Activities Enclosed For Babies & Toddlers At Home
Indoor activities are a great way to keep your babies and toddlers active and busy at home. While a few indoor games serve as run-of-the-mill kind of activities, we’ve collected plenty of fun ideas especially tailor-made for your little ones. Some of these games would require your supervision while in others, you could participate with your toddlers just for the sheer idea of added fun. All you need is a little imagination, and you and your little one can spend quality time together while also having fun. However, there is one thing you must know – you don’t have to schedule excessive baby activities to fill every moment, but it is always helpful to have new ideas in your bucket, for you never know when you might need them.
Here is a list of activities that you can do with your baby at home. Keep reading!
The window tour: This one’s an all-time favorite activity. Hold up your little one to the window and point out passing cars, birds, or squirrels running across the tree branches. If that’s not enough, you can also show the different shapes of clouds.
A magic show time: Babies often get awestruck at the way certain things work at home. This can simply mean pressing a switch that turns on the light or hitting a doorbell that makes a loud sound.
Read together: This can start at any age but prefer an early-age timeline. You can start by reading picture books to your little one and pointing out the different characters in the story or using expressive sounds to bring the story to life. Try getting a tad more ambitious by helping your baby hold the book and turn the pages. Here are few tips to teach your baby to love reading.
It’s more fun to make noise with household objects: Gather few of the safest, we mean unbreakable, household objects like a wooden spatula, an empty pan, or the lid of a tub and allow your baby to pick one as per the choice. Handling each item and relentlessly banging on them to see the different sound each object makes will definitely spark joy in your little one.
Arrange for a dance show: Want to know if your baby has a weak nerve for music or dance, then turn on a pep audio and have a gala time with your munchkin. If your little one is old enough to stay upright without your support, then he/she will love to dance hand-in-hand with them.
Create a bridge: Yank two chairs together by leaving a gap between the backs of the chairs. Place a blanket over them and encourage your baby to crawl underneath the bridge you made. This will make him/her feel proud about the sense of achievement and more – the curiosity to find what’s awaiting on the other side.
Blow bubbles: Amaze your baby by blowing bubbles and watch him/her aim at swatting the bubbles in utmost excitement.
Mountain climbing: Pile up all the blankets and pillows to create a mountain in your preferred room. Then encourage your baby to climb over and around it, but remember to stay close by while you watch your munchkin enjoy.
Chant nursery rhymes: Songs and rhymes that involve simple hand movements will definitely delight your little munchkin. If you remember one or two nursery rhymes from your childhood then sing them and watch your baby squeal along even if he/she in unable to grab the words or replicate the actions down right.
Roll the balls: This is an engaging activity that involves a bit of both fun and learning at the same time. For example you could start by naming the features of the ball, such as, “Roll the red ball to me!” Once your baby is old enough, you can try experimenting with different balls and call out things like, “Roll the small stripped ball.”
Play with blocks: Building blocks into a huge tower that can be later towed down is an all-time favorite among many toddlers and older babies. While the conventional style of wooden blocks are great, you can also make your own blocks by stuffing cereal boxes, milk cartons, or shoe boxes with paper and taping them close.
Assemble a physical tub: They say indoor activities are great stepping stones for your baby to learn many different things while also have a gala time. Similarly, this activity involves gathering of different fabrics such as silk, coarse wool, net, or beaded materials in a tub. Once done, let your baby touch and feel the different materials within the tub.
Rotate toys: You can get your little one intrigued with something new such as, rotate the toys and keep the other parts of them hidden. Each time you hand your infant a toy, encourage him/her to crawl up to you and take the toy. This will help embed a sense of achievement in your baby.
Play peek-a-boo: Surely a delightful activity, your baby will love to see you reveal your face from behind a curtain, towel, or your hands. Each time you do so, make a funny face to create even more laughter.
Below is a list of indoor activities for your toddler at home
To keep the boredom at bay, here are some great indoor activities that you can indulge in with your toddler at home, while also encouraging him/her to engage in solo play ideas:
Hide and seek: With time your toddler will age and you will find that he/she will be up for the challenge to find you hiding behind a curtain, sofa, or door. The fun quotient will double up when your toddler will be waiting for you to find her.
Sort objects: Display an array of safe objects on the floor or table and help your little one learn how to differentiate them by their shape, size, type, or color. This can also include any kind of household objects like a sponge, hat, yarn ball, fruits, boxes, socks to name a few.
