45+ Learning Activities For 18-24 month olds. Toddler activities.

This article is updated as Scarlett is growing up, so you’ll see different month ages mentioned here.

1. Move the buttons into the circle

Put a few buttons in a ziplock bag, add some hair gel, draw a circle on the back of the bag, and tape it to the window. The purpose of the activity is to move all those buttons inside the circle. It’s great for the development of motor skills for those little fingers! I also drew the eyes and the nose of a cat, to make it look like he’s eating the buttons. Another variation of this activity is to place buttons of 2 colors in the bag and draw 2 circles of those colors on the bag, and then the goal of the activity would be to move the buttons to the circle of the same color.

 

2. Shape monster activities

Originally I made these shape monsters for stringing activity but we came up with some other ideas on how to play with them. They are made out of felt sheets (you want the stiff ones to keep the shape). I cut out squares, triangles and circles, put googly eyes on them, and made a slit in the middle of each shape. Googly eyes are optional if you think your child might put them in his or her mouth. Scarlett wasn’t interested in taking the eyes off, so I kept them. I made an identical pair for each shape. Here are a few ways how we play with these shape monsters:

• First of all, having those slits in the middle of each shape, allows Scarlett to put them on her fingers, so they kind of turn into finger puppet monsters. When she puts one shape on her finger, I ask her to find an identical one and put it on the finger on the other hand.
• I have been using a plastic box from a bento box take-out that we ordered recently for sorting activities. Shapes can be sorted by type in each container section.
• I separated two identical pairs of shape monsters into 2 piles. As Scarlett takes one shape from one pile, I ask her to find a matching pair from another, and arrange them on a table in pairs.

Another activity idea is to put these shape monsters on craft sticks or straws.

3. Fishing game for toddlers

This game took me 5 minutes to make. I cut out shapes of fish from cardstock paper, placed adhesive magnetic discs on each one, and made a fishing pole by wrapping a strong magnet in a piece of tulle and tying it to a pen. We took turns catching and releasing fish, and it was fun!

 

4. Tickle game

This is a very fun game to play with a toddler. Hide a feather underneath one of the wipes pack flip lids attached to a board and encourage your toddler to look for it. Once the feather is found, use it to tickle your toddler with it. I keep all the other lids empty, but as an option, small flat animal toys or magnets can be placed there for discovery. I used hot glue to attach flip lids for durability but they are still sticky if you use them right away after removing them from a wipes pack. This game was inspired by The Tickle Book which has flaps with tickle monsters hiding underneath.

 

5. Paint on ice

Painting can be more fun for kids when they paint on something unusual. We tried painting on ice, and it seemed like a great painting and sensory activity for her, she was very curious about what is happening. We used regular finger paint and brushes for this activity.

 

6. Matching socks

I saw how interested Scarlett was in sorting clean laundry, so I gave her baby socks to practice pairing them. These socks worked great because they have animal faces on them, she really enjoyed matching them, and I had a 5-minute break.

 

7. Quiet time in DIY lounge

We converted our snow tubes into lounge chairs for kids to use over the summer. They are soft and comfortable to sit on and are perfect for quiet time activities. We brought some blankets for comfort and my daughter brought her stuffed toys with her. My daughter read some books and my son painted with water on a Water Wow book.

 

8. Discover family members in boxes

This game can be either played as a memory game or as a discovery game. Younger kids will have fun discovering familiar faces. I made it for the purpose of playing a memory game – I arranged pictures of family members in different boxes and the purpose of the game is to remember where each person lives. That’s why I decorated each box differently. Our grandparents live far so Scarlett doesn’t get to see them much so I thought this game would be helpful to remember them. But she seems to have the most fun discovering herself!

9. Matching animal figures to book images

This matching activity is inspired by a similar Montessori activity. First 100 Animals book is great for this. You just need a book with animal/object pictures and toys of those animals/objects. The idea of the activity is to look for a toy that’s in the picture and place it next to it. We invested in a variety of Schleich Animals , because they have very good quality and resemblance to real animals, but any animal toys would work for this.

