10 Ways to Keep a Toddler Amused

Photo byMarkus SpiskeonUnsplash

If you ask parents who presently have a toddler, or remember the toddler years, what it is like to parent a toddler, you might see them shiver as a look of fear enters their eyes. They will tell you that the toddler years bring a roller coaster ride because the toddlers are finding their place in the scheme of things, testing the limits, and throwing around emotions like confetti. A parent needs to be patient, creative, flexible, and most of all have a great sense of humor.

One of the goals of parents is to find activities the toddlers will love so the parents can have a few minutes of peace while the toddler plays. My grandson is three and if he is engaged in an activity my daughter will say, “Nobody move, don’t breathe, don’t make a sound.” We all laugh when she says this, but I think she is dead serious. I’m sure she is not alone, so here are a few ideas to keep your toddler busy.

· Any activity with water. Water will keep a child amused for long periods of time. My husband used to fill up a large plastic container with water and toys and call it Parker’s pool. Parker loved it. A water table has activities to do with water. You can let them play in the kitchen sink, and the bathtub is always good for fun. Even taking a smaller container and letting them put toys in it will keep them amused.

· A jewelry box. I remember that I loved playing with my mom’s jewelry box which I now let Parker play with. Fill it with old jewelry you no longer use and monitor them to make sure small pieces don’t go in their mouths.

· Make up games. I have made some of the silliest games with Parker, and he loves them. One game we play is the flashlight game. We start in a room with the lights off, and I count to three then say, “Turn it on!” We then run down the hall, into another room, and then back to the original room where I say, “Turn it off!” We laugh like crazy, and Parker can burn off some energy.

· Find anything that has buttons to push. You can go to the local thrift store and pick up some interactive games that have lots of buttons.

· Have a play date. Children love other children. I brought Parker over to play with the neighbor’s toddler and they amused themselves for hours.

· Go on adventures. Parker has a push bike that has a container on the back. We go around the neighborhood looking for flowers and other interesting things and he puts them in the container. You see things you never noticed before when you are with a toddler.

· Stack and organize. Anything you can use to make a tower is a great idea and use anything that can be organized or sorted. You can work on learning colors and shapes this way.

· Arts and crafts. Use stickers to create a work of art. We don’t realize how many free stickers come in our mail. Pull out the address stickers and other stickers that come to us for free. Buy a few sheets from your favorite store, pull out some construction paper and have fun.

· Make a fortress. I remember that my two oldest could have cared less about the toys we bought for Christmas, they only wanted to build a tunnel fort with the boxes. You can make a fort using sheets and chairs, or if you live in a cold climate, make one with snow.

· Sidewalk art. Grab a huge bucket of sidewalk chalk and let your artists have a blast. Make sure you have something ready to clean them up before they head back inside.

I hope these ideas will help bring you some peace and laughter!