At the time of writing, my son has not started preschool yet and so he easily gets bored at home every now and then, especially these days when the days outside are too hot to engage in anything except waiting for the evening.
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Also, I think sometimes during the spin of the day I tend to forget the ‘variety’ of activities he can do while inside the house.
So I brainstormed and made a list to put on my wall for whenever the inspiration is low or he has none of his own plans to execute that day.
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Also, while some days we do default to being lazy and spend hours playing with the same toys, I have come to realize that adding different things to his daily activities (within the bounds of his routine) helps him look forward to the day with excitement and doesn’t wear out the fun.
So here is the list I came up with.
I have divided the overall list of activities he can perform into five main categories:
- Monitored/partnered activities with toys
- Independent play with toys
- Independent play without toys
- Monitored/partnered activities without toys
- Outdoor activities (Helicoptered!)
This division is so I can see which mode of play (independent or monitored, toys or no toys) am I over or under-utilizing.
Let’s dig right in:
Monitored/partnered activities with toys
toddler activities for boys at home video from Hena Bilal on Vimeo.
- Basketball/ Mini golf
- Badminton with balloon
- Toss the rings
- Puppet show
- Squirt gun
- Matching animal toys with the animal book
- Boxing with his boxing kit
- Skipping rope with mama
- Electronic toys
- Bouncing Ride-on ball
Independent play with toys*
- Building blocks city for superheroes/animals
- Setting the animal kingdom (trees, animals, fence etc)
- Playdough (the real one)
- Puzzles
- Kinetic Sand
- Cars
- Dinosaurs’ wrestling
- Grain scooping/transport with cranes & trucks
- ‘Fixing’ cycle with toy tools
- Coloring, washing, wiping animals
Independent play without toys*
- Color sorting
- Coloring
- Cooking (mock)
- Making bread (mock)
- Bubbles
- Storybooks
- Whiteboard drawing
- Cutting (with child-safe scissors)
- Water spray bottle
- Stickers
- Colored straws sorting
- Ice Cubes and a muffin tray
- Magnifying glass or torch
- Playing with grains (using deep measuring spoons for scooping and throwing into different pots)
- Peppa pig or Noddy in Toyland (🙈) but not speechless cartoons like Mr. Bean or Minions etc because I only let him watch cartoons that encourage his speech.
* Whenever my son is busy with any kind of independent activities, it doesn’t mean he is completely out of my sight, especially because he has a speech delay issue. And a lot of the times his safety is directly dependent on my observation so I keep him at a distance where he enjoys his freedom plus I can look at him every now and then.
Related: Safe & Easy Independent Activities For Preschoolers
Monitored/partnered activities without toys
- Pillow fight
- Jumping on the bed
- Obstacle course
- Spoon race
- Play in water bucket/pool
- Feeding the fish
- Watering the plants
- Collecting milk from the milkman
- Dressing up alike
- Hide n seek
- Riding mama – the horsie
- Throwing water and then wiping (with a wiper!) the veranda
- Slide
- Stacking pillows and cushions into a tower
- Singing and acting out poems with mama
Outdoor activities (Helicoptered!)
- Cycling
- Feeding the ducks
- Zoo
- Picking flowers
- Collecting leaves for coloring
- Catch ball
- Swimming
- Chasing/Watching butterflies & ladybirds
- Climbing trees
- Boating in the pond
- Camel/Horse riding
- Picnic
- Park Swings
- Racing
- An exclusive visit to McDonald’s play place. He’s very fond of it because of having a company of other kids there and insists on going very often.
Download this list of toddler activities for your child’s room
I hope you find this list useful. Please also take a moment to pin any image in this post on Pinterest to share this list with your friends or save it for later.
- Download the list. Just click here or fill out the form below to download the list of toddler activities. Plus you’ll also be subscribed to my weekly newsletter!
- Print. Use any kind of A4 size paper to get the printouts of the pdf version of this printable.
- Hang your list in the play area so you have a list of ideas by your side whenever the need strikes.
hello hena
very nice article
Thank you, Aarti!
Great activities for girls as well 😊
Good to know! Thanks, Cindy!