I’m a stay at home mom, doing my best to keep my toddler engaged and learning each day. I’ve noticed that some daily focused activities really makes our days run more smoothly. Of course J loves some free playtime and learning does happen during this time. I also see that planned activities are a great way to keep things new and exciting for J and for myself. Typical days in our household include an array of free play, structured play and independent play. The teacher in me comes out in planning and preparing activities that J can do, though I’m new to planning toddler activities! I try to keep a few realistic goals based on J’s current developmental level and then plan our days to encourage meeting those goals. The ideas come from my own childhood experiences, great advice from friends, family, books, online sources or occasionally the light bulb in my head flickers on! I want each activity to help J developmentally (mentally, spiritually, physically, verbally, artistically,…). I also want the preparation and the cost of the activities to remain realistic!
So far, the highest cost is prep time. I have spent a great deal of time searching for activities, filtering the plethera of available ideas to discover those that are perfect for J, at his current age and developmental level. I tend to find ideas and then lose them or forget about them when I’m planning our day. There’s so many great ideas out there and I just need a way to organize them for my own use, hence the purpose of this blog. Of course it’s even better if this blogs helps others too!
I plan to organize activities I find for current use, future use, or those that I’ve already used (to reference when J#2 arrives). I’m trying to categorize each activity so that I can easily find the right one for each day/week. That’s the plan… let’s see if I can make it happen!
**I’m open to suggestions on how to best organize the activities! I’m the person that is always organizing and never organized 🙂 At least when I record things online, I won’t lose it! Please share if there’s something you would like to see.
Fun & Engaging Activities for Toddlers 
Just popped over to take a peek! WOW, I have to say your blog is one of the best-organized I have seen yet! I really like the age group break downs. I’ve been recording ideas in Evernote (which I’ll continue to use for some things), but after seeing your blog I’m inspired!
Looks great. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks! I was hoping to use it to help me plan weekly activities. It does help, but I feel like I can’t get it just right 🙂 That’s the sotry of my life organization-wise though!! I’m glad you found it helpful.
I just found your blog today and LOVE it! I have a 12 month old little boy and have wanted to structure our days more. It’s been hard for me to recognize what he can and cannot do. I guess I just need to try some ideas and see if he is capable of doing it. Thanks for taking the time to put all these great ideas out there!
I’m glad you find it helpful! It’s always encouraging to hear that 🙂
I was the same way when J first became old enough to do some simple activities and games. It was certainly trial and error for me. It does help to look up the development levels for each age group, but even still those are averages. There are things J was able to do earlier and things we needed to wait a little longer until he could manage them. When he quickly gets frustrated with something we’re doing it’s typically a signal that the activity is outside of his ability at the time. If he’s bored too quickly or starts to joke around, I know the activity is too easy. I think it’s important to remember that we’re learning right along with them.
I just stumbled upon your amazing website. I have a one year old and a two year old that I am always looking for ideas for. I have things pulled out for Clean Painting and Paper Towel Painting for today! Thank you for this fantastic site. I loved all the pictures of your little guy doing all these neat activites!
Thanks! I hope your little ones enjoy the activities! Those two were always great choices for J. I should set up another paper towel painting for him. We haven’t done that one in awhile!
I just found your website today and must say, it is a blessing for me! I have a 21 month old boy and a 3 month old girl. I’ve been in search for new activities for him and am completely inspired by your site and will be referring to it OFTEN. Can’t wait to begin the activities, and I know he’s going to love them (as will my daughter when she’s old enough). …just as a side note, I really liked your prayer journal idea and was completely touched to read about your J folding his hands to pray. Our little guy does the same thing for our morning/evening devotions and any other time we pray. It’s amazing how God works in the lives of our little ones and places in their hearts a love for Him at such a young age! Your faithfulness as a mother has really moved me (we begin working on memorizing scripture tomorrow!).
Jaime, I’m glad you like the site. I hope your little one enjoys the activities. And way to go with the scripture memorization!
I really like your craft ideas. What supplies do you suggest having on-hand? I’m just getting started and I don’t want to buy a ton of unnecessary stuff, but I’d like to give my toddler different things to do.
I’m glad you like them. As for craft supplies, it really depends how extensive you’re wanting to go. Here’s a post on our most used craft supplies (starting from 1 year old to an almost 3 year old). I hope that helps!
Thank you so much for taking the time to create this site. It is a God send. I found it through Chronicles of a BW Mom (another Angel in the blogosphere).
My only child is a really bright 17 month old girl, but I feel like we need more structure in our playtime and a greater variety of activities (she loves books, but I can’t read to her all day). Whenever I read, “set an age appropriate goal or activity” I’m like, “what does that mean exactly?” So thanks for pointing me in a much needed direction!
cheers! and may Heavenly Father bless you for all you do!
I’m glad you enjoy the site. I hope you find lots of great things to do with your little girl.
I think that’s one of the most common questions. Truthfully it means something different for each of our kids. There’s no set answer, just lots of trial and error. I did a series of posts on typical questions that come up with structuring activities, including finding age appropriate goals. You might find it helpful. https://engagingtoddleractivities.wordpress.com/2011/02/27/how-do-we-make-learning-activities-wor/
SO helpful! What a great way to break it down! Luckily she has a decent attention span, but I can totally see how starting earlier when she was a crawler would only help. I’ll be sure to do that with number 2! Thanks again.
