Cheap and Easy Indoor Activities for Toddlers

It is not easy keeping your toddler busy and occupied. My daughter constantly needs to be doing something. If she is not doing something that grabs her attention, she gets super antsy.  Sometimes we can’t go outside due to the cold weather.  Here are cheap and easy indoor activities for toddlers to keep them entertained when you can’t go outside. The bonus is these are great activities to help with fine motor skills and cognitive development. I will keep adding more free resources as I discover them and hopefully these indoor activities offer some ideas for parents that are staying home with their toddlers or kids due to the recent pandemic. Although, I do talk about toddlers in this post many of these indoor activities can be adopted to older children as well. 

Every one of these activities is cheap and easy to do, easy to set up, and uses materials that you should already have on hand. 

1. Reading:

There are many benefits of reading for children of all ages. Set a goal to read a  certain amount of books for the week. If you  run out of books to read there are plenty of digital books available for children of all ages online. Scholastics is offering  20 days of free resources to kids of all ages from stories and videos during the quarantine. Visit here to check out the resources at Scholastic Learn at home. 

2. Play with Toys: 

Many toddlers have a lot of toys that they already have and use. Try playing with those toys with your toddler. Show them different ways they can enjoy their toys again. My daughter loves mega blocks and we love playing counting and color games with them. Get creative.

3. Color matching game:

This game is perfect for toddlers as it teaches them their colors in a fun and interactive way.  Place simple items in different colors around the room and get your toddler to grab the color you call out. My daughter and I do this a lot with colored balls. She looks running out the room finding everything.

4. Chores:

House chores shouldn’t be ascribed only to adults. Toddlers should be allowed to participate in a few age appropriate chores such as: picking up their toys. Chores assigned to toddlers help teach life lessons and it’s a great learning opportunity. 

5. Arts and crafts: 

Arts and crafts are a great way to keep your child busy and stimulated. It also helps develop their fine motor skills. I Heart Crafty Things is a great website full of kid friendly craft ideas for all kids . 

6.  Cardboard box play:

Did anyone else’s child love the cardboard box more than the actually toy inside of it? Toddlers love boxes so use your imagination and create some fun things out of your box for imaginative play. You can make a car, airplane or house. Lots of possibilities. 

7. Make Forts: 

There is something about forts that kids love. Grab some blankets and pillows and see what you can create. 

8. Treasure hunt: 

This activity is for older toddlers and kids. Find some interesting items around your house and make it a treasure hunt. When your child/children complete the treasure hunt they get a prize. This will keep them busy for hours. 

9. Indoor bowling:

Do you have plastic bottles or small boxes that you were planning to recycle? Grab them and set them up as bowling pins. Then grab one of the kids’ balls and play.

10. Learning websites: 

Some screen time is not a bad thing. There are a ton of educational website that will have your kids having fun and learning at the same time. Here are some free websites for your kids. Although, these websites are for kids. Supervision and monitoring is still very important. 

1. Switch Zoo– Carters to kids from grade 1 – grade 8. Learn about animals by watching videos and playing games. 
2.  Fun Brain– Play games to learn math and improve reading skills. Also, check out their many animated storybooks. 
3. Seussville–  A collection of games and activities with Dr. Seuss characters. 
4. ABC YA– Practice reading and math with fun games for varies ages. My daughter loves the birthday candle game for Pre-K.
5. Scholastic Learn at home.  As mentioned above Scholastic is offering daily activities for kids while off due to quarantine. 

Hope you enjoyed these cheap and easy indoor activities for toddlers and kids. What is your fav. indoor activity? Leave your comments below.

Until Next Time,

Sincerely Jackline

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