes on paper can be found in children's manuals, printed from the Internet or made by hand. To do this, draw winding paths on a piece of paper with a marker. At the end of each draw a "goal" - such as a house, lake or forest. Invite your child to put a finger at the beginning of each path, lead along it and watch where this path leads.
Then complicate the task - add forks and dead ends to the drawing. It is important to help and praise the baby. The baby will learn to focus and sometimes, go back and find a shortcut.
Attention game
Take 2 cups of different colors. Under one of them, in front of the baby, hide a small object.
Slowly move the cups along different paths. The baby will visually follow your hands. Then invite the child to find where the object is hidden. The task can be complicated by taking cups of the same color.
Show the animal game. Draw a dog, a bird, a penguin or a hare for your child. Ask him to repeat.
Walking on massage surfaces. Massage mats are a great tool for training the muscles of the foot. When walking, the baby puts the leg in different ways, due to this, a complex training of many muscles is obtained. It is better to do it barefoot, then hardening will be an additional element of health.
Massage mats are available ready-made or you can make your own. To do this, attach various elements to the fabric. For example, buttons, a cleaning sponge, a washcloth, wooden sticks, beans in a flat bag, and everything that fantasy tells. The main thing is that the elements hold tightly and be different in texture.
Sometimes there are situations when the baby needs to be carried away urgently and for a long time.
Prepare 3-4 toys from adult life for this occasion: an old mobile phone or remote control, a calculator, etc. Make sure they are safe in advance, remove these items immediately after the game and take them out only in case of emergency.
Conclusions:
- To organize the activities of the child at home, change activities daily, alternating physical and mental activity. So the baby will receive new knowledge and develop with pleasure.
- At 2 years old, you can read educational books with your child and work on thematic cards, learn colors, count to three, the properties of an object through tactile skills. And also play role-playing games or a ball, work with insert frames, make puzzles or sculpt.
- Offer your child games for sorting, modeling, developing activities for logic and memory.
- Drawing can become an interesting educational game if you invite your child to draw with his hands or stamps. You can come up with a plot in which the baby will be able to participate by himself, completing the missing elements.
- Instill in your child a love of physical activity. For example, through dance. Teach your baby to squat, bend over and clap to rhythmic music. Add toys, headscarves and ribbons to the dance. So you will develop the physical endurance and flexibility of the baby and help him throw out the accumulated energy.
- At 2 years old, a child can independently play musical toys, do construction or ride a big car, pushing off with his legs. Children love to dress up and look at themselves in the mirror, feed the toy characters and imitate adults in household chores.
- For everyday activities, offer the baby appliqué and craft making, puppet theater, tactile games and a finger maze. Teach your baby to be attentive with the help of special games, supplement mental activity with physical activity - for example, walking on massage mats.
- Change toys every 3-4 weeks. During this period, the child will forget them and will be happy to play himself, perceiving them as new.
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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 the street is so bad weather 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. Educational games and educational activities
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 force a kid into 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 task of the kid 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 enjoy playing with dolls and a dollhouse for a long time, for example by having a tea party or gathering 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
There is no need 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. And if you wish, actively participate in it. This teaches him from an early age to order and discipline. According to the method of Maria Montessori, a two-year-old child is quite capable of holding a small broom and dustpan and learning to collect small debris in it. Moreover, he is happy to grab onto the proposed occupation, because a mother with such a passion “rubs something” all the time.