So, I came across your activities by chance. I am taking a child care course and was looking for a social studies lesson plan for a toddler. Though I didn’t really find one here specifically, I am loving all the activities you have posted. My little “J” (I have one too!) just turned two and I am looking forward to sharing these creative activities with him. Thank you so much for being so thoughtful and sharing. You are awesome!
I have 3 children (a 3 year old, a 20 month old and a 6 week old) and I just found your site and am SO excited about the Busy Boxes. I am going to make one and am hoping it will help me during those times that I am nursing baby, making a meal, doing laundry, etc. Thanks for the great stuff!
I’m sure your 3 little ones keep you busy! Busy Box activities and fun printables really helped J while I was so occupied with my newborn. I’d keep those toys hidden until you really need them, so they keep their novelty. That makes a huge difference.
Check out the Favorites Page to find our top activities for each age group. Maybe that will help you decide which to make first.
Oh my goodness! …Always organizing but never organized…PERFECT description of ME!! Thank you for this phrase…I’m 64 and finally have a go-to description of myself! LOVE this blog…using these ideas with my grandchildren. 🙂 Thank for all of the great ideas!
I’m glad I’m not the only one out there! Enjoy the time with your grandkids. I hope they love the activities!
They are! 🙂 Thank you again!! 🙂
I just found your site lastnight. It IS a God send! I have been struggling to keep my 28 month old (very active) son engaged, focused and learning. I must say your ideas are great! We used one of your water play ideas and he was completely quiet, focused and engaged instead of running around like crazy! This is my new homepage! I will be using something from here everyday! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you so much for sharing! God Bless you and your family.
I’m glad your little boy enjoyed the water activities! I hope you continue to have success with some of the other ideas. Boys certainly have A LOT of energy to release 🙂 He might like some of the outdoor activities. J loves the sidewalk chalk races we do.
Hi,
I am the co-founder of a Canadian website for grandparents called The Grandparents Guide. We are doing a feature week on Pinterest and I have chosen 5 sites per age group that we thought the grandparents would love. I came across your site and I think you have fantastic ideas. I will be linking our readers to you on Tuesday through our weekly newsletter and in the preschool section of our site. Please check it out at http://www.thegrandparentsguide.com and if you can post something about it on your Facebook page or anywhere else you blast out to your readers, that would be great.
Here is the section on your site.
“Toddlers love to explore. Why not create an archeological dig right in your own house with items you already have on hand. We found a great pin that highlighted a website focused on engaging toddlers with fun and educational activities. For step by step instructions, and a photo of the archeological dig, click here.”
There will be a direct link to you. I have not used any images or any of your content. Just that I think that you are a useful site for our readers to know about.
Thanks,
Amy Greenberg
Co-Founder
The Grandparents Guide
Wow, what a stunningly, amazing site! I can see this is going to be a site that I’m going to spend a lot of time on!
I wondered if you explain someone on here your thoughts behind your ‘letter of the day’ approach? I read a lot to my son and plan to introduce letters to him informally as he gets older but I am hesitant to actually ‘teach’ him the alphabet, as I’ve heard that it’s not uncommon to teach it incorrectly and then, when the child starts at school, the teacher has to ‘reteach’ them, so to speak. I would love to read more on the background to your approach to teaching the alphabet if you’re able to point me towards that part of your blog.
Again, it’s lovely that you’ve been kind enough to share these fantastic ideas with us all.
I think you saved my sanity! I discovered your blog last night, after tears and frustration. My mother-in-law is sweet enough to keep our daughter for us during the week for free. My two year old has been bored and getting into all the no-no’s because she’s outgrown some of her toys. After I saw some of the activities you created for your son, I ran to Hobby Lobby for pipe cleaners and pompoms. She had a blast today with a button snake. She loves playing with the pipe cleaners and a colander, too! Now we have a much happier toddler, a happier Mommy, and a happier Meme! Thanks!!
Glad things are going so well for all of you! it’s amazing how simple things can become great joy for little ones.
Hi, Im all the way in Alberta, and I discovered your blog today! And my 16month old son actually helped me do an activity today! He loves the tunnels at the playroom at our Rec centre, and instead of spending $40 just for a 3-5ft tunnel…We made some!! We had a bunch of boxes from our move, went to our empty basement and made a really neat turning tunnel. And all we needed was boxes and tape. It was FREE and he absolutely LOVEDD IT!! next..ice cubs! Thanks for the great ideas!
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Just found your blog and it’s fantastic! Thank you so much for sharing. I have a 15 month old and I’m having the hardest time figuring out how to structure my day/week. How’s is your day laid out? Do you have a centralized theme for each day or week.
Thank you!!!
I think little ones do so much better with some structure in the day. For this age our days consist of meals, outdoor play, independent play, mommy play, blanket play, table time, free play, story time and of course nap time! In most cases we started with a short amount of time allotted for each activity and worked out way up as he got older and developed a better attention span. Here’s a post that explains how I organized each weeks activities for that age group. In general I choose a letter, color and shape each week and I incorporate crafts, games, even clothes and food that week to help me reinforce that week’s lessons. It all becomes just part of the play and fun rather than formal lessons. You could do animals, numbers, concepts, seasons, whatever you feel for the week! Good luck!
I came across your blog sometime back.have been popping in and out once in a while as i have very active 2 year old(just turned 2) with whom i am usually at wits end to know what activities to do next.The first time we tried painting the paint brushes,water and everything went flying across the room.The next time i tried he was so impatient to get started and painted better than Picasso(at least according this proud mummy)Thank you very very much for your wonderful site.I have started to go back in age activities and we are trying out things with varying degrees of success .Thank you once again.