Encourage learning and creativity with these indoor toddler activities! Each one is made for improving gross motor skills, fine motor skills, sensory or mess-free learning. One thing is for sure; there will be tons of giggles and smiles with these fantastic activities. Plus, you will get some enjoyment watching your child’s eyes light up as they learn a new task. So break out the creative supplies and be prepared to have a blast on your next bad weather day.
9 Sensory Activities For Toddlers
These sensory activities are fantastic for encouraging learning and development. Not to mention, the kiddos are sure to have a blast while playing with them too. I love all of these ideas because each one is extraordinary in its own way—just like your children.
1) Edible Banana Marshmallow Pudding Slime | Crafts 4 Toddlers
There is something so fun and attractive about slime—it’s one of the best indoor toddler activities! You seriously can’t go wrong with it, and the best part is that if your kiddo takes a couple of bites it won’t hurt anything. You only need 4 ingredients and probably already have them around your home.
2) Frog Sensory Bin Preschool Activity | The Inspiration Edit
Your toddler can learn about frogs while playing with water and rocks. This sensory bin can keep your child entertained for hours just by having their frogs leap from place to place. So much fun for them and perfect for a rainy or snowy day.
3) Rainbow Spaghetti For Sensory Play | Messy Little Monster
Seriously, there is nothing more fun than playing with this vibrant colored spaghetti. All you need is spaghetti, plastic bags, food coloring, water, colander, and a container. Just a warning: there is going to be a lot of fun in your future with this activity!
4) Bean Bin For Toddlers | Candy Jar Chronicles
Here is another fantastic idea to keep your kids entertained while playing with beans. They feel good in your fingers, and it’s a great activity to practice shovelling, picking up and moving the beans.
5) Marshmallow Edible Paint | Crafts By Amanda
Do your toddlers love to get a little messy? This activity is super fun and allows lots of room for creativity and imagination. Break out the paintbrushes or go wild and use your fingers. Either way, you are going to see some terrific masterpieces in the making.
6) Sensory Play: Green Grass | Made In A Pinch
Watch as your child is mesmerized by the green rice. They can hide toys and search for them over and over again. There won’t be an ounce of boredom with this activity!
7) LEGO Sensory Bin With Water | And Next Comes L
Is there anything more fun playing with LEGOs? Yes, combining LEGOs with a water sensory bin! The sky is the limit when it comes to this unique and creative activity. There will be lots of play time and this activity is sure to keep your kids busy for a while.
8) Rain Cloud In A Jar | Homeschool Preschool
Weather is fascinating, no matter how old you are. This experiment is the perfect opportunity to teach your child about the weather and rain. Use lots of bright colors to make it even more appealing to your preschooler.
9) Leaf Sensory Bags | Kids Craft Room
Here is another one of my favorite indoor toddler activities. It’s ideal because there is no mess involved, but your child can learn and experiment with the leaves in the sensory bag.
8 Fine Motor Activities For Toddlers
1) Fine Motor Activity With Q-Tips | Fantastic Fun and Learning
Use a steamer insert from a pan, or anything else that has small holes. Encourage your kiddo to push a Q-tip through the hole, and their fine motor skills will get a much-needed workout.
2) Recycled Egg Carton Caterpillars | Creative Green Living
Not only are you getting crafty, but you are also helping save the environment by recycling the egg carton. Also, they are super cute too. Use all kinds of things you have around the house like googly eyes and pom poms.
3) Broken Crayon Silicone Mold Craft | The Frugal Foot Doc
Your little one is going to go wild over these new and fancy crayons. Having your toddler help tear the paper off of the broken crayons helps fine-tune their motor skills too. And you get the win of not having broken crayons all over the house. 🙂
4) Fun Feed The Shark Color Sorting Game | Honey, I’m Home!
Your kids are never too young to start learning about their colors. This activity encourages them to use hand-eye coordination to get the fish in the shark’s mouth.
5) Dot To Dot Printable Book | Joyfully Thriving
This is another one of my favorite indoor toddler activities. You can use colorful dot stickers, markers, or crayons to encourage using fine motor skills. This site has several printables to choose from too. Put them in a binder, and you have a book filled with options for days when you are stuck inside.
6) Pom Pom Transfer | Mombrite
Here is another way to survive bad weather days when you’re stuck inside. Your toddler is going to have a ball placing the pom poms in the muffin tins. Super cute idea.
7) Make Your Own Musical Instruments | Ottawa Mommy Club
Using musical instruments to enhance motor skills is a fabulous idea. Plus, once you are done making the instruments, the kids will be happy to entertain you with their songs for hours.