 

10. Finger puppets made out of a latex glove

These finger puppets took me less than 2 minutes to make. While they don’t look exactly like ducks, Scarlett was still excited to watch me sing “5 little ducks”, she then tried to put them on her fingers and overall seemed to believe these were ducks. Older kids can get really creative with latex glove finger puppets, and glue feathers and other materials to them.

 

11. Sticking foam letters to the window

This activity also gave me about 10 minutes of mommy time. Foam Letters stick to a window or mirror when wet, so I sprinkled them a bit with water and gave Scarlett the container. She seemed really impressed that the letters were sticking to the window, and kept taking them off and putting them on. It’s also great for learning letters.

 

12. Build a tower and crush into it with a truck

It’s a lot of fun to see a tower being crushed into by a truck. We have been using these Stacking Cups for a variety of activities.

 

13. Animal action cards

These animal action cards are a hit with Scarlett. She started to do some of these actions when she was about 18 months old, and now at 23 months old she is able to do almost all of them besides standing on one leg like a flamingo, and puffing her cheeks like a chipmunk. She asks me to play with these cards over and over again. I showed her how to do the actions the first time we played with these and now she does them on her own. It’s fun for the whole family, we clap when she does it right, and she lets her energy out in a fun way. The digital version of these cards is available here and a printed version is here.

 

14. Make a tree by flattening playdough balls

This activity was a success for us. We started using playdough when Scarlett was about 20 months old, and it seems that every day Scarlett likes it more and more. Today I gave her a plate with green playdough balls, drew a tree trunk, and showed her how to flatten the balls in order to make the tree crown. It’s great for motor skills and for sensory experience, but I still have to watch her closely to make sure playdough is not going into her mouth.

 

15. Make regular stickers reusable

After placing stickers on regular paper, my toddler would get mad that the stickers couldn’t be peeled off the paper, so we made this little hack. Place a sheet of paper inside a clear sheet protector and the stickers can be peeled off many more times.

 

16. Walking on bubble wrap road

If you get any packages with bubble wrap, don’t throw it away! I taped bubble wrap to the floor, and Scarlett had so much fun walking on it. She also crawled on it, and tried to pop the bubbles with her hands. It’s a great sensory experience. I probably enjoyed it as much as her, but had to get off the bubble wrap road to leave the popping for her – the sacrifices we do for our children 🙂

 

17. Fox family handprint art

We made this handprint art for father’s day, even though my husband participated in this project as well to leave his handprint and knew it was coming, there was still an element of surprise since he didn’t know what we would do with his handprint 🙂 I first painted a blue background on canvas myself, let it dry, and then had our family leave their handprints. We added fox faces after the handprints were dry. I like that it’s ready to hang, great for memories, and perfect for our fox-themed room. I found this good deal on seven pack of 12″ x 12″ canvas and we are using them for our projects.

 

18. Inserting craft sticks into a box

This is an easy activity to set up for any DIY enthusiast, like me. I taped 3 pieces of different colored construction paper to the top of the box and made slits in the box to fit the craft sticks. The idea is for a toddler to insert Colored Craft Sticks of the appropriate color into the slits. The activity complexity can be variated by cutting slits in different directions, and this is how I made this box, but my recommendation is, actually, to make the slits in the same direction, as I saw how hard it was for a 19-month-old Scarlett to find the right way to insert sticks.

 

19. Montessori busy board

We discovered this fantastic busy board, crafted from felt and packed with engaging activities for toddlers. From matching shapes, letters, numbers, and colors to practicing fine motor skills with snaps, laces, zippers, and buttons, it offers a range of developmental opportunities. This hands-on experience not only develops hand-eye coordination but also helps the development of self-care skills, in line with Montessori education principles. It’s a wonderful way for little ones to learn and grow while having fun!

