If you have a two-year-old, whether you are a family member or their friend, you will often feel the need to get creative just to hold their attention for a few minutes. They are masters of keeping you on your toes, which means you already have enough to do. But, it is important to keep them engaged and we thought we will help you out by listing out activities that are easy to do and you might even have the supplies at home already. Let’s dive in.
Activities for 2-Year-Olds
The key is to hold their attention long enough while also doing activities that are good for their growth. This way, you get to stimulate their minds and also bond.
1. Decorate a Crayon Carrier
This is a fairly easy one. All you need for this activity is a table, a newspaper, a resealable Ziploc bag, colourful pom-poms, a glue stick and of course, crayons.
Get your toddler to pick up the glue stick and teach them how to coat the resealable bag. After that, they must pick up the pom-poms and stick them on the bag.
When it is all dried up, place the crayons in it. It’s a simple thing to do, you are likely to have all the supplies at home and it is a nice thing to show off whenever someone comes over.
Not just that, this activity is really great for their general creativity and motor skills. You might even be able to get them to do this for things other than crayons.
2. Getting Creative with Sand
If you are looking for something more sensory, consider this idea. Get a large sand tray, a few plastic bottles and bottle tops, cardboard tubes or funnels, scoopers or spoons and of course, some colourful sand.
If you have one of those squeeze-modelled paint bottles, that’s even better. Pick up one of the plastic bottles and place a funnel on top of it. If you only had cardboard tubes, use them for the same.
Collect one scoop of one colour of sand and pour it into the bottle. The idea is to create a rainbow in the plastic bottle. You can try different colour combinations and match the bottle tops with the rainbow in the bottles. It works better if your bottle tops are of many different colours.
This is quite a creative activity and it encourages the two-year-old to use their imagination. And it has many uses too in terms of helping their fine motor skills and hand and eye coordination.
This activity is also a great sensory stimulator as the kid feels and moulds the sand. It improves their sense of touch. Since there is an element of experimenting with color, it requires them to interact with you and that is a good way to develop their vocabulary.
3. Experimenting with a Mailbox
This is actually a classic. All you need for this one is an old shoebox or any kind of cardboard box. Cut it open on top and fill it with junk mail. Then take it to the toddler and make them open it.
As they discover individual items, you can ask them to name the objects, colours, shapes and whatnot. This is a great exercise in developing fine motor skills and also the concepts you will teach them in the process. If you add pictures to the box, you can maybe get them to recognize the people and if it is postcards, you can teach them about places.
And when you’re done with the activity, you can teach them to arrange the items by shape or size and pack them up. It’s innovative, has imagination, a little learning, develops fine motor skills and is also another great bonding opportunity.
4. Cardboard Box Activities
You have the mailbox idea in the bank. Now let’s see what else can be done with cardboard boxes because these are easily available and often somewhere around the house. They make for a great toy because you can improvise so easily. That makes it a creative challenge for you and the toddler.
Sometimes, you don’t even have to come up with something. Children have a unique way of processing things and their imagination can surprise you. The box can be anything from a castle to a pirate ship to a plane and so on.
Here’s one concept to play with. Get a bunch of stickers or sticker dots or stamps along with a cardboard box. Basically, anything you can stick to the box works just fine. Also, get some crayons or pencils to colour or write. You can also get creative by throwing things like tape and glue into the mix.
These games are great to figure out themes and let the two-year-olds explore them. They are great for kids of other ages too. You can have conversations with the toddler and figure out what theme to pick. It’s a good way to engage their mind. It is also a good way to motivate kids to write and draw if they don’t do it otherwise.
It’s good for their fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination. But the process also encourages developing their vocabulary. So, there are more than a couple of benefits.
5. Painting with Balloons
Here’s another activity that is great for creative exploration. It is open-ended and has so many possibilities. Let your two-year-old use their hands-on balloons and take them to paper. See the kinds of prints and patterns that can be created with balloons.
Try to get at least six different colours of regular party balloons, a big sheet of paper to paint on and different colours of paint. Match the paint colours and balloon colours, meaning green balloon with green paint and orange balloon with orange paint and so on.
Inflate them enough for the balloons to fit in the toddler’s hands. Let them create blobs or patterns. You can also mix colours and see what extra colour is created out of it. It’s a great sensory experience for the kids.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: How Do I Keep My 2-Year-Old Busy?
A: The trick at this age is to keep their minds stimulated. It’s not about how many games you own but how interesting they can be. And when you are able to do them with the two-year-old, you get to keep an eye on them and also hold their attention.
Q: How Do I Entertain My 2-Year-Old Indoors?
A: There are so many games and activities that are meant to stimulate their brain and help their growth. If you don’t want to go out shopping for those games, you can try any of the activities mentioned above.
There are plenty of activities they can pick up at child care, so take advantage of that where possible. Find the perfect fit for your families needs, at toddle.com.au.
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