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Toddlers and preschoolers are a delight! Sometimes, though, it takes a bit of creativity to keep them happily occupied, whether you’re working on school with older children, or just working on a project of your own.
Here are some fun and simple ideas for keeping little ones busy!
As I was thinking about the coming school year, I decided to make a list of activities that our soon-to-be-three-year-old would enjoy doing.
Some of these activities he can do completely unassisted, but others will require a bit of help from an older sibling or Mom (I plan time into our schedule for each child to have a one-on-one playtime with our preschooler, and I also plan to have a preschool time with him).
Some of the activities would be suitable for a younger child (toddler), but some of them involve small parts and possible choking hazards.
Since our youngest will be three next month, he is past the stage of putting things in his mouth, and I have included some activities for him that contain beads, buttons, dry beans, rice, and other small items.
Know your own child and use common sense when you are picking activities for little ones.
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Keeping Little Ones Busy
Here’s what’s on my list of activities for toddlers and preschoolers:
1. Shape and Color Sorter
2. Wooden Block Cart
(Ours has been well-loved!)
3. Colored toothpicks in a cheese shaker
These colored toothpicks in a cheese shaker have always been a favorite with our little ones.
It will sometimes occupy them for such a long time. Something about sticking the toothpicks into the holes really fascinates them!
4. I Spy Bottle
This fun activity cost me nothing to make, as we already had all of the supplies here at home. I just gathered little random items and tiny toys and then filled the bottle part of the way with bird seed.
The idea is to have the child turn the bottle to find the items hidden in the bird seed. My little one will probably need someone to do this with him.
5. Wooden String-a-Farm
(This has also been a favorite for years.)
6. Primary Lacing Beads
7. Playdough and Playdough Toys
I usually make my own playdough using this recipe, with cutting and shape toys we’ve accumulated over the years.
A playdough cutting set like this would provide lots of fun!
8. Nuts and Bolts
9. Wooden Stencils
We’ve had these for wooden stencils for years, so the ones I’m linking to aren’t exactly the same but would still work for this activity.
10. Straws to String
Cheap straws, cut into pieces and used for stringing with a plastic yarn needle, make for a great activity for keeping little ones busy!
11. Pattern Matching With Pony Beads
I used some wooden toothpicks and cut the ends off. Then I glued one bead onto one end. I made a pattern with the beads, and then glued the other end, using my glue gun.
This will be an activity my preschooler will need help with. He already knows all of his colors though, so he may actually be able to do it.
12. Pony Beads and Pipe Cleaners
Little ones think it’s so much fun to thread the beads on the pipe cleaner!
It helps to put each activity on a plastic tray. They work great to hold a preschool/Montessori-type activity or art project.
13. Large Buttons and an Ice Cube Tray
Kids can sort these buttons by color, or very younger children can just put them in the ice cube tray compartments.
14. A Basket of Really Large Buttons
These big buttons can be sorted by color or shape, or just played with.
I got the above basket and the below divided tray at the dollar store.
15. Stacking Cups
In this activity box I have stacking/nesting cups and various items to sort and/or just play with.
Stacking cups are also fun with the pony beads. My little guy filled the whole tray with cups and then wanted to put beads in them. It kind of became a pouring activity then. 😉
16. Pom Poms, Tongs, and Tea Light Holders
Kids just love playing with colorful pom poms!
The child uses kid-sized tongs or tweezers to grasp the pom poms and drop them into tea light holders.
17. Beads, Tongs, and Tea Light Holders
Another fun activity for little ones is using tongs to place beads in tea light holders. It’s a great way to practice fine mother skills in an enjoyable way!
18. Pom Poms, Ice Cube Tray, Plastic Tongs
Transferring pom poms into ice cube trays using tongs is a fun activity for little ones!
19. Lacing Cards: Farm Animals Lacing Cards
These are so cute but they’re apparently no longer available. These farm lacing cards are cute but a little more cartoonish.
20. Covered Cake Pan with Magnetic Letters (or other magnets)
Both of these items are from the dollar store:
You’ll need to use a stainless steel cake pan as aluminum pans don’t work with magnetic letters or numbers.
