Nine secrets to engage your toddler!

Toddlers are natural born scientists who love to experiment, create, and explore their environment. Watch a toddler in a room of toys for even just a few minutes and you will notice how quickly kids will bounce around from toy to toy! You’ll immediately witness their limitless curiosity in action, not to mention their boundless energy! 

While all this energy and excitement about their surroundings helps them to learn (and yes, it can be exhausting to the busy parent), there still are other times when we want to have our children focus on one single activity and calm their distractibility – AND we want to do this without the use of a screen. The keys to keeping a toddler engaged and screen free are twofold.  First, provide the tools for exploration and second, mix it up – the more variety the better! 

So, in the spirit of that need for variety, I will share NINE ideas that you can use to keep your toddler safe, engaged, and screen free!

1)    Create a busy board

Take a family trip to your local hardware store and find all of the little gadgets you can that involve putting something together and taking it apart. Gate locks, locks with a key, carabiner hooks, zippers, buttons, shoelaces – the more options the better. (Just make sure your choices don’t present a choking hazard!) Attach them all to a board and you have an instant toddler distraction toy at the ready! Even better, this type of toy helps them learn and develop their problem solving and fine motor skills! 

2)    String beads

Use a piece of stiff string or a straw, tie a stopper knot at one end, and have your toddler string together large beads of all colors. This is a great activity for learning colors and counting as well as teaching those little fingers how to manipulate objects very precisely. Remember, beads can also be a choking hazard, so you need to be very careful with which ones you choose. I recommend ones that are at least 2 inches in diameter. This is an activity during which you must keep a close eye on your child! 

3)    Mess free window finger painting

Squirt some non-toxic finger paint into a plastic zip-lock bag. Close it up tightly, making sure to get out all of the air, then tape it closed with either packing or duct tape. You can either tape this up on the window or use it right on the ground. Now you are ready to go with some painting fun that won’t require clean up!

4)    Water table fun! 

Few things keep kids engage better than water activities. Need a few minutes to yourself, pull out a water table! (I love the Step2 ones.) This toy was specifically designed to keep kids learning and engaged for hours. Toddlers especially love to do things over and over again; filling up buckets of water and pouring them back out keeps kids entertained like nothing else! Kids at this age thrive on repetition. It helps their brains to grow, make sense of new activities, and perfect newly learned skills. 

5)    Music for the win! 

Kids love music. As long as you don’t need them to be quiet, playing songs for children to sing and dance to is a great way to keep them engaged and get some exercise at the same time! Dancing is a great way for kids to practice their gross motor skills and coordination. 

6)    It’s a race!

Most kids will do just about anything if you tell them you are going to time them and see how fast they can move! For example, you could pour out a bunch of blocks and ask them to pick up all of the red blocks and put them in a bucket. Start a timer on your phone or note the time on a clock and yell GO! 

7)    Bouncing!

Jumping for the win! Kids love to jump (and jump and jump). Get out a bounce house or little exercise trampoline and get those kids exercising. You will want to supervise, but this activity is bound to keep your kids engaged and wear them right out! 

8)    Contact Paper art

Using contact paper is a fun twist on your typical art project – and often much less messy! Tape a piece of contact paper to a table with the sticky side up. Then, put a bunch of scraps of torn colored paper in a pile. Your kids can create a beautiful masterpiece by placing the torn paper onto the sticky contact paper. When complete, just use another piece of contact paper on top and ta-da!

9)    Weaving

Use a hole punch to create a pattern in a piece of thick cardboard. Tie a shoelace to one end and have your child create a weaving by stringing the shoelace up and down though the holes. This task often requires great concentration and helps your toddler improve their dexterity and fine motor skills!

Try out a few of these ideas for a fun-filled afternoon with your toddler! Share your own activities that have worked for your family in the comments!