80 Things to do with 2 Year Olds
If you are looking for ideas as to what to do with your toddler today, you have come to the right place. We have a big list of activities for 2 year olds, toddler games, 2 year old toys and fun things to do with toddlers. Pssst…while this list was created with your 2 year old in mind, younger and older toddlers will enjoy many of the things we have selected.
As my youngest toddler is crossing the threshold and becoming a three-year old, but before they do I want them to get the most out of this year so here are 80 of the BEST Activities for 2 Year Olds!
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Related: More activities for 2-year olds
These are either things that my two year old enjoyed or would if we had thought of doing them this last year! These toddler activities and toddler games are guaranteed to keep little hands busy with great ideas in a bunch of different ways.
While every 2 year old is going to be a little different, one of the common traits found in 2-3 year old toddlers is that they love to play. In fact, anything they do turns into toddler games!
I absolutely love that about two year old children…everything they play turns into toddler games. It is something we should all learn from!
Physically, toddlers are active participants in almost any activity that includes climbing, kicking, running (short distances), scribbling, squatting, hopping and the way they walk starts to appear more like an adult or child than a baby. It is amazing how quickly those gross motor skills develop.
Toddlers also learn learn coordination through play. Picking things up, grasping, using fingers together and independently, pinching things, holding a crayon, hand-eye coordination and so many other fine motor skills are mastered through simple games and activities.
Oh, and don’t forget that important toddler social component as well…remember that everything is toddler games to a two year old.
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Create colorful art using leftovers from around the house. Got different colors of scraps of paper, felt, and other odds and ends from other 2 year old crafts? These are perfect to create a wonderfully abstract masterpiece!
Side walk chalk is always a fun outdoor activity for kids. Let them create colorful designs and pictures. Then add a bit of science. Let them use a spray bottle of vinegar to watch their creations puff up!
Create a color wheel by painting each section of a pie chart a color. Then pick out little toys and trinkets that are the same color. Once you have a basket of goodies allow your child to put each item in its corresponding color. This is such a fun way to learn the colors even on a rainy day.
Get outside in the summer time and have fun with one of these simple busy toddler activities or make your summer exciting and try to do them all. It will keep your 2 year old active, exploring, moving, and learning each day.
These rainbow hand kites are an amazing way to not only learn colors, but to appreciate them as well! Your child will be mesmerized by the way the colorful ribbons and dance and flow with each movement in different ways.
Sorting is something that teaches kids patterns, helps them to learn how to differentiate, and is *fun* for little kids! The best part is, toddlers have multiple ideas for learning colors so these activities for 2 year olds never gets dull and are so much fun.
Help your kids eat all the colors of the rainbow – these gummy snacks for kids are fun to make, and tasty for even picky kiddos. Your 2 year old will never know they’re eating fruits and veggies, they taste so good.
Jump through the different shapes and colors with a DIY hopscotch-like mat. Your child must follow the path across the mat by following the same color or the same shape. Plus, looking for some fun activities to do at home to teach your toddler words? There is also a magnetic word game as well!
Related: Try easy handprint art project today!
Make finger painting more exciting by freezing paint in ice cubes for a cool colorful project. Do single colors, mix colors, add glitter, make it unique. Either way, your 2 year old will get to make a neat art project and work on their fine motor skills. It is a win-win.
Need fun activities at home for older kids? Get an older sibling to paint a picture and turn it into a toddler puzzle. They can do a portrait, make a train, or whatever else your 2 year old may fancy. Plus, it is a great way to get your children to bond and promote kindness.
Make prints with plastic letters – a great way to play with color and the alphabet at the same time. Not only is this a fun way to teach your 2 year old about letters, but it is a great way to start teaching them about words!
The year 2020 brought a sobering reminder that germs are very real. Making your own hand sanitizer and cleaning your toddlers hands with homemade hand sanitizer is a great way to remind them we must always clean our hands!
Related: toddler crafts
Get creative with paint. Use different objects to make prints. Check out this forked fish. The texture is so neat and makes the fish looks like it has scales. Mix colors, make zig zags, stagger the strokes, these fish are your canvas!
Roses are such beautiful flowers with such deep meanings. Now your toddler can make their own Paper Plate Roses. They are colorful, fun, and an easy craft for your toddler. The best part is you can make different colored ones! All you need is different colored paper plates.
Face painting is something that my kiddos love. The first thing they do with markers is draw on themselves. Now you can put together a face painting kit! Use non-toxic paints and markers in your kits and add things like napkins, a towel, paintbrushes, and a couple other items you they will need.
Another favorite at our house is diy side walk chalk. They love to smash the chalk to bits in colorful blotches. Make your own paintable chalk version. Or you could make spray chalk, erupting ice chalk, glow in the dark chalk, there are so many options.
