Where I live it gets pretty cold and my policy for outdoor play is that the “real feel” on my weather app says at least 20 degrees. An important part of my program is that we get outside everyday. During this chilly time of year, we can end up spending a lot of time inside, unfortunately. If you’re in the same boat, fear not! Here are my favorite indoor activities for toddlers.
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Favorite Indoor Activities for Toddlers
- Gross Motor Blocks
- Water Table
- Gymnastics/Tumble Time
- Playdough
- Rice Table
- Light Tables
- Inside Snow
- Double Sided Easel
Here is a quick breakdown of what each of these activities looks like:
Gross Motor Blocks
This is something that we play with almost daily. The kids LOVE them! They climb on them and use them for stacking. We use these (pictured below), these, and these. It’s super fun to have all of them out at once, but one at a time is fun too, just depends on your kids. We really can’t get enough of this kind of climbing toy!
Water Table
Water Table is another regular go-to for us and there are so many different ways that you can change it up. You can add toys, soap, food coloring, snow, pumpkins, whatever you feel like! We use this under bed storage container and elevate it on top of two Lack Tables from IKEA and set down towels underneath to keep the floor dry. We also usually have a variety of scoopers and cups to play with in the water table. This combo works perfectly for the height of the children in my program. I usually strip the kids down to their diapers for water table play just to keep their clothes dry.
Gymnastics/Tumble Time
Tumbling requires a bit more coordination, turn taking, and is more difficult to photograph 🙂 I spent a few years teaching tumbling tots at the local rec center a few years back so I know how valuable this can be for the children, which is why I decided to invest in the equipment. We love having an adjustable gymnastics bar for pull ups and kicks and the social/emotional learning that goes along with it. (full disclosure, the one we ordered is sold out but this one is just like it and these items sell out regularly) It does take a bit a practice on the bar and I would say the first 5 or so times was just getting used to the equipment. We use our nap mats for padding underneath and our gross motor blocks for steps. I also love our foldable cheese wedge! The children in my program just use it for climbing and sliding down but when they are a little bigger we will move on to front/back rolls.
Playdough
Can’t go wrong with playdough! Mixing it is half the fun and we love using cookie cutters when we’re done making it. Even if you don’t get the recipe exactly right, it’s still fun for a few minutes. I like to eyeball the recipe, although I know there is a perfect ratio, it always happens on accident. All you need is salt, flour, cream of tartar, oil, and water.
Rice Table
We cannot get enough of playing in the rice table! It’s one thing that my daughter asks for 7 days a week. The sensory input is awesome because of course they dump it all over the ground, and so they get to experience it with their hands, feet, mouths (not ideal, but it happens), eyes, and ears. We keep the rice table outside on the kitchen patio and so it stays pretty cold, which is another fun element to sensory play. They will have at least 30 mins of focused fun each time we bring it out, pretty impressive for 16-20 month olds. The set up is the same as the water table.
Light Tables
I’m super jazzed about this one! We JUST finish making these during our holiday closure. (Stand by for a tutorial on how we did it, coming soon!) Light tables are kind of like the water table, they have endless possibilities. We had some of these colorful scarves around and they were perfect for exploring colors and light. I paired it with some peaceful music and it was a fabulous time. I know that we are going to have a great time using these table for building with magnetic tiles, snow, rice, and other translucent items.
Inside Snow
Inside snow is a variation on water table BUT I think it’s my favorite one. Its always fitting for when it’s too cold to play outside, we just bring the outside in! I normally have a section of warm water in the bin as well, so that when they mix it, they get to experience the melting and then the water isn’t totally freezing by the end of our play. I like to have shovels on hand, just like when we’re outside. We also always have our normal sensory bin scoopers.
Double Sided Easel
This one is a recent hit. I got a hand-me-down easel from a friend, and we took off the legs and the trays that it came with to make it the perfect height for infants and toddlers. There is a roll of paper on one side and a chalkboard on the other side. So I set a bowl of sidewalk chalk on one side and a bowl of markers (caps removed) on the other side. It did take some coaching to remind them where the colors go but it ended up being a beautiful collaborative work of art and the kids got to work on their gross and fine motor skills as well as social/emotional and language skills as they shared the space and materials. I do think that the markers that you choose are important because, let’s be real, it’s going to end up all over the kids and the walls (pictured below). I did not believe how washable these markers would be but they are actually the bomb.
That was a lot to read! Thanks for checking out my favorite indoor activities for toddlers. I hope that you get opportunity to play outside as often as possible but if you’re stuck inside maybe this got the creativity moving and now your have some new ideas for playing inside! Let me know which one was your favorite in the comments below. Thanks again!