Children are known to have a seemingly infinite source of energy that must be let out in one way or the other.
Parents should help them channel this energy into something productive as well as entertaining.
Engaging them in activities will not only keep them adequately occupied but also help to develop all essential gross and fine motor skills.
Though there is a lot of fun to be had in the great outdoors, you can also set up exciting, educative, and challenging tasks for your toddlers in the comfort of your home.
With mostly household items and craft materials, you can transform your home into a playroom that will keep your kids engaged for hours.
Listed below are twelve exciting activities that can be done indoors.
Table of Contents
Obstacle Course
Place a few items in strategic places around your home, making the space a bit challenging to navigate, and you have yourself an obstacle course.
Have your child slide, tuck, roll, jump, crawl and climb as they manoeuvre the course. Make the game more challenging by timing their performance and having them try to beat their best scores.
Jungle Gym
You can create a DIY jungle gym at home with the use of cardboard, tape or glue, and furniture. Though this activity requires a fair bit of time to set up, your children are sure to use it repeatedly.
Tools like the Pikler Triangle can be used as climbing frames and a safe way to help your child build their gross motor skills.
You could choose to adjust its height anytime your child masters a specific level to challenge them to climb higher.
Colour Sorting
Put items of various colours in a bowl or bin then write the corresponding colours on a piece of paper.
You could make the paper the same colour as the one written on it to make the activity easier for younger kids.
Place the papers on the floor and have your kids pick objects from the bin and place them on the matching colours. A variation of this task is to provide several bowls and ask the kids to sort balls by colour.
Painting
Although this activity has the potential to be dirty and utterly messy, it is a fun activity that children will love.
The messiness can also be adequately contained with the use of coverings and tarps. You would need papers, crayons, paint, and brushes.
Choose a surface to place their drawing paper on like the walls or floors. Allow them to use their bare hands and feet to create art and give them free rein to explore several painting media.
Hide and Seek
The classic game can keep toddlers entertained for a long time as it involves a continuous cycle of hiding and searching.
It might be best if you limit the designated area for hiding into a few easily accessible rooms to avoid the game being drawn out for too long.
Racing
Lay down extensive racetracks with tape, creating twists and turns that will challenge your toddler.
Let them place their toy vehicles on the start line and navigate the course, ensuring to stay within the lanes till they reach the finish line.
Imitations
Make funny faces, hand gestures or body movements and have your kids try to recreate them. You could also show them how different animals walk and the kinds of sounds they make and let your kids try to imitate those actions.
Ball Games
Create a goal post with two objects placed apart and play a small game of kicking a ball with your child.
Put the ball in front of the goal post and have your toddlers try to score goals, moving the ball farther away as they progress to increase the difficulty level.
Throwing and Catching Games
Throwing and catching items helps to build up children’s gross motor skills and hand to eye coordination.
Ask your kids to throw objects into a bin from a distance or let them catch balls thrown directly at them. Make a game of it by seeing how many times they catch a pass or get a good throw-in.
Building
Toys like building blocks, slime, and kinetic sand are great mediums for creating several structures. Step back and let your child mould, stack, and build to their heart’s content.
Bowling
Arrange empty cups or bottles in a straight line, get a softball and let your child try to knock the objects down with the ball.
As they get good at clearing the whole stack, increase the difficulty by adding more items or increasing the throwing distance.
Scavenger Hunt
Hide toys or other household items at various places in your home. Then get your children to hunt for these lost treasures with the help of simple clues that they can decode.
Make the hunt more exciting with the inclusion of a big bounty – snacks, candy, toys – at the end of the course.
Image source Pixabay
