50 indoor activities for 1-3 year olds
Please note, some activities may only be suitable for 3 yr-olds who are mature enough not to swallow small parts, and some activities may need constant guidance and supervision.
Get a bowl of soapy water, plastic tea-set and tea towel. Let them wash up on the kitchen floor whilst you do your own washing up.
Small pompoms. They sort colours into separate bowls (stick a coloured sticker on each bowl). Can also use a muffin tray for this and kitchen tongs.
Read books together, the more you read, the more they will be interested and learn to entertain themselves with books later on. Start from when they are able to sit up (6 months).
Some amazing books for babies under 2 years old:
Allah Knows All About Me, Dear Zoo, The Very Hungry Caterpillar and the Ladybird Singalong books.
Sensory fabric books are great for under age 1. Visit independent charity shops and have a look for books with thick, wipe-able pages, or use online selling/sharing places for bargains.
Musical bumps with nasheeds. They sit down as soon as the nasheed stops playing. This is a good value music player for parents who prefer using devices without screens for children.
Let them help you bake a cake, or biscuits.
Make an alphabet scrapbook. Cut out photos from catalogues/magazines for each letter.
See how many small objects they can fit into a matchbox.
Play find the ‘teddy’ (can use any favourite toy). Take it in turns to hide it around the house.
Thread tubes of pasta on string to make jewellery; or use cut up plastic straw pieces threaded through string.
Play ‘Doctor, Doctor’, either on yourselves or on soft toys, using toilet-paper as bandages and a few plasters.
Small ball pit, 200 plastic balls, small slide. Can also ‘hide’ objects in the ball pool and go ‘fishing’ using a fishing net, stick-like object or even kitchen tongs.
Get a white t-shirt, draw a track on it using a fabric marker, lay down and get a back massage whilst they ‘drive’ their cars on your back. Alternatively, make a large track over the entire room, using masking tape.
Tape a kitchen roll (paper towel) tube to the wall. Place a container underneath. Let them drop pompoms through the tube.
Fill a bathtub with plastic balls. Pour baby shampoo/shower gel into running water in a bucket to make frothy bubbles. Pour out water until only frothy bubbles remain. Pour the froth onto the balls and let them ‘find’ the balls and play with the bubble. This can work outside too in a small plastic pool.
Sand in a large tub or bowl, hide mini ‘treasures’, they find them using a spoon, mini sieve or kitchen tongs.
Shiny, crinkly and sparkly wrapping paper bits will occupy them whilst you do your own wrapping.
Make streamers/decorations using glue, coloured paper and string. They can help.
Let them help you do some ‘dusting’ or ‘sort’ the clean laundered clothes out, whilst you get the real chores done.
Give them dried pasta, a sieve, bowl and plastic jug.
Have a tea party using their toy dishes with real food on a picnic rug. Let them set the party out.
Sing traditional nursery rhymes (and cultural ones) that involve actions (see Nursery Rhymes page for ideas).
Play hide and seek.
Do a puppet show using old decorated socks.
Play traffic lights. You shout ‘red’, they have to stop, ‘amber’, they walk, ‘green’, they run around the room.
Board games, such as ‘Snakes and Ladders’.
Make a garden in a tray. Fill with soil, add plant cut-offs, flowers, etc. A small container lined with foil and filled with water makes a pond.
Make potions. Fill bottles and pots with water, food colouring, bubble bath, glitter, petals and stir. Ensure they don’t taste/swallow.
Cut 4/5 holes on one side of a box. Outline each with a different primary colour. They ‘sort’ their Lego pieces by putting the correct coloured piece into the corresponding hole.
Cut a meter of plain paper from a paper roll. Draw zig-zag, curly, loopy, swirly lines across. Get them to ‘trace’ the lines by sticking ‘dot stickers’ over them.
Give them pipe-cleaners and a colander. Watch them stick the pipe-cleaners through the tiny holes.
Place fabric scraps in an empty plastic wipes container. They pull the scraps out and put them back in. Great for fine-motor skills.
Place sellotape lines over the doorway, and get your child to throw cotton balls or scrunched up newspaper balls at the lines to see if they can stick them.
Bowl indoors! Grab a ball. Set up a few items for pins, such as empty water bottles, paper towel tubes, etc.
Biscuit/cookie cutters, rolling pin and play dough. Garlic press makes cool squiggly bits. Or make a play dough ‘sweet shop’ and make lollies, chocolate bars, etc. See here for mouth-safe playdough recipes.
Draw a picture on paper with a white candle or crayon. Make watery paint in a dark colour, they paint the paper to reveal the picture.
Make a letterbox from a cereal box, make pretend envelopes and stamps. They can ‘write’ letters and post them.
Hand-prints on paper using non-toxic paint.
Make a collage on a large sheet of paper using sweet wrappers, scraps of material, cotton wool, etc. They love sticking things!
Make a hat, using paper rolled into a cone. They can decorate it and wear it.
Help them make a card or letter to a relative.
Ask a friend to bring over their child to play.
Make a tent, drape a sheet over a few chairs.
Peg boards or Hamma beads (check age restriction).
Homemade obstacle course, using chairs to crawl under, ropes to jump over, balls to dribble or throw into a bucket, etc.
Play dressing up using old clothes and accessories.
Get a large cardboard box rectangular lid, prop it up, stick on cardboard strips (at least 10 cm wide) tilted diagonally, from the top to the bottom. They can drop plastic balls on to the top strip and watch it roll down on to each strip until it reaches the floor.
Stick a long piece of bubble wrap across a smooth floor, and watch them crawl/run across the bubble-wrap ‘runway’.
Place a towel on the kitchen floor. Fill a tub with water. Place a pile of rough paper pieces from the recycling next to the tub. Give your child a pair of tongs. Let them place the paper in the water, and prod and pick as they like. You can add a bowl and scoop for added fun.
Mix shower gel, cornflour and food colouring and do finger-painting in the bathtub. See recipe here.
Use coloured tape to ‘draw’ a square on a smooth kitchen floor. Scatter small toy pieces (such as Lego, or large beads) around the floor. They use a child-sized brush/broom to sweep the pieces into the square.
Many ideas from goodtoknow.co.uk and busytoddler.com