10 ways to keep a toddler busy

If you have a toddler in the house you’ll know just how active they are! They love to keep you on your toes morning, noon and night. While Vega has a playroom full of toys {and anything he can ‘acquire’ from his sisters bedrooms} as is the way he much prefers things that aren’t actual toys. I’m pretty lucky that he is happy nost of the time just pottering around the house – it helps of course that our house is full of people and things going on all the time, so there is nearly always someone around to play with him. There are times when I need something for him to do that I know will occupy him for 20/30 minutes {so I can work with the girls, or bake, etc}

Here are 10 of our favourite busy activities that keep him occupied for more than five minutes at a time.

1| Get out the pots and pans.
Vega loves nothing more than emptying my entire cupboard of pots and pans [and colanders, lids, plastic jugs….} whenever I’m busy in the kitchen. He’ll happily bang away on the bottom of a pan with a wooden spoon, or use two pan lids as cymbals. Noisy, yes, but he has so much fun it’s kinda worth the resulting headache!

2| Basket of clothes pegs
Since Vega loves to pinch the pegs when I’m hanging out the washing, I’ll often give him the basket of pegs to play with. Emptying it out and putting them all back in keep him occupied for quite a while – he also loves it when I clip the pegs to the side of the basket for him to pull off.

3| Paper Tearing
To stop him from pinching the paper one of his sisters is currently drawing her latest masterpiece on, I” give Vega few sheets of old newspaper and let him tear them up as much as he likes. Cause and effect are big in a one-year-olds development and this is a great way for your tot to form that connection.

4| Fill a box full of stuff
Things that aren’t toys are always more interesting than actual toys, and cardboard boxes are simply the best {even for my 7 and 9-year-olds!}. Fill a big box {big enough for them to sit in} with random things from around the house – some paper, spoons, bowls, a whisk, an old egg box…, and sit them in the middle of it all.

5| Indoor water play
Pop a towel or two on the floor, fill a shallow bowl full of water {I use a roasting tin} and give your toddler a variety of objects to play with – spoons, plastic bowls, rubber ducks, pine cones and let them splash away

6| Make an indoor ‘mountain’
Whenever I empty the laundry basket out on the floor to fold the clothes, Vega loves to climb on the pile of clothes. So I’ll collect some blankets and cushions together and make a ‘mountain’ for him to climb on and in!

7| Blow some bubbles
Everyone loves bubbles right? Big sisters make great bubble blowers, or failing that pop a bubble machine on {just not on tiled/wood floors as it gets very slippery} and your little one will be entertained for hours. Vega loves trying to catch the bubbles in his mouth{!!}

8| Buried Treasure
Fill a roasting tin or shallow plastic box with dried pasta or rice and bury some treasure {I hide things like spoons, small toy cars, little model people/animals and keys}. Let your little one go digging to see what treasure they can find.

9| Make a cardboard box tunnel
Open out the ends of a cardboard box and tape them in place to make your own tunnel… little one’s love crawling through and you could also give them some balls to roll through the tunnel

10| Stack them up
Grab some plastic cups or bowls and build a tower, then let your kiddo knock it over! They’ll love practising stacking them up themselves too.