21. Wooden Pattern Blocks and Pattern Block Cards
These wooden pattern blocks and pattern cards are perfect for helping little ones learn colors and shapes.
22. Beginner Pattern Blocks (love these!)
23. Puzzles
This wooden magnetic puzzle is a huge hit. It will sometimes occupy a little one for a long time as they try to “catch” a fish with the magnetic fishing rod.
These wooden farm peg puzzles are a hit with small children!
Fish Bowl Puzzle (These are wonderful for very small hands.)
24. Latches Board
This latches board is cute, but it’s a little hard for really little ones to do on their own.
25. Magnetic Hide and Seek Board
Open each door to reveal a surprise…
The items behind each door are magnets. The child tries to match each item with where it would be found (cow in the barn, cookie in the cookie jar, etc.).
26. Bean Bags With a Box or Bucket
27. Spray Bottles and Paint Brushes
I mostly use this activity for outside play. They can fill the spray bottles with water and go on the back porch with a sibling and spray to their heart’s content!
I give them a recycled plastic container full of water and a paint brush (from the dollar store) and let them “paint” the deck, the house, or whatever they want. It’s another favorite activity, especially when it’s nice outside!
28. Small Items in a Pringles Can
I started saving these tags from bread bags years ago. I thought, “Hey, these are free…what could I do with them?
If you cut a hole in the top of a Pringles can, you can have fun inserting small items (like the bread bag tags) in the hole.
You can also use play money, pennies, buttons, beans, or whatever you have on hand. It seems to ust be the act of dropping something in a hole that thrills little ones.
29. Dyed Pasta
(I used the instructions here for dyeing pasta.)
You can sort this, string it, make a necklace, or whatever. So very cheap and easy!
30. Dyed Rice
This is great for sensory tubs. Pouring, sifting, scooping, etc. Just add a variety of plastic containers, scoops, spoons, bowls, or whatever you have on hand.
31. Packing Peanuts
These are great because they’re absolutely free! They’re perfect for sensory tubs.
For some reason children find them fascinating. They’re ideal for keeping little ones busy!
My little guy likes to put these in the back of his toy dump trucks and dump them out. He also likes to just scoop them up and pour them out.
32. Play Food
Our children have had so much fun through the years with this wooden play food. They love the crunching sound the food makes when you slice through them.
33. Magnets and a magnetic board (love this one)
34. Counting Bears and Balance Scale
Kids love to put the little bears into the cups on this balance scale.
Other items you could use with the scale are beans, buttons, beads, etc.
35. Kumon Workbooks
These Kumon Workbooks are so bright and colorful! Some little ones will need help with these, but they are very quick to do, and then they feel like they did their schoolwork, too!
36. Laminated Worksheets and a Dry Erase Marker
I took some of the pages out of one of the Kumon books many years ago, and laminated it.
Little ones love to write with the dry erase marker and then wipe it off. Wipe-off books are also fun.
Here are some other fun activities to keep little ones busy:
37. Block Stacking Toys
38. Duplo
39. Stickers and Paper
40. Wood Building Blocks
This has been one of our family’s favorite toys! Everyone from preschoolers to older kids love building with these.
41. Washable Markers and Paper
42. Lincoln Logs
Lincoln logs are another classic toy that can keep children busy for hours!
43. Envelopes and Paper
The free envelopes that come in the mail and would otherwise be thrown out can be fun for little ones. Just watch out for paper cuts!
44. A Box
Kids love to use empty boxes for play. They can use these for a car, a boat, a house, or whatever their imagination dictates.
45. Bubbles
Blowing bubbles on the back porch with an older sibling is a favorite toddler activity!
46. Cars and Car Mat
Toy cars are a fun activity for kids.
Combined with a fun car mat, little ones will have all kinds of imaginative play!
47. Lauri Pegs and Pegboard
48. Wikki Stix
49. Magnetic Balls and Rods
50. Dress Up Box
Our dress up box is filled with Grandma’s dress shoes, old dresses, vests, construction hats, bonnets, fire hat, clip-on earrings, purses, wallets, long strings of beads, velvet jackets, bandannas, and other fun stuff. 🙂
How to Organize it All
So, there’s my list of ideas for keeping little ones busy!