Get crafting with our huge list of toddler crafts. We have over 100 toddler crafts available from parents and bloggers just like you! From painting, tea parties, dry erase games, educational activities, dress up, gifts,, we have a little bit of everything!
Bathtub paint for kids is one of our favorite ways to make bath time fun! It is so easy to make! You probably have most of the ingredients already in your pantry.
Explore different textures! Paint on unusual surfaces, likebubble wrap with your kids. You can add other textures like pebbles and beads! Paint in a bin, on skin, it is fun and makes finger painting more exciting.
Related: More easy crafts for toddlers & preschoolers
Rainbow Spaghetti is a fun medium for kids to explore. Dye it for extra fun. Noodles have a very squishy and sticky texture, it is fun to place with, safe if your toddler puts it in their mouth, plus, save some for later for a fun dinner.
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Shaving cream is a great sensory tool for kids. Add Koolaid for colors and scent variations. If you want to make this a little safer for 2 year olds and babies who may still stick their fingers in their mouths you can substitute shaving cream for Cool Whip.
Feathers are a fun thing to craft and play with. Create a fun, colorful bird in this preschool craft. This is a fun and colorful craft, not only because of the paint, but because of the rainbow feathers! Feathers are such a fun texture to play with.
Pasta is a blast to play with in a sensory tub. Dye it and add some element shapes for kids to have fun digging, sorting, and touching. Add in colorful rings and plastic coins for even more textures. Add cups for the kids to shake the noodles and trinkets around.
Kids love big canvases. Keep one around the house for your kids to paint whenever the desire strikes. Let them spray the paint, mix it, use rollers, and brushes to create a giant, beautiful, piece of art.
If you don’t like mess, maybe the bath tub will be a better place for your kids to explore color mixing. These paints are non-toxic and safe for kids and your bathtub and the best part is, while they’re learning their colors you won’t be scrubbing paint off of chairs and the floor.
Give your kids a hole punch and colorful sheets of paper. They will have a blast creating confetti – and afterwards craft with the bits. Use a paintbrush and glue and then sprinkle the confetti on top to create a rainbow masterpiece.
Preschoolers can learn about more than color as they explore. This is a fun rainbow-themed math activity. It uses paint, toilet paper rolls, stickers, clay, and coins! Who knew math could be so fun?
Related: Oh so many toddler sensory bin ideas!
Add pipe cleaners and large beads to playdough play – it will help your kids develop fine motor skills. Plus, they create all sorts of creatures and monsters! Let their imaginations run wild.
Two year olds have fun rolling stacking cups, and pretending to drink/eat. Add beans or rice and let them scoop and pour. Even better, let them shake them all around to make neat sounds. Worried they’ll put a bean in their mouth? Use Fruity Pebbles instead any round cereal like Coco Puffs or Cheerios for their toddler game.
Chocolate Ice Cream, our preschoolers love to eat it – and this play dough recipe smells delish! Let them pretend to work at an ice cream shop. Give them other color playdough to make sprinkles and cherries! Just a heads up, this chocolate ice cream playdough may smell amazing, however, it is not edible! A taste won’t hurt, it won’t taste good, but this is not one of our edible recipes.
Rice is a fun sensory table addition. It’s cheap and easy to find, and kids love the texture falling through their fingers. Add wooden spoons, tiny cups, hide treasure in the rice, let them pour the rice through a funnel.
Toddler art projects can be daunting. Here are 10 easy and fun sensory arts and crafts for two year olds. Promote imaginary play with an ice cream dough bar, play with water beads, paint with yogurt, and there are so many more fun activities to choose from.
Make footprints in playdough with your 2 year old’s favorite toys, then see if they can match the footprints to the toys! It is such a cute game and a great problem solving game as they have to match each footprint with their toys. Plus, it teaches about body parts like feet as they have to search for toys with feet.
Story-telling is a great way to help toddlers develop language patterns and learn sequencing of events. Make your own story stones using pictures of: animals, bugs, aliens, toys, and automobiles. Put them all in a basket and then let the pick one at a time to continue the story.
Play a learning game of concentration with your kiddo. Put three items up and remove one. Have your child identify which object was removed. It is a great way to work on problem solving and refine your child’s memory and teaches them to pay attention.
Make Kabobs of play dough. Form beads and thread them. Great way for kids to explore texture and motor control. Plus it will teach your child about colors and they can count each playdough balls.
Water beads are the rage. Here are water beads that toddlers can play with, and even eat as part of a bubble tea. It is a fun texture to play with, to eat, plus they’re full of calories if your child doesn’t like to eat a lot.
