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30 + super easy, budget friendly activities for toddlers

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These 30 plus super easy, budget-friendly activities for toddlers are a great way to help your little ones develop their fine motor skills.

Looking for activities for your to keep your busy little ones even busier? Below is a list of 30 + activities for toddlers beginning @ 2 Years Old.ย  I have listed 32 activities here, but a few links include more than one activity. My little one is growing up and needs lots of motivational activities to help her develop. She is now 33 months old. These are some fun activities I have done with her and I bet your little ones will love, too. What is even better, is that most (if not all) of them are budget friendly and supper easy to make! No to mention, these activities help develop the senses, imagination, fine and large motor skills, and you name it…… The best part is that many of them are totally EDIBLE:) To view more of these activities, visit my All Things Baby Page under toddler activities/play. This post contains affiliate links for your convenience.

30 Plus Activities for Toddlers

Artsy Crafty!!

1. Rigatoni pasta necklaces and bracelets

2. Edible Necklaces with Froot Loops – Updated Wed Afternoon, August 24, 2022

3. Macaroni Pasta Arts and Crafts

4. Tin Can Pencil, Pen, or Crayon Holder with Popsicle Sticks

Sorting/Matching!!

5. Bottle Cap Sorting

6. Quiet Time Bins

Color me crazy!!

7. Coloring Books – Coloring books an all-time favorite item for kids. They are evergreen and have stand the test of time. You can find them in every size and for every age, from children to adults. Coloring books are not only fun to use, they teach children how to use colors, mix colors, hand-eye coordination, and how use their fine motor skills (i.e. their fingers for coloring).

8. Drawing – Kids love scribbling! Give them some plain paper or a doddle pad, some crayons or a pencil and let them scribble/draw. Our kids love using printer paper, even though they have sketch paper. Here’s a cute unicorn cover sketch padย and this one that’s sure to get your little unicorn princess scribbling in no time. And let’s not forget this out-of-space pad and that sketch padย for your little prince.

9. Edible Finger Paint – You can make edible finger paint at home using safe ingredients from your pantry.

10. Homemade Puffy Paint –

11. Homemade Rainbow Crayons – Rainbow crayons are so fun to make and you can create fun shapes by using chocolate molds or ice trays. However, the process of removing the paper can be daunting.

12. Other Painting Activities For Toddlers – Check out these super easy painting ideasย for your toddler.

Sensory Play!!!

13. Mini Jello Building Blocks – This activity was really fun to create and the even more fun to play with. The jello is so jiggly, lol.

14. Ocean Themed Sensory Bottle – Make a sensory bottle with just a few items. Kids love to shake and watch what happens as the things in the jar falls down.

15. Jello & Oats Sensory Tray

16. Rice Play

17. Homemade Goop/Slime

18. Homemade Play Doug โ€“ No Cook

All Things Make a Mess!!

19. Cornmeal โ€œSandboxโ€ Toddler Play

20. Play Sand Fun – Updated

21. Moon Sand #1 with Flour and Canola Oil

22. Moon Sand #2 with Play Sand and Cornstarch

23. Homemade Bubbles

Experimenting!!

24. Baking Soda & Vinegar Experiment – Updated

More fun for indoor/outdoor!!

25. Chalk Talk

26. Homemade Ball Pit

27. Kids Backyard Pool Fun

28. Shopping Cart Items for Toddlers Using Empty Food Cartoons

Learn to do a chore!!

29. Cooking with kids

30. Teach Your Toddler to Wash Dishes

31. Plant Watering Fun

32. Lunch Picnic At Home

What are some of your super easy, budget friendly toddler activities? I would love to hear about them and add them to my toddler’s list!

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90 thoughts on “30 + super easy, budget friendly activities for toddlers

  1. Oh my! Puffy paint and edible finger paint! Totally bookmarking this for rainy days and weekend fun with my kiddos! My kids love planting flower seeds. I let them pick out a packet of seeds of their choice, we plant them in a pot and its their responsibility to water them! So much fun! And awesome to see their delight when flowers sprout!

  2. Yay! So glad to have read this! I was just thinking today that I need activities for my little man. He is only 13 months old, but it’s good to have some ideas for the future and I am sure I can do some of these now! Thanks!

    1. I had to come up with somethings. Keeping up with 2 little ones was a lot of work, but the activities really helped. Our 8 month old was able to do some of these as well (eg. the rice play sensory one).

  3. Awesome list! My kids are 18, 18 and 20 so long past toddler stage but they would have been great for our beginning homeschool years!

  4. These are such cute ideas! I’m sharing with my sisters who both have little ones I know would love these fun crafting activities! Thank you so much for sharing! xo xo

  5. My little girl is just about exactly this age. I’m excited to try some of these out, especially the jiggly blocks and edible finger paint and dishwashing. She does dishes with me, but she’s not learning much. :]

  6. I don’t have kids but my friends’ kids will definitely enjoy these! I especially love the homemade goop/slime. Seems like something even I can try!! Thanks for sharing.

  7. What an amazing list! I remember how hard it can be to entertain toddlers, in fact, I still struggle with my 6 year old sometimes and might try some of the activities with her!

  8. My daughters been watching a friends 2 year old and I’m going to pass this on. She’s having a blast with him but I’m sure there will be days coming up that they will get bored lol With the weather turning she’d better get the messy one’s outside before our Seattle rain comes back.

  9. What a great post! I’m not a mom yet, but am waiting to adopt children from foster care. It’s likely that we may have a toddler somewhere in the mix, so I pinned this for later ๐Ÿ™‚ Thanks for sharing these ideas!

  10. Great idea round up! I realize kind of sadly that my youngest, being five, is just a tiny bit too old for some of these, but we did have a lot of fun doing stuff like this when he was younger. In fact, I loved toddler age with all five of my kiddos. I’m going to forward your page over to my sister in law for my two year old niece, she’d love these. Great work, I know it took tons of time to put this list together, and it’s really a wonderful one ๐Ÿ™‚

  11. Thanks, Zan! I haven’t done the jello cubes stacking so would love to try that soon. So sad that some of the links didn’t work out, like the jello and oats tray. I will bookmark this and come back to it for more rainy day activities!

  12. This is such a cute post! I don’t have any toddlers, yet I know some Moms who do, so I’ll be sure to share this page. Your website is so bright and fun – I love the design! All the best to you and your sweet family.

  13. There are some great ideas in this post! I really try and cook with the kids as much as possible. They enjoy it and so do I.

    I am also amazed about how much they enjoy certain chores. Like mopping. We make it a family event. And putting clothes in the washer or dryer. My toddlers just think it’s the most fun ever.

    I think it’s all about the simple things – the quality time spent together.

  14. So cool! I don’t have kids yet but this is a great idea for stimulating their senses or at least the edible ideas will be tasty! I will pass this along to a friend that has a 2 yr old.

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