9 Indoor Activities To Entertain Your Toddler

Snow days, rainy days, days I just have to do laundry—we've had a lot of inside time lately. I have been getting creative with my 2-year-old and finding lots of inside fun ideas. From pots and wooden spoons to milk jug bowling—there has been tons of easy fun. 

Here are 9 great indoor activities to entertain your toddler:

 Wooden Spoon + Pots = Musical Madness! Doing the dishes and toddler driving you crazy?! Give him a pot and a wooden spoon. Bang, clash, boom. So simple yet so entertaining. Mix it up with plastic bowls, stainless steel pots, wooden and metal spoons (the bigger the better). He's learning about beats and music while getting his banging on

 Cardboard box + crayons = Artful Activity! I get tons of cardboard box deliveries. A few crayons (washable of course!) plus his creativity and it makes for the perfect art experience. Lines, squiggles, circles. He's learning about art without even knowing it.

 Empty milk jug + soft ball = Toddler Bowling! We go through 4 litres of milk a day (yes, really!) and so before I take those milk jugs back for deposit we re-purpose them into a bit of play. Line them up against a wall. Stand back. And gently roll (this takes practice) the ball to knock the jugs over. Fun physical activity—there is crouching, bending, picking up and running back to knock them down again.

 Cars + hands + CRASH! There is something about CRASHING things that entertains my toddler to know end. Cars, pillows, teddy bears, two of anything can crash really. It is repetitive and verbal (he sings CRASH CRASH) and apparently tons of fun.

 Fingers + Songs = Finger Songs. Folding laundry and toddler wants your attention? Start singing "Head and Shoulders" or "Wheels on the bus" or "The Hokey Pokey" —you can do the movements as you fold (whizzing socks around while singing "Wheels on the bus" is just organic) and he'll follow along. That's multitasking.

 Kitchen sink + water = Homemade water table. This was my Tuesday. I pulled a chair up to the sink. Filled it with water and dish soap and put in wooden spoons, plastic measuring cups and some clean plastic yogurt containers. My son instinctively climbed up and went to town splashing and pouring. Yes, the floor got wet. Yes, he got wet too. But easy clean up with a quick towel whip up and change into fresh duds before nap—it was play time well spent.

 Swim + bodies = Land Swimming. Sounds weird right? This was part of a game we played at play group where there were "octopus" who had to catch "fish" swimming by. Dear son loved it so much we often land swim around the house. Swim Swim Swim and we walk around the living room and move our hands like swimming. Hurry a shark!

 Hide + Seek = Where'd it Go? Showing an object and then hiding it under my shirt (or his) is a daily event. Where'd it go?! we ask each other. I call it training for finding running shoes in his school years.

 Books + Lap = Reading Time. Before every nap and bedtime we read stories. I change up the ones on the toddler reading table (more for my entertainment than his). Currently we are reading "Blue Hat, Green Hat" by Sandra Boynton and "Toupie a peur" by Dominique Jolin.