 

20. Rolling ping pong balls into houses

This title of the activity explains itself. We used ping pong colored balls and played with the whole family. After we were done rolling ping pong balls, we switched to sending cars to these little garages – it turns out Scarlett’s has had a collection of little racing cars that were great for this activity.

 

21. Sensory play with frozen flowers

We had flowers left over after Mother’s day, so I put some of them into an ice cube tray and froze it. Later on, it was a fun sensory experience for Scarlett to play with these flowery ice cubes. She poured water on them from a teapot and watched them melt.

 

22. Stickers on a frog window activity

First, I drew a picture of a frog on a piece of paper. Then I put it inside a clear sheet protector, taped it to the window, and gave green round stickers to Scarlett to put on a frog. Scarlett is 20 months old now and it seems that she understood what she needs to do. We tried this activity at 18 months as well, and at that point, she was placing stickers all over the sheet. I like to use a clear sheet protector since stickers can be removed and changed position, and also because the drawing can be reused with another sheet protector.

 

23. Matching foam numbers to their outlines

Foam Letters are great for all kinds of activities. Here we just match a number shape to the outline of the shape. I used markers of the same colors for the outline. At 20 months, Scarlett easily does this activity. I’m not sure if it’s because we did lots of bingo matching games with her or not. This activity is great for learning numbers if you are saying them loud once they are matched.

 

24. Obstacle course

When it’s over 90 degrees hot in New York, we try to come up with gross motor activities to do at home since this baby doesn’t like to sit still. My daily rotation boxes turned out to be useful for building an obstacle course. I showed Scarlett how to step over the obstacles and she got busy repeating.

25. Montessori animal match game/bingo game

This game was inspired by Montessori Animal Match game . I made this bingo game by gluing these flash cards to 3 poster boards – for each member of our family. I selected flash cards for the objects that I could put in a bag. Then we followed the rules of a bingo game – I pulled objects from the bag one by one and placed them on the board of the person who had that picture. Whoever fills the board first wins the game. This is an associative lotto game because the objects do not look exactly the same way as they are pictured on the cards, so the child has to associate them with the card. Another version to play this game is to match cards from a deck to cards on the board ( for this, you will need 2 identical packs of flashcards). This game is great for learning new words and letters. I don’t think Scarlett understood the winning part of the game yet, but she enjoyed matching objects.

 

26. Memory game

I lay out 4 cards in front of Scarlett. I name them. Then I flip cards over and ask her where one of the cards is. For example, I lay out cards with balloons, a car, a flower, and a cat, I flip them over, without mixing, and then I ask her: “Show me where the flower is”. She flips a card and we check if she got it right. If she got it, I keep that card picture side up and ask her to find a cat, and so on. The quantity of the cards can be increased as the child gets better at the game.

 

27. Balancing balls on paper tubes

This is a no-prep activity – I love those. It’s great to teach kids what size balls to pick to place on paper tubes – large balls will not stay up, and super small balls will fall inside the tube. Placing balls on tubes without destroying the nearby structures is another learning experience.

 

28. Sponge water play

Scarlett has been going through a sink water play recently. A while ago I showed her how to carry a step stool to wherever she wants to stand, and now sometimes I regret I ever showed her 🙂 That stool is going everywhere, and in particular, she loves bringing it to the bathroom, so I spend a lot of time sitting in the bathroom with her. She loves washing animals in water – I try to bring a different one each time, and she also loves sponges. Sponges are great, they are bright in color, and are so fun to squeeze water out of them and soak them in the water again.

 

29. Sorting pompoms by color

First, I placed round stickers of different colors in each slot of a mini muffin tray (an ice tray can be used too). Then, I put pompoms in a container and showed Scarlett how to find a pompom of a matching color and put it in the appropriate slot. We used 0.75″ round stickers – I got the larger size stickers so we can use them for other projects and Scarlett would be able to hold them with little hands. Later we added tweezers for transferring pompoms, it turned out to be a great fine motor and color-match activity. Pompoms can fit into a child’s mouth, please use extra caution with this activity, don’t leave the child alone with pompoms.

