10 indoor activities

Activity 1: Potato Sack Races – in pillow cases

How To:

Use pillow cases to have your toddler hop across the room!
Tip for older kids: For older children learning their numbers have them roll dice and hop the amount of numbers they rolled. You can join in or have another child play and see who gets to the other side of the room first!

Items needed:

Pillow case
Dice
Book: Hop Little Bunnies

Activity 2: Rain clouds – indoor weather

How To:

Fill the jar to the top with water.
Use the shaving cream to make a mound on top of the water.
Have your child drop the food coloring on top of the shaving cream cloud and watch it move through the cloud to the water.
Talk about weather and how clouds get saturated with rain (food coloring) and then it will rain (food coloring flowing into the water).

Items needed:

Mason jar
Shaving cream
Food coloring
Book: All About Weather

Activity 3: Popsicle Stick Colors – matching

How To:

Lay out the colored popsicle sticks (or make your own using markers).
Option 1: Draw on a piece of paper with straight lines of corresponding colors to the popsicle sticks for easy level matching.
Option 2: Create shapes and have children match with the popsicle sticks.

Items needed:

Popsicle sticks. colored or plain
Washable markers
Paper
Book: Pantone: Colors by Pantone

Activity 4: Snow Fun – shapes & colors

How To:

Put some snow in a bowl and then spread it on the cookie sheet.
Let your child flatten the snow out and add some food coloring (however many colors you would like!)
Then use cookie cutters and let them cut different shapes out of the snow.
You can read your favorite snow themed book as they play.
Version 2: Let them put some waterproof figurines in the snow for more imaginative play!

Items needed:

cookie sheet
food coloring
cookie cutters
activity mat
waterproof figurines
snow
book: The Snowy Day

This one can get a little messy but having a mat down and using a cookie sheet will help!

Activity 5: Science Balloon – fun and easy science

Experiment with household items!

How To:

Fill an old water bottle with vinegar and a few drops of food coloring of your child’s choice.
Add 3 tablespoons of baking soda and a balloon to the top of the water bottle.
Watch what happens!

Items needed:

water bottle
white vinegar
food coloring
baking soda
balloons
book: Curious George and the Hot Air Balloon

Activity 6: Caterpillar Button Counting – cute, brain stimulating activity!

How To:

On a piece of poster board, paper or cardboard.
Use markers to draw circles increasing in number by one as you go down the paper.
Ex: circle for the face & 1 circle, next line- circle for the face & 2 circles, next line- circle for the face & 3 circles for the body, etc.
Have your child place a button in each circle to make the body of the caterpillar.
Count the number of buttons as they place them.

Items needed:

poster board, paper, or cardboard
washable markers
buttons
book: The Very Hungry Caterpillar

Activity 7: Tube Sensory Tree

How To:

Have your child help you make a “tree” with branches out of the tubes (using paper towel rolls, toilet paper rolls or buy cardboard tubes),
Cut when necessary, and tape it together.
Once you have your tree assembled, tape the bottom opening inside a plastic bin.
Next have your child scoop your sensory item (rice/beans/seeds/pasta) and pour it into a branch of the tree and listen and watch as it goes through the tubes and into the bin.

Items needed:

cardboard tubing
scissors
packing tape
plastic bin
scoops
book: The Giving Tree

Activity 8: Cookie Jar Counting

How To:

Use markers to draw 10 circles on the piece of paper and in each circle draw dots (1-10) to represent your chocolate chips. Draw a “jar” around the “cookies”
Use scissors to cut 10 circles out of the brown paper and number them 1-10
Have your child pick a cookie in the jar and count the number of chocolate chips on the cookie. Next, have them find the corresponding numbered cookie and place it in the jar

Items needed:

washable markers
construction paper
scissors
book: If You Give a Mouse a Cookie

Activity 9: Pin the Face on the Circle

How To:

Using markers, draw a large circle in the middle of the poser board.
Using scissors, cut two smaller circles below and to the left and right of the large drawn circle (big enough for your child’s arm to fit through).
Have them stand on the back side of the poster board.
Take a face sticker, and without peeking, properly place it on the circle to make a face.

Items needed:

markers
poster board or cardboard
scissors
face stickers
book: My Body

Activity 10: Noodle Counting & Stacking

Have your child make a wide snake with the play-doh and flatten the top.
Stick some spaghetti noodles or dowels into the play-doh.
Then have your child thread the noodles/ cheerios onto the spaghetti noodle and count as they do it.
Version 2: Color coordinate- color your noodles with food coloring beforehand and coordinate it with the play-doh
Version 3: Make it a game! Roll dice and have them place the amount of noodles/ cheerios that they roll onto the spaghetti noodle!