It can be hard to plan intricate activities around toddlers’ developmental phases and emerging skills. Toddlers are, in fact, notorious for having very low attention spans, poor impulse control, and the tendency to go into full-on goblin mode when presented with anything outside of their normal routine. That’s why, when planning fun and educational activities, it’s important to keep a few things in mind: 1) Toddlers make messes, and that’s okay. You can either lean into it and be prepared to get a little dirty, or you can take some precautions before you start. And 2) Toddlers want to do what you’re doing. So express enthusiasm and participate alongside them rather than leaving them to explore alone. You’ll both have fun, and you might learn something too!
Sensory Play (Messy!)
Sensory play is great for toddlers. It teaches them large and fine motor skills, it’s easy for them to engage and connect with touch and texture, and it’s fun. There are many ways to engage in sensory play, some that require equipment and setup and some that require almost nothing.
If you already have a sensory table, that’s a great place to start. If you don’t, grab a shallow plastic basin, a bucket, or even a bathtub! If you’d like to keep things (a little) constrained, you can limit some activities to a high chair. If you’re in the latter camp, start with some shaving cream play. This is great for kids even as young as a year or two. Strip them down to a diaper, strap them into a high chair, and squirt a few dollops of shaving cream onto their hands or the tray in front of them. (Yes, they will try to lick it, but they won’t like it. Make sure you use a non-toxic shaving cream. They’ll love smearing it around, wiping it off, and adorning themselves with it. This is a great time to take some pictures! If they get bored, you can always add a few drops of food coloring and watching them make some truly beautiful art!
If you do have a sensory table, the possibilities are endless. Add some glitter food, food coloring, toys, and plastic cups to a table full of water and put on a Stay-Dry Water Play Smock or a poncho! Or fill the table with little gems, stones, plastic dinosaurs, or fossils. Cover it with dirt and give the kid a little shovel and rake. Now you’re archeologists digging up bones!
Sensory tables are the most likely to get messy, as they’re wide and shallow, so try to do these activities outside. If that’s not possible, make sure that you put down plenty of newspaper or cardboard before you start, and don’t use any glitter or food coloring that could stain or ruin your floors.
Painting (Not Messy!)
What?!” I hear you say, utterly incredulous. “How could painting not be messy?” To be sure, painting is one of the messiest activities you can do with a child. And that can be fun, provided you have edible paints and a house you don’t care about. But there is a way of doing a fun painting activity with a toddler that demands no cleanup whatsoever.
For this activity, all you need is a small canvas (like this one from Monte Marte that can fit inside a Ziploc bag, the Ziploc bag itself, packing tape, and some acrylic or tempera paint. Let your toddler help you choose what colors they want to use, then squeeze several globs of paint on different parts of your canvas. Carefully ease the canvas inside the bag without smearing it on the outside of the plastic. Zip it up so no paint can get out, tape it shut in such a way that you’re sure your toddler can’t pry it open, and then hand it over. Toddlers love smearing paint around, but this time it will remain safely in the bag, leaving you with a beautiful final product that stays on the canvas, not on your table.
Dance Party (not messy, but tiring!)
The dance party is my go-to option when I don’t want to prep a single thing. Maybe I don’t want to go to the store and buy dried beans or acrylic paint or shaving cream. Maybe I just want to stay home and get stuff done. If you’re like me, then you’ll love the dance party. It can be jumpstarted in seconds, and it takes nothing except a little extra energy (which isn’t nothing—if you’re the tired parent of a toddler, maybe you’d rather just go to the store, and that’s okay).
The dance party is easier than you’d think. Some parents don’t realize that toddlers will very quickly start to emulate them if they jump up and down, bang their head, or drum on the coffee table. Toddlers like us and want to be like us. Once your kid has the knack of bopping along to the beat, you can switch things up. Play “freeze” dance, where the goal is to dance wildly until you pause the music, then freeze. That one might take them a bit, but then you can move on to other things when the music stops—sitting down, striking a pose, dogpiling—and even eventually advance to musical chairs.
Whatever you decide to do with your toddler, know that them interacting with you, watching you, and hearing you narrate your actions is more than enough to stimulate their development in language, behavior, and motor skills. You’ve got this!