 

30. Kisses and tickles game

This game is my short version of Djeco Bisous Bedtime game. The Bisous game is really cute, I got it for Scarlett but we only use half of the game for now. The game includes cards, a boy and a girl figures, a bed, and a little mattress. The game is played by taking cards from the deck until 3 cards are found – a pillow, a lovey, and a sheet – that’s when the child (a boy or a girl) is ready to go to sleep. While you look for those 3 cards in a deck, you come across other cards that you need to do actions for – kiss the tummy, kiss the forehead, tickle or sing a song – we play this part of the game. I removed cards with a sheet, a pillow, a lovey, and some other cards from the deck, and only kept the action cards. We play in a way where she takes a card from a deck, and I do the action to her – tickle her, give her kisses, sing a song, etc. I recreated a short version of the game in this printable. It includes 12 cards with actions that we mostly use. It’s really fun to play!

 

31. Sensory walk

Walking on different sensory surfaces is a great massaging and stimulating activity. I used cardboard stock to cut out feet shapes and then used a hot glue gun for gluing sensory materials: rice, cotton balls, bottle lids, beans, and stainless steel scrubber. I made 2 of each with an idea to use them later for the Montessori guessing activity when a child is blindfolded and has to match 2 identical surfaces. After making these, my advice is to make these sensory boards in rectangular shapes – it would be easier for a child to walk back and forth on them.

 

32. Domino effect

Jenga game is so great to have. Besides using it for a fun jenga game (when our toddler is asleep), we also use it for a variety of toddler activities. For example, creating a domino effect. I help Scarlett build these lines of blocks, and then she “helps” me by knocking off the first block and watching all others fall gracefully.

 

33. Sorting frogs by color

I was looking for a while for a collection of animals of different colors for color sorting activities. Sorting bears were just more expensive, so I was happy to find these jumping frogs. These jumping frogs are great for little fingers to practice fine motor skills and they are just so fun! We also did this quick sorting activity –  I placed 4 sheets of construction paper of different colors and selected frogs of those colors to be sorted to the sheet of the appropriate color.

 

34. Pair matching

Pouch food lids are great for activities. I arranged lids of different colors in a row in an egg organizer and asked Scarlett to find a lid of the matching color and put it next to it. First, she was putting the lid of the matching color on top, and perhaps it’s an easier way to group them by color. Pouch lids can fit into a child’s mouth, please use extra caution with this activity, don’t leave the child alone with the lids.

 

35. Colorama board game

Colorama board game is great for toddlers, it has a few different levels of playing. The easiest one is: you split all shapes between the players and everyone has to find the matching space for their shapes by taking turns. We also play with it as a puzzle – Scarlett gets all pieces and looks for the matching space. It’s great for learning shapes and colors. One note though, the shapes can fit in the child’s mouth – so you need to be extra careful if your child is still putting things in the mouth.

 

36. Scooping lids out of water

Here is another activity with food pouch lids. Scarlett loves it mostly because it has to do with water probably 🙂 She’s still struggling using the scoop from Learning Resources Tool Set, she uses 2 hands to handle it, but it’s definitely getting better. Great activity for motor skills and tool handling. Lids can fit into a child’s mouth, please use extra caution with this activity, don’t leave the child alone with the lids.

 

37. Famous paintings match a card with velcro game

I wanted to get Scarlett to develop a taste in art early on, and I decided to start with the most famous paintings of all times by the greatest artists: Botticelli, da Vinci, Seurat, Salvador Dali, Picasso, Van Gogh, Kandinsky, and others. I picked the brightest paintings and thought of a way we can play a game with her using these paintings at this age. We have been doing a few matching card activities for a while, so I also added velcro squares to get each card attached to its spot for more interactivity.