8) Fine Motor And Sorting Seed Tray | Fantastic Fun and Learning
Using plastic tweezers, the object is to pick the seeds or beans, so the ones that are alike are all together. If your child is really young, he or she can use his or her fingers instead.
11 Gross Motor Activities For Toddlers
1) Indoor Cardboard Hopscotch | Happy Hooligans
This is perhaps one of the most enjoyable indoor toddler activities for bad weather days! Use cardboard to cut hopscotch squares. You can decorate them with tape, markers, stickers or anything else you can think of. It’s a great game to burn some steam without getting too rowdy.
2) Easy Bean Bag Number Toss | Hands On As We Grow
This simple game is ideal if you have stairs in your home. Tape some numbers to the stairs and toss the bean bags. Whoever gets the highest score wins!
3) Maze Ball Hand-Eye Coordination Game | Frugal Fun For Boys And Girls
Whether you have several children or just one bored toddler, these maze ball boxes are awesome! Each kid can make their own course, and they can have contests to see who is the fastest.
4) Children Draw With Feet And Mouths | Art Bar
If you’re looking for indoor toddler activities, you can’t go wrong with this idea. Tape a large piece of paper to the wall, break out the markers and let your toddlers go to town!
5) Felt Road Set | Felt With Love Designs
Being stuck indoors won’t be boring at all when you make a felt racetrack. Kiddos can drive their cars all over the race track, and it never gets old. You may even want to join in and play too!
6) DIY Angry Birds Game | Make Great
Building towers with cups and knocking them down is the name of the game! You just need some little pom poms with googly eyes and small paper cups. The laughter is going to be uncontrollable.
7) Indoor Kitchen Cup Golf Classic | For Your Family
Transform your kitchen, family room, or basement into a golf course fit for a toddler, complete with greens and flags! It’s never too early to get them learning about different sports either.
8) Kick The Cup | Fun Learning For Kids
This game is a great way to help teach the sounds of letters as well as recognizing what they look like. Plus, it’s one time when it’s acceptable to kick a ball in the house!
9) Musical Alphabet Game | Mom to 2 Posh Little Divas
This is a brilliant activity to get your kids up and moving while staying inside. Your toddlers will love the bright colors and will be able to begin learning their letters.
10) Gross Motor Activities Using Blocks | The Inspired Treehouse
They recommend three different gross motor enhancing activities in this blog post. I love the obstacle course, because who doesn’t love obstacle courses? You can’t help but smile.
11) The Floor Is Lava | Hands On As We Grow
No matter how old you get, pretending part of the floor is lava is always wildly entertaining. All you have to do is tape colored paper to the floor and try not to step in the lava.
8 Mess-Free Activities For Toddlers
1) Magic Drawing Frame | Akamatra
Print off several adorable coloring pages and have your child trace them on a frame. It’s not messy, and the options are endless as to what they can make.
2) Paper Plate Animal Masks | Crafts 4 Toddlers
You can make a duck, pig, cat, or any other animal you want to make. Each child can get creative, and thankfully, there isn’t much cleanup involved. My only warning is that there will be a lot of animal noises going on during this project, lol!
3) Old MacDonald Farm Animal Story Stones | Messy Little Monster
What is more fun than playing with rocks when you are little? Playing with stones that have farm animals on them! It’s so funny how much kids are drawn to rocks, and I know this is sure to become one of your go-to indoor toddler activities for bad weather days.
4) Dinosaur Paper Plate Craft | Living For The Sunshine
Your children are sure to have a “roaring” good time when you break out the supplies to make their own dinosaurs. Now they will have new little friends to play with too.
5) Pipe Cleaner Finger Puppets | The Soccer Mom Blog
Kids love finger puppets, and these adorable little creatures will amuse them! Each one can be different and will be worthy of lots of play time. This will make being stuck indoors tolerable.
6) Contact Paper Suncatcher | Tinker Lab
You are going to love this no mess activity and your children are going love making their very own suncatchers. They can be pretty proud of all their hard work when they complete the project too.
7) Handprint Sheep Craft | There’s Just One Mommy
These adorable little sheep are delightful to make and are easy for even the youngest artists. You don’t need any fancy supplies either. Just paper, markers, glue, and cotton balls. How easy is that?
8) Box Fort | Family Focus Blog
One must have on a bad weather day is a box fort. Break out the old cardboard boxes you have lying around, and watch your kids squeal with happiness.
I hope you enjoy this list of indoor toddler activities and that it inspires you to find fun ways to keep your little ones entertained when you’re cooped up inside!