Cook together: When it comes to cooking why not try your hand at baking cupcakes or cookies? If your toddler is old enough, allow him/her to help you mix the ingredients, pour the batter into the pan or frost the ready product. Save aside these chores, you can also have him/her in the kitchen as a chief chef taster. Only ensure that everything else around in the kitchen is safe and restrict him/her stay away from oven or hot stove.
Household chore helper: Your little one likes to imitate you, and when she/he sees you doing chores, will want to help out. Encourage your toddler’s’ willingness to be helpful by having her/him take part in safe activities. This can also include activities like folding washed laundry or socks. Here are few tips on doing housework with your toddler.
Share family tales: Learning about the family lineage and where your child’s’ roots belong will most definitely bring joy and wonder to your toddler. Remove a photo album from the shelf and show photos of yourself when you and your toddlers’ grandparents were younger. You could also show him/her photos when they were newborns. They will love hearing about the family tree.
Display your young one’s art: If your kid is old enough, try and get her/him interested in selecting one of their artworks to display. For that you can also choose a wall that becomes an art gallery for your kid. If you don’t want to put anything on the wall, simply use a magnet to display it on the fridge. Here are few more tips for creating greeting cards with your toddlers.
Make a timeless scrapbook: Gather a handful of your toddlers’ paintings or sketches and allow him/her to select some of their favorites. Get a large document and begin by adding the artworks along with the dates. Within a span of few years, you’ll find that your kid will cherish this special memorabilia of him/her earliest work.
A fort made of sheet: This one will qualify for indoor camping. Gather a few chairs and drape a sheet over them to create a fort. Set a soft or plush pillow inside for your little one to sit on. Once you create the fort, give your kid a flashlight so that she/he can use the torch to make light shapes with it. Sooner you may find your kid making this space a personal domain and spending hours hiding in it.
The mirror game: Your kid loves to look at the mirror and follow your orders. For instance, ask: “Where is your mouth?” or “Show me your tongue.” You can also ask your toddler to look at his/her eyes closely and tell you what their color is.
Write letters: If your toddler is old enough, get him/her to write a letter to their favorite grandparent. For starters, you could ask what he/she would love to write and then help out by writing the letter yourself. At the end, encourage your kid to scribble his/her name at the bottom as a signature.
Impersonating animals: Impersonating animals especially your kid’s’ favorite ones can be fun. You could pick up a dog and imitate the way it barks. Or, if you want to try something different then try jumping around the house while both of you pretending to be wild kangaroos. What fun!
Stomping on bubble wraps: Nowadays bubble wraps are easier to find in any corner of the house. So get one in a jiffy and place it on a large square on the floor. Then watch your toddler jump on it with excitement to swat the bubbles.
Make a puzzle: Help your toddler place the different shapes of a large yet easy puzzle in the right spot. This will encourage your kid and fill him/her with utmost joy over their sense of achievement. Watch a video here on how to make a puzzle with your toddler.
Create a rainbow: Have your kid scrunch colored tissues into tiny balls and then help him/her adhere to them on a piece of paper to create a DIY rainbow. In case you are short of colored papers, use a motif of the similar color to match. For example, if you have green and red papers, help your kid make a flower out of them.
Dip fingers into the paint: First up, place a drop cloth or newspaper and then place a big sheet of paper over it to protect your floor or table from staining. Pour out the paints and let your kid play with them by mixing the colors with their fingers. This will help her/him learn how new colors are formed. You can also encourage your toddler paint handprints too. Read more to know about finger painting with toddler.
Make a dough: While you make a dough for your regular meals, ensure to a separate a small portion for your toddler. Hand it over and watch him/her pat down, scrunch up, poke, pull apart and squeeze the entire dough together.
Chalk it up: Set a portable blackboard in your living room and allow your toddler to draw on it with chalk. You may also want to get extra creative here by asking your kid to look outside the window and draw what she/he sees. It could be anything, like clouds, birds, or sun to name a few.
Listed above in this article are few of those many activities you and your toddler or baby can pursue at home. Not just that, some of the activities require nothing more than everyday household objects and a tad bit of your imagination. While your toddler learns a thing or two, you will find that you also enjoy the process as you are able to spend quality time with your little ones. And who doesn’t love that!