Related: Make healthy snacks for toddlers
Mudpies!! It’s a quintessential kids activity – make an mini-outdoor kitchen for your kids to cook and create in. Use a wooden crate and add a bowl, a whisk, spoons, pans, a kettle full of water, and don’t forget the chalkboard menu.
Cloud dough is so soft and squishy, they will play with it for hours. Plus, it is made from a lot of things you may already have at home. It is a fun sensory craft for 2 year olds. Let them build, squish, and smash this soft cloud dough.
Sandboxes are a mess… but what if they were small, easy to cover, and you could drag it into the garage when you were done?? Win! This is a sandbox on wheels. Pile on the toys to hide them and keep your yard clean.
When was the last time you surprised your child with a picnic – for breakfast? This site has a bunch of other creative ways to connect with your kids. It has great tips to spend time with your kids everyday even in the smallest of moments.
On a hot afternoon, frozen water beads are a huge hit! Fill a big bucket with them. They’re cold and great for a hot day, but you can spray water on them to thaw them out. There textures change and it makes a fun sensory bin.
Do your kids hide in clothes at a department store? Mine do! Recreate that experience by hanging fabric for your kids to run through at home. You can hang sheets, blankets, dresses, long shirts and let them run through!
This is so cool! Create a sound/music station for your 2 year old using pots, pans, racks, and bells. Bang the afternoon away with a fun musical wall – attach it to a fence in your back yard.
It’s a soup!! Only you can’t eat it. This soup is made from flower petals and cut up fruit and water. Smells lovely, and is a hit with the kids! You can add other things too like leaves, stones, and stir with sticks or spoons. Make this nature soup your own.
Use egg cartons to help your kids differentiate between colors with this fun sorting activity. Paint each egg carton a different color and then fill a bowl full of pom poms. Put each pom pom in its correlating colors. If you use spoons and tongs it also helps refine your child’s fine motor skills.
Sponge bombs are the BEST! Make a big batch of them, and add them to your tots bath toys. They also make amazing summer toys as well! Plus, they’re safer for 2 year olds than water balloons.
Play with all the colors of the rainbow in this fun Simon Says game. This is a fun outdoors game that will teach your 2 year old about colors while keeping them moving. Say a color and they will need to hop to that color.
Card board boats are a blast. This is a fun pretend version you can add to your backyard. It will be loved until it can no longer hold it together anymore. It promotes pretend play, and if you’re able to tape boxes together or use a large box there will even be room for you!
2 year olds love bubbles, colors, and messy activities! These rainbow bubble snakes are all 3! Bubbles are a blast, especially lots of them. These bubble snakes are perfect for kids who want to learn to blow or who love popping bubbles and they are rainbow!
Related: Things to do with toddlers
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Summer time ice-cube sculptures. Your two year old can stack colored blocks of ice and watch the colors melt together. Not only is this a fun way to beat the heat, but it is a fun way to learn colors and learn about mixing colors like red and blue make purple. Make this even more fun, and tasty, and freeze different color Kool-Aid’s!
Is your child a snacker? Spend time together cooking and make a batch of snacks for toddlers and have a picnic together. Make popsicles from real fruit, muffins, fruit snacks, yogurt gummies, trail mix and more.
Do your kids love flowers?? Mine do! Check out this flower sensory bin. Add water beads and different flowers and water! This changes the texture of the water beads and each flower feels different as some will be wet and others dry. Dip your hands or feet in the bin.
Who doesn’t love pillow forts? Building forts and hanging out inside forts is a blast for kids. They love cubbies to crawl into. We love these indoor forts for toddlers. There are 25 to choose from and each one is cool and unique in its own right.
Pretend play is such an important thing for kids to do. It promotes social skills, cooperative play, and problem solving. Young preschoolers are just beginning to play pretend. These 75+ Pretend games help them build an imaginary world.
Your kids don’t need to have blocks to build. Use chunks of watermelon this summer with your preschoolers. Not only can you build with it, but you can make squish bags, math bags, and best of all, snack!
You can fill bags of paint for kids to squish and trace in as mess free finger paint. It is clean play so you don’t have to worry about any scrubbing or baths afterwards. They can still draw pictures in the paint and even mix the colors.
Drop the ball through a fun maze – your kids can create and explore with long paper tubes. You could even use toy cars with this maze. Either way, it is a lot of fun! All you need is cardboard tubes, can boxes, cutting utensils and a hot glue gun as well as ping pong balls.
Promote pretend play with this fun activity. Make an “invitation to play” for your kids cooked noodles (plain and red dyed), paper plates, tongues, forks and strainers – it’s a pasta party! Not only will it promote pretend play, but using tongues and letting two year olds move noodles from various containers is a great way to promote fine motor skill practice.
