I've asked myself this question lots of times and have compiled a lists of things to do with your toddler.
Toddlers love to be involved with the things your doing. They like to copy and be just like you.
Toddlers can:
Fold and hang up clothes.
Help with cleaning house. They like to dust, sweep, mop, vacuum, clean windows. Just becareful not to give a child Mr. Clean Magic Erasers. They give kids rashes, they are very harmful for them. Make sure not to give them any harmful chemicals either. They do make little kids clean-up kits with brooms, mops, vacuums, etc. My daughter has these and they are just the right size for her.
Help wash dishes. Even rinsing the dishes, just becareful and not give them anything glass or sharp. Could even give them a little pan with water.
Clean-up. This works great if you sing a clean-up song with them or make it a game.
Here are some great clean-up songs to sing with your child:
Let's Clean Up To the tune of "Farmer In the Dell"
Let's clean up today Let's clean up today We've had our fun Our day is done. So, let's clean up today.
It's Time To Cleanup (Tune: Frere Jacques)
Are you helping, are you helping Pick up toys, Pick up toys Let us all be helpers, Let us all be helpers. Girls and boys, girls and boys
Clean-up Song Improvise a tune:
Clean-up, clean-up Everybody get some toys. Clean-up, clean-up All the little girls and boys. Clean-up, clean-up Everybody do your share. Clean-up, clean-up Everybody, everywhere.
Help cook or bake things like cookies or cakes. A good time to get cake mixes is after a major holiday like valentines day or Christmas. They discount the cake items and they don't expire for over a year.
I bought my child an easy bake oven and she loves it. You must supervise them at all times. Their little hands could get stuck in the oven because if nobody helps them. It comes with a push device so that their hands won't ever touch it. A good website to go on for recipes to use with the easy bake oven is http://www.eborecipes.com/
Play games like:
Hi-Ho Cherri-o
Go-Fish
Hide and Seek
Monopoly Jr.
Yahtzee Jr.
Memory (They have all sorts of charaters now like Disney, wow wow wubbzy, etc.)
Cooties
Boggle Jr. (Great game for them to learn how to spell)
Dominoes (They have ones for children like Dora)
Operation
Sliders (This is fun for the whole family)
Puzzles are great for toddlers because they teach them problem solving. I wouldn't go no bigger than 25 pieces. Easy to start off with 10 pieces and work your way up. Wooden ones are great for the really young toddlers.
Toddlers love to color or paint.
You can go on several websites. and print out coloring pages. When they have school supply sales in August, I always pick up extra crayons and paints or other items while they are inexpensive and have them throughout the year. When your dealing with younger toddlers the jumbo crayons work best for them because they don't break as easy. And a good thing to get is Washable paints. They sell paint shirts or jackets in the craft section which are a big help. My sister buys canvas pieces for hers to fingerpaint on and then she hands them out as gifts for peoples birthdays or special occasions.
Free coloring pages for printing:
http://www.coloringpages.net/
http://www.nickjr.com/ (They have ones for Dora, Diego, Backyardigans, etc.)
Outdoor activities:
Nature Walks. You could point out the things in nature like trees, birds, flowers and ask questions. Like what color, what flower they like, things like that. You can let them take pictures and develop them for a craft for to put in photo album. If you take a bag with you on your walk, your little one can pick up things on the walk, like acrons, leaves, sticks, wild flowers (watch for bees). Then when you get back you can talk about each item and make a craft with it. I took clear shelving paper and made it the size of a placemat, (double it because you have to fold it over), and let them stick their treasures on it. You then fold it over and it becomes sealed to use as a placemat. (You can also use string and such for it too.)
Find a local flower garden to visit
Make a flower or vegetable garden in your backyard for them to help with. Stores carry little kids garden stuff like: Rubber boots, tools, kneeling pads, gloves. They have kids seed starter kits for them to watch their seeds grow before planting them in the ground.
Find a playground in your area or others. One of our local playgrounds has a big private ship for the kids to play on. When we go there we make a day of it. We bring along a picnic lunch and play the day away. Finger foods work great like: Budding meats, cut-up watermelon, grapes, string cheese, bread, gummy snacks, strawberries, carrots, celery sticks cookies(make sure nothing that melts like chocolate), bring juice boxes, wipes. Make sure to bring sunscreen for them.
