Okay, your toddler is bored, although they have a great number of toys and videos to watch. That's okay, I get bored at home sometimes too. Even though there is laundry to do and meals to prep. Some times I need something different to do for a little bit and so do the kids.
I have three children who tell me they are bored almost 100x a day, so to lessen the number of times I hear it, I create task and craft bins. Inside these bins are science experiments, crafting supplies and educational tools and resources.
Here are some of our favorite keeping a toddler busy activities! We hope you'll enjoy them! And if you try them out, share your experience with us!
SCIENCE EXPERIMENT FUN!
We call this "Runaway" milk! All you need for this experiment is milk, food coloring, dish soap and q-tips!
Place milk in a bowl and drop some food coloring in it. The more colors you use,, the more neat the experience!
Next, dip the qtip in dish soap and then in the food coloring milk bowl. Watch as the colors explode and "runaway " from the soap!
DIY Lava Lamp!
I love science, so this experiment is one of my favorites! All you need is a clear jar, baking powder, water, food coloring and oil.
First add baking soda to the jar. Then pour in oil and drop in food coloring. Watch as it begins to form, creating your own lava lamp!
What happens when you drink too much sugar?
Why is it important to brush your teeth and avoid too many sugary drinks? Watch as we use brand new, store bought eggs and a variety of drink selections to show the damage it can do to teeth. Not going to lie, this sort of grossed us out, but now teeth brushing time is easy peasy!
All you need is a variety of drink selections. We use water, flavor water, two different sodas and two different juices. Soak the egg in the cups for 24 hours and check them out the following day!
See how the eggs began to deteriorate?
Dancing popcorn!
This is similar to the volcano experiment, but instead of oil or food coloring you will use white vinegar and popcorn kernel! Add baking powder to the bottom of your jar, add popcorn kernel and then pour the white vinegar in! Watch as the popcorn kernels dance away!
You want to add less kernels than we did or add more vinegar to really see them dance. Once we did that they dance their way up the vase.
DIY Rock Candy
Did you know you can make your own rock candy at home? Did you know, not only can you make your own rock candy, you can choose nearly any flavor you desire. Okay, any Kool-Aid flavor you desire. Because today, you making rock candy with a little help from Kool-Aid.
(I will update tonight with the recipe)
Please know this is a process and not a quick DIY Rock Candy. The longer you wait, (two weeks recommended) the "more" rock candy you will have.
All about Nature:
DIY Bird feeders!
Perfect for the summer time! My kids absolutely love making these and then watching the birds gather to eat off them! They're super simple to create too!
All you need for this project is toilet paper rolls or paper towel rolls will work, bird seed, cheerios, peanut butter and yarn! We used a popsicle stick to smooth the peanut butter on.
Mix the cheerios with the bird seed and pour onto a baking sheet. Cover the toilet paper roll in peanut butter and roll in the birdseed.
Run yarn through the middle of the roll and bam! DIY bird feeder!
Since we're on the topic of nature, let's go on a Nature Walk!
We use an old egg cartoon and go exploring outdoors. The kids have so much fun collecting nature items and if they gather enough, we come inside and do a nature art project! Keeping them entertained for even longer!
Outdoor/Nature Scavenger Hunt!
Similar to a Nature walk, but more structured. Have them search for specific things in nature or outdoors!
You can find printable ones online for free or create your own! The neat thing about Scavenger hunts is they can be done anywhere! Taking your little(s) to the grocery store? KEEP THEM BUSY WITH A SCAVENGER HUNT! Ours love it!
Rock Painting!
Go on a walk and collect some rocks! Then come home, pull out your paint and brush and get creative! My kids and I love rock painting and we hide them all over the place when we go out!
Solar Smores!
One of the coolest things we have ever done was make solar smores! We grabbed an old pizza box, just so happened we had pizza the night before. (save your next one!) And wrapped the entire inside of the box with foil. We placed graham crackers with a marshmallows in the box and took it outside on the hot summer day. In about 40 minutes our marshmallows were baking from the heat and we had smores!
Art & Educational Activities
DIY Shapes and Colors Sorter!
Is your little one ready to learn shapes and colors? Create this easy board for them match the colors and shapes!
This activity kept my littles entertained for quite some time! All you need is a poster board, construction paper and a marker. Have your little sort the shapes and colors by placing them in their designated spot! We cut out hearts, circles, squares, rectangles and diamonds for our shape sorter! So such easy, fun game and learning activity!
DIY Rainbow Experiment
Grab a paper towel and color a rainbow on each end. Place the paper towel in two bowls of water, like pictured and watch as a rainbow forms! This is so neat and fun to watch the rainbow form!
Spaghetti Threading
Grab some spaghetti and secure it in a glass. We used an empty peanut butter jar and added water. It was fun to add the water because after so long the pasta softens. Throwing a challenge their way. (really it did not effect her lol)
Next, cheerios. Most of us have these in our pantries already. Have your kiddo work on coordination and patience to place the cheerios on the spaghetti creating a ring of cheerios!
Rain Clouds! 🌈
My kids get really excited with this one, so we may have gone a little overboard with the shaving cream & food coloring! Lol! All you need for this a glass or Mason jar, food coloring, water and shaving cream. Add water to the jar and top with shaving cream. (Try not to use as much as we did 😂) Watch as the food coloring makes it way through the shaving cream and into the water!
You already have the shaving cream and food coloring out, so you may as well try this out!
Shaving Cream Sink Art
We used our sink,(easy wash out), but we have a plastic storage tote I will fill with a little bit of water, a lot bit of shaving cream and then different colors of food coloring. It is up to you, but I let them use their hands to swirl it around. Other wise give them a fork and see what they can come up with! The food coloring does stain a bit, but after a bath or two and some baby oil, it usually comes off.
Some of these ideas may not be what you are looking for, and I apologize if so. My kids love the outdoors and getting messy!
If you are looking for more learning, such as sight words, colors etc., I have blog post in the Lifestyle of Fun & Art category. Thank you for taking your time to scroll through this and we hope you can find something to enjoy!
Let us know what your favorite activity is! Even if it is not posted here! Keep coming back for updated activities and experiments!
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