Water – everything is more fun with water. Use a squirt gun or spray bottle to learn the letters with your toddler. Write letters on a chalkboard. They can be in order or they can be all mixed up. Then name a letter and let your child find it and spray it with a water bottle to erase it from the lineup. A normal water bottle may be hard for 2 year olds, so a wet rag or sponge could also work.
Related: Kids-creative activities at home
It isn’t often you can get 2 year olds to be quiet or settle down. But this toilet paper activity is perfect. You don’t need fancy toys to build towers. Use toilet paper – if your kids are like mine, they will enjoy unraveling a roll or two, too. But they can build, drive cars over and around them, and knock them down!
We have 20 easy young toddler water play ideas will get them outside on a hot day! Splash in puddles, dance in the rain, wash the car, build your own water table, paint with water, and there are many more fun ideas that you can do together!
Learn all about the five senses with this fun printable for kids. This is such a well-rounded sensory activity as it focuses on: touching, hearing, smelling, sight, and tasting. It is a great way to teach 2 year olds about the world around them and help them explore different textures and different items around them.
This is one of our go-to activities for 2 year olds. Grab a box – it can be a terrific launch ramp for toy cars. If you have stairs you can lay the box against them or if you don’t a chair or the couch. But then watch the cars and bikes fly!
Toddler friendship bracelets are a fun way to practice cutting and threading fine motor skills. Plus, they are super cute! Cut up different colored straws and use the pieces as beads and loop them onto a pipe cleaner.
Use a lump of play dough and a wooden spoon to create a pole to toss rings on. This is a great way for kids to develop hand-eye coordination. Use plastic bracelets as the rings.
Encourage your kids to be active with one of these 25 super simple activities. We have silly activities like singing into a fan (robot voice!) and simple activities like moping the floor with socks, or building forts, and so many more! Your 2 year old will love them all!
Create a quiet book to entertain your 2 year olds during nap time or another calm period. This free template helps you put together a book full of fun felt puzzles and activities. It will keep your child busy for hours!
Kerplunk is such a fun classic game and is one of our favorite activities for 2 year olds. Grab a spaghetti strainer and some pom-poms for a fun game. Don’t worry the plastic sticks aren’t sharp because they are straws! This is such a fun problem solving game!
Rocks. My kids love to play with them when they are at the park. Teach them not to throw rocks at home by making a simple sensory box with different size rocks that have various shapes, textures, weights and colors. You can start your rock box with rocks you find or purchase a variety of rocks on Amazon.
Do your kids want to play in the sandbox, but they are just a touch to young as they put everything in their mouths?? Create edible sand! All you need is a food processor and crackers! You could probably also use something like cheerios or graham crackers for a sweeter version of this edible sand. Either way, your 2 year old will love it!
Build with blocks in a water table – a fun outdoor experience. Trace the foam blocks with chalk! That way 2 year olds can learn colors and shapes. Work on your 2 year olds motor skills by sticking the foam blocks to sticky paper. Last, promote pretend play while working on your 2 year olds fine motor skills by letting them build. Use shaving cream as cement!
Related: easy toddler crafts
Help foster independence and teach work ethic with ideas from our chore list for your preschooler. Each chore list is sectioned off by age groups. So there are lists for toddlers, preschoolers, elementary kids, older elementary kids, and middle schoolers.
Build towers with all the old boxes you can collect – use tape to keep them together and bring a step stool. Let the kids do all the “heavy lifting” (they’re empty so no back brace is needed) and then let them decorate their amazing towers with paint!
Your kids may not understand lengths and how to use a ruler yet, but they can learn to intuitively grasp varying amounts with the help of scissors, play dough and a ruler. It is a great way to introduce tools they’ll need for school and work on their fine motor skills.
Colanders and straws are the perfect way to help 2 year olds practice their fine motor skills. This can even be used as one of our fun games for 3 years old. It is simple, let your child stick straws through the holes in the colander. It will take precision to get them in!
Create a cutting station! It is one of our fun activities to do at home. Not only is it fun, but helps your 2 year old practice their fine motor skills as well. Use a bucket and tie a pair of scissors to it. Hopefully, kids will keep the scraps contained this way.
How to get kids to clean? Make cleaning fun! Add music, set a timer, hide prizes around the room! Also breaking down the cleaning tasks and even taking a before an after picture will make it easier on kids and make them feel more accomplished for doing their chores.
Encourage your kids to contribute and clean with some of these tips. Mop the floors with socks! Make your own cleaner out of non-toxic items in your home and let your child spray and wipe! This will make cleaning fun, but also teach them responsibility.
Related: Toddler chores
Leave a Comment: Which of these toddler activities did your 2 year old enjoy the most? Did we miss a great activity on our list of toddler activities?
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Categories: Outdoor
This post was last modified on 03/11/2023 12:11
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