Check for local soccer groups. Usually the age they take a toddler is 4. This will give them exercise and a chance to play as a group.
Check your local YMCA, colleges or facilities like this for activities they might offer. Ours offers soccer, crafts, movie night, parent time for times when you need a date with your spouse alone, ballerina and karate classes. On Easter or Christmas or other holidays they have fun times like Under Water Easter Egg hunts, Night at the Movies.
They love to play with sidewalk chalk, help clean your car with you, outdoor paint.
In the Car Activities:
Sing Songs. They sell CDs that are just for toddlers. Simple songs that we all know like BINGO, Farmer in the Dell..
Coloring
Portable Game system like V-Smile Pocket. (My daughter has this system and she started playing it when she just turned 3. They are very simple games and a lot of fun. They have 2 kinds out now for them. One is like the DS (touch screen) and the other just buttons. They keep the kids entertained for hours. They also have a new system called the V-Smile Motion, which is like the Wii for Toddlers. They have to move the controller or pretend to jump over logs and such. Cartiages run about $25 for them. The advantages is that you can still use the games that the V-smile pocket has which run about $15 to 20 in the games except they don't motion. Use can use the V-smile motion cartiages in the V-smile pocket too.
I see with my little eye game
Indoor Activities
Set up a Supermarket. JCpenny has a great deal on one right now. Called the Supermarket Deluxe.
http://www3.jcpenney.com/jcp/X6.aspx?DeptID=62371&CatID=64243&GrpTyp=PRD&ItemID=15f92ee&attrtype=&attrvalue=&CMID=6237162948&Fltr=&Srt=&QL=F&IND=1&CmCatId=623716294864243
Take a big cardboard box and make a house. If you don't have one call your local stores and they may have one to hang on for you.
They also have cardboard box houses that you can color. These are great for parties with kids too. They get to play in the house and color it at the same time.
Make a puppet theater. You can take 2 tension rods and place a curtain on each one and hang it the curtains on the doorframe. Puppets can be made from socks, or sticks, or 2 pom pom with eyes and attached with pipe cleaners like Oobi.
Buy an indoor tent for kids and have a camp night. You could have sleeping bags, flashlights, make smores in the microwave, watch a movie on a portable DVD player. Or if you don't have the money to buy a tent, then put a sheet over a table and have a tent this way.
Play Dress-Up. I buy costumes after Halloween when they are on clearance or at garage sales or goodwill or Salvation Stores. I hung a Shower Rod up on the wall and hung her costumes up with way. I bought pretend make, necklaces, shoes. We even made our own.
Crafts!! Are a big thing for Toddlers to do. If you get all the stuff ahead a time you won't be stuck trying to figure out what to do on a rainy day. You could set up some shoeboxes with a theme and use this theme all day long. Like animal day, doctor day, teacher day, dinosaur day, winter day themes. I usually get my stuff on discount after holidays.
Need on supply:
Safety scissors
Glue sticks/Glue Glitter/GlitterGlue
Crayons/Paint Beads
Construction Paper Stamps
Foam Items Stickers
Felt Items Lids from milk cartons/pop/water
Google Eyes Paper
Pom Poms
Pasta pieces for necklaces
String/Yarn
Target has a lot of things in there $1 items in the front of the store
Teach the kids how to write their names, alphabet, numbers, tell time
Take a Bath with light up stuff that they use in pools. Shut off all the lights and let them play in the dark with a tub full of bubbles and lights. They also have crayons or paint for use in the tub too. They have instruments to play in tubs too.
Toddlers like fish so a great thing to get is a Beta fish that can live in a bowl of water or in a little kids fish take. They don't need filter water or heat. They do have plants to put in with them that they love to eat and help keep water clean. Another thing to get is a Sea Monkey kit and they can watch them grow from a little egg. Plus they can put them in special watches or necklaces to take with them.
Great movies for toddlers to watch is:
Baby Einstein
they teach everything from music to shapes
WordWorld
all the characters in the movie are spelled out. The dog is a dog spelled out to say dog. Teaches the kids to recognize the words that go with the item.
Max and Ruby
Mickey Mouse ClubHouse
Peep
Curious George
Oswald (my nephew loves this one)
Handy Mandy
Dora/Diego
Blues Clues
Lazy Town (teaches kids to exercise, eat right)
Jack's Big Music Show (there is a lot of singing on here and great singers)
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