6 Fun Learning Activities for Toddlers
As a little girl, my mom would designate a certain period of time each day to learning. During learning time, we would do science experiments, art projects, book activities, flashcard games etc. She made it such a fun and exciting experience that I developed a love for learning at a very young age. Because of my mom’s great example, I’ve decided to carry on the learning time tradition with my own kids. Hope you enjoy some of our very favorite learning time activities!
I received compensation in exchange for this post. All opinions are my own.
6 Fun Learning Activities for Toddlers
1.Sensory Beads: We love sensory beads at our house! There are so many great activities you can do with your children to help them learn through sensory play. A few of our favorites include talking about different measuring tools (teaspoons, tablespoons, cups, etc) and counting to see how many water beads can fit in each measuring tool. You can also organize water beads according to color groups, talk about the colors in the rainbow, and make the outline of different shapes with the beads. The options are endless.
2. Flash Card Scavenger Hunt: Hide flashcards around the room. Have your child go on a scavenger hunt to find the flashcards. In order to be able to retrieve the flash card, they must be able to tell you the correct number or letter that appears on the flashcard.
3. Block Shapes: Outline basic shapes with tape on your floor (square, rectangle, diamond, etc). Talk about the different shapes. Have your child use blocks to fill the outlined shape.
4. Don’t Eat Pete: Choose a small amount of lettered or numbered flash cards that you’ve been working on. Line them up in rows. Place a small piece of candy on each flash card. In your mind, designate a certain card to represent “Pete.” Your child then chooses a flash card. If it isn’t “Pete” then then tell you the correct number/letter and get to keep the piece of candy. Their turn ends when they choose “Pete” in which you say, “Don’t Eat Pete!”
5. Number/Letter Adventure: Pull out the binoculars or magnifying glass and go on an adventure around the house looking for letters or numbers. When your child spots one, talk about that letter/number. They can also write down the letter/number that they found.
6. Music Time: Music is a great way to enhance your child’s learning experience. I find that my children often learn best, and remember what they’ve learned, when associated with a song. In fact, I find that my three-year-old daughter prefers learning songs and nursery rhymes through entertainment like ChuChu TV.
Ranked 42nd most subscribed Youtube channel in the world, ChuChu TV helps babies and toddlers learn important social skills (such as manners, sharing, learning from mistakes, etc) as well as letters, numbers, and nursery rhymes through fun, colorful, and exciting videos. Although there are SO many fun ChuChu TV videos, here are a few favorites your kids will love:
The Joy of Sharing: https://youtu.be/1dttq5p0xUM
Colors: https://youtu.be/tkpfg-1FJLU
Phonics: https://youtu.be/hq3yfQnllfQ
For a more comprehensive list of songs, information about their app, cd, and merchandise, you can check out ChuChu Tv‘s website. You can also check out the ChuChu TV Youtube Channel. Talk about such a fun way to make childhood learning exciting and memorable!
What is your favorite way to help your child learn?
my girl is 2 years old and she loves participating in activities. this post is really helpful for me and my daughter.
I used some of these ideas when I was a Speech Pathologist in the public schools
These are great ideas to encourage learning! It can be hard with toddlers, loved that you made it fun.
Love all these activities!They are so much fun! Can’t wait to share them with my SIL!
My grandson loves ChuChu TV’s youtube channel. He learned a lot of songs from watching those videos and it is also where he got interested in learning about numbers, colors and shapes. At 35 months, he can now count to 30!
These are great ideas! Kids love fun while learning!
My daughter is 4 and is so hungry to learn. I can’t wait to try some of these with her.
What fun learning activities. I really like Don’t Eat Pete and the scavenger hunt. A great way to incorporate fun into learning.
Your block shapes idea is so simple but clever. I think it would be also fun to make a little track for cars using tape on the rug.
My son is now 6 but I can see how some of these activities could still benefit him. I need to check out ChuChu TV!
My kids used to do all of these things when they were little. I miss those days! Hopefully, when I have grandkids, I can do this with them.
These are all really fun activities. My kids love a lot of these as well. Those water beads are a favorite of my kids.
These are really great ideas! I’m saving them for when my grandson is older. I did similar things with my daughter and it really helped develop a love of learning.
These are such fun ideas for little ones! It’s nice to have plenty of activities ready when the kids have some free time.
These are great ideas! I think ChuChu TV is genius! The kids get big kid screen time, but it’s educational!
Our kids’ older cousin likes to get creative with them and set them up to do scavenger hunts, with different clues. These are some awesome ideas
I loved reading through the entire article. Very niche information shared in a small article. Thanks Janel!
Nice ideas! Number/letter adventure would be the most fun.