It may sound/look like a lot of stuff, but keep in mind that we have been collecting these items for many years with all five of our kids (since our oldest daughter’s birth).
We knew we wanted to invest in quality wood toys, and we got our first set of wooden blocks when she was just a tiny baby. And they are still going strong!
The grandparents also know that we love to receive educational items and art supplies for gifts, so a lot of them were given to us. I also try to take advantage of free/cheap/used/recycled items (thrift stores and garage sales are great sources).
You’re probably thinking, “Where do we store all this stuff?”
As I mentioned in a post about our homeschool room, this basket on top of the bookshelves holds preschool activity bags:
These plastic shoe boxes hold some items:
And other items are kept in the craft cupboard.
More Ideas
For more ideas, check out The Preschooler’s Busy Book, and The Toddler’s Busy Book.
You might also enjoy this free ABC Snacks Cookbook Plan.
What activities do you use for keeping little ones busy?
This is the perfect resource for a "starter mom" like myself. I love your style and creativity. Glad to have landed here today! Thanks!
Welcome! Thank you so much for taking the time to leave an encouraging comment, and I hope to "see" you again here!
Such great ideas!
Deanna
Thanks, Deanna!
This has made me feel so nostalgic for pre-school days. How about sponges cut into shapes and used to print with poster paints. Little Son used to love doing that. We used to keep old magazines and store catalogues for him to cut up and stick onto paper as well. xxx
This age is one of my favorites! Thank you so much for sharing the ideas of painting with sponges and magazines. We love those activities also…but I'd forgotten about the sponge painting! My mother-in-law has a friend who is a teacher (at a school), and she gave me some sponges shaped like hearts, stars, circles, and squares. I don't think my current little guy has had the fun of using them yet. Thanks for the ideas, Lily!
Great ideas, Joy! It's been a few years since I've had a toddler in the house, so this list was a great reminder for me. Loved looking at all the bright colorful pictures too! Thanks for taking the time to share. Some of these I have and some new ideas I've gleaned for my just turned two year old. I'm going to link your blog to my church's homeschool group.
Thank you, Lisa! After I posted this I was worried that it might be just a few too many pictures! 🙂 Thanks for linking to me!
Oh my goodness, this is a fantastic post! My little one just turned two and I sometimes feel like I can't think up things for her to do fast enough!
I have a Toddler linky on my blog, I'd LOVE if you'd share this post there!
https://philwife.blogspot.com/2012/07/teaching-time-for-toddlers-magnets.html
Thanks for inviting me to link up, Rachel! I'll try to do that soon. 🙂
It all looks wonderful Joy. My boys when they were little only wanted one toy… Lego!
Legos are a favorite here, too! They're timeless.
Thanks for this post! I have a very busy just turned 3 yr old and expecting again. I have a few of the things that you posted and she loves them. This gives me some more ideas as to what more I can get together for her to play with. :o)
Congratulations on expecting again, Nabila Grace! That's a busy time, when you have little ones and are expecting another one. Blessings to you! ♥
Wow! What an awesome list of ideas!! Thank you so much for the time you spent putting this list together to share with others. I will definitely refer back to it.
Thank you, Anna! Hope it's helpful.
I do a really great job at organizing everything, but then my kids want to use the geometry shapes for furniture with their legos and like to make soup with their blocks. I can't seem to keep the activities separate 🙂
Yes, that happens here, too! I do keep most of these things put away just for school time (except for things like blocks, which they get out regularly, and they like to combine those with cars or dollhouse items), and that tends to keep them more separate. If we just get them out at school time and then put them away after we're done with them, then they seem more special and interesting. Remembering to make sure everything gets put away nicely is what's hard for me! 🙂
So many great ideas! I'm starting a notebook so I can remember some of these. You just showed that it doesn't have to be expensive, it just takes some creativity sometimes. Thank you for sharing with us! Have a great day!
Thank you, Holly! I'm so glad if something here was useful to you!