We got 12 paintings arranged in 2 sheets. Each painting has a title with the name of the artist and the name of the painting underneath it. I printed 2 copies and used Adhesive Cardstock  on the back of both sheets to make them thicker. Then I cut one copy into cards and added sticky velcro squares. For now, we are playing the match-a-card game, but later on, it can be played as a bingo game when all cards are assembled in a deck, and players take turns picking a card. Whoever fills their board first, wins. The printable file can be downloaded here.

 

38. Number sorting

We did this activity in order to get Scarlett to learn to recognize numbers up to 5. First I arranged foam numbers from Foam Letters and Numbers Set in paper plates, then we took each number that was previously cut out from felt, and found a matching plate for it. As with the first activity with the shape monsters, stiff felt sheets work the best.

 

39. Whack a mushroom Montessori activity

We made mushrooms by placing pouch food lids on craft sticks inserted into a box. We used the box I previously made for craft sticks sorting by color but any box can be used if you cut out the bottom and make slits on top. Then a toddler can really have fun by whacking each one of those “mushrooms”. Pouch lids can fit into a child’s mouth, please use extra caution with this activity, don’t leave the child alone with the lids.

 

40. DIY Domino

We made these domino blocks by sticking round labels to Jenga blocks. At 22 months, Scarlett is able to follow my instructions in looking for a block with a certain color label on it. So far we were able to build a domino road by connecting the matching colors. It’s great for reinforcing color learning, and can be later used for a regular domino game. Jenga blocks can be substituted for large craft sticks.

41. Stringing activity

We have a String A Farm set for stringing activities but here is an easy version of stringing with paper tubes cut in pieces. A string with a stick can be made at home as well by using a pen and a string, similar to the one described in the fishing game above.

 

42. Sweep pompoms into the square

This is a great Montessori activity to get kids involved in household chores and to make it fun. I used tape to make a square on the floor and gave Scarlett this really cute broom that I got from the Flying Tiger store. Then I showed her how to get pompoms into the box. Pompoms can be substituted with anything else, for example, pieces of paper. Pompoms can fit into a child’s mouth, please use extra caution with this activity, don’t leave the child alone with pompoms.

 

43. Blowing pompoms into the house

I think I wrote a few times already about the importance of blowing activities for speech development. Here’s a simple activity we do –  blowing pompoms into the house. Any box can be used for this activity, the bigger – the easier it is to get pompoms into it. We originally started with mini pompoms since they are easier to blow, and later moved on to bigger size pompoms. Pompoms can fit into a child’s mouth, please use extra caution with this activity, don’t leave the child alone with pompoms.

 

 

44. Fun Faces with Contact Paper

🌟👧🧒 With a sheet of contact paper as our canvas, we gathered an assortment of exciting materials like feathers, lids, craft sticks, straw pieces, yarn, pom-poms, and large googly eyes.  🌈🎭✨ Mix and match colors, textures, and shapes to make whimsical and fun faces! This is also a fun activity to use the recyclables – playdoh lids, straws, paper and cardboard pieces. 🌈🎉

 

 

45.  Play a game with food

My daughter is a picky eater, so I try to include games with food in our routine as well – surprisingly they help her eat a lot more food while having fun.

This Take a bite game has been super helpful in getting my daughter to eat. It includes cards with actions that kids need to repeat. Some actions are funny, like ‘Make a silly face’ or ‘Tickles’, some actions are cute, like ‘Hugs’, and some action cards say ‘Take a bite’ – so my daughter gets to eat bites of food in between other actions. This game is really cute with plenty of hugs, tickles, and kisses with your child. A digital version is also available here.

 

46. Make a chalk art

This activity was added a few years later than the activities above. The toddler in this picture is my son, who is 2 now.  Recently we have been doing a few chalk art projects, it’s a great opportunity to take fun pictures of the kids. Here we drew a beach scene. My older daughter was my art director 🙂 she was telling me what to draw and helped me draw some parts and my toddler did the posing and the playing on the beach. Highly recommended it, it was so much fun for both kids!

 

 

If you like this post, check out my post about right brain education method that targets memory and creativity development in early childhood. That post includes some free download materials as well.

 

 

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