Play ideas for you and your toddler

A two year old with curly blonde hair facing a mirror, adjusting her hair, wearing a white sleeveless top with little print and light blue shorts, standing in a room with a wooden bench.

Hide and Seek

  • Toddlers love the thrill of hiding and being ‘found’ by you. There are so many great places to hide around the house – behind the curtains, under the table, under the blanket.

  • Use short phrases with your little one like “where are you?”, “you’re hiding”, “I’m coming”, “boo – there you are”, “under the table”, “what clever hiding”

A cluttered living room filled with houseplants, furniture, and various objects. The space has large windows with light-colored curtains and a wooden floor. There is a makeshift tent or structure in the center made of white fabric, surrounded by scattered items including a small table, a black chair, and a bookshelf with books and decorative objects.

Cubby House

  • Just like hide and seek, cubby houses provide endless fun for little ones. This is such a fun, free activity and involves using your imagination and problem solving. Using chairs, boxes, sheets, blankets and pillows you can create your dream house.

  • Use short phrases such as “let’s build”, “make a cubby”, “put up the sheet”, “over the chairs”, “make a roof”, “go inside”, “we’re in the house”, “under the sheet”, “hiding inside”.

A two year old with brown hair and green eyes smiling and looking at her painted hand, which is covered in colorful swirling paint.

Sensory Play

Sensory play means exploring a range of textures, sounds, colours, flavours and smells in your play. Sensory play is a great way to introduce new concepts and also help your baby get used to a wide range of sensory experiences. Put away the traditional toys and try one of the following:

  • Water and sand play (remember shoes and socks off for more fun!)

  • Playing with coloured rice

  • Playdough

  • Yoghurt finger painting

  • Collecting leaves, sticks and gumnuts

  • Making shakers using recycled bottles

A two year old boy wearing a blue shirt and white pants walking through a green strawberry patch holding a small white basket on a farm.

Outside Play

  • One of the best opportunities for children to learn is during unstructured outdoor play. Once you are sure the environment is safe for your little one, watch what they are interested in, follow their lead and talk about what you are exploring.

  • For example “you found a leaf”, “brown leaf”, “it’s crunchy”, “smells pretty”

A two year old child with blonde hair wearing a yellow and white striped shirt crawling on a wooden deck outside, with toys and a woman in the background near a house and trees.

Sandpit

  • Your toddler will love spending hours in the sandpit with you. This is a great time for you child to learn many concepts such as ‘full’, ‘empty’, heavy’, ‘light’, ‘big’, ‘small’, ‘in’, ‘out’, ‘wet’ and ‘dry’.

  • Talk all the time about what you are doing together. “You’re digging”, “dig, dig, dig”, “big hole”, “in the hole”, “hide your toes”, “where are they”, “there they are!”.

  • For even more fun, fill up a bucket of water to use in the sand pit too.

Animals

  • Toddlers love animals. Whether it is a visit to the zoo or farm, reading books about animals, or playing with figurines, all toddlers are intrigued by the animal kingdom. Talk about what you can see, hear and touch.

  • For example “big dog”, “dog’s barking”, “woof, woof, woof”, “have a drink”, “pat the dog”, “so soft”, “pat, pat, pat”.

A toddler and an adult crouched down. The adult is patting a baby goat and the child is smiling.

  • Reading aloud to your every day toddler is the single, most important thing that you can do to teach them the read. A trip to the library is also a great outing and an opportunity to discover a whole range of new books every week!

  • Click here for suggestions of great books for toddlers.

Books

A toddler with curly brown hair playing with a colorful educational book in a living room. Sunlight streams through a window in the background.

  • All toddler love the suspense and sense of control when knocking down a tower of blocks! Building together provides you with a great opportunity to talk about a range of concepts. For example “let’s build”, “blue block”, “put it on”, “build a tower”, “up, up, up”, “ready to crash?”, “push”, “crash”, “fell down”.

Blocks

A two year old girl with blonde hair and blue eyes, wearing a pink fuzzy jacket with black spots, holding a yellow toy and looking intently at it.

Musical Instruments

  • Musical instruments are great fun for toddlers because they like to make noise! Choose simple instruments such as bells, shakers, castanets, maracas, a triangle and a drum. Let your child play freely and talk about what they are doing. “Bang the drum”, “bang, bang bang”, “playing loud”, “playing on the drum”, “boom, boom, boom”.

A toddler holding a wooden rainbow xylophone, viewed from above, with colored bars and a small wooden drumstick in hand.

  • Cars can be fast, slow, noisy and come in many colours. Playing with toy cars is a great way to learn language. Remember to follow your child’s lead because then they will be engaged, having fun and learning.

  • Use short phrases like “brmmmm noisy car”, “car’s going fast”, “woosh, down the ramp”, “yellow car”, “stop car”.

Cars

A two year old boy with speech delay is wearing a gray sweater and playing with an orange and black toy truck on a gray sofa in a living room.

Communication Temptations

Communication temptations are activities that are motivating for your child, but that they need your help.  This provides the perfect opportunity for you to encourage your child to communicate with you, whether it be by passing you the object they need help with, making eye-contact with you or using the words “help”, “more” or “open”.

Great ideas for communication temptations include:

  • Bubbles with the lid on too tight

  • Snacks in a tight container

  • A bag or pillowcase tied shut with toys hiding inside

  • A wind up toy or music box

  • Blowing up a balloon and letting it go

A two year old girl with speech delay in a green jacket and beige skirt playing with soap bubbles in a park with green trees in the background.