Rain, rain, go away, come again another day. Little Seb wants to play. Rain, rain, go away.
Nope. It didn’t work. Even if I sing this song a thousand times, it’s powerless against Mother Nature.
It has been raining cats and dogs these past two weeks. Or as the weatherman said, “ The country is experiencing heavy rain due to the southwest monsoon.”
The Philippines has now officially entered the rainy season. So it’s expected that our little tike-Seb, would be spending his time mostly indoors. Meaning, we have to be more inventive with the activities that we will make him do.
But let’s be honest, it’s not easy to whip out an exciting activity all the time. Plus, there really are moments when you just want to curl up in bed and enjoy the cold weather, while still being the awesome and responsible parent that you are. (This is possible, promise!)
That is why, I listed below the top 5 no prep indoor activities for your child.
Top 5 No Prep Indoor Activities for Toddlers
These activities make use of usual household items. I promise you, there’s really no preparation required. All you need to do is give your child the item and let his or her imagination do the work!
1. Coin Bank Slot
See your child develop his pincer grip as he shoots the coin into the slot.
Seb enjoys this activity A LOT. In fact, he can go 10 minutes doing just this.
He enjoys it so much that one time, he shot his mom’s diamond ring inside. Oops!
My sister had to open the coin bank even though it’s only half full.
2. Canned Goods Stacking
Okay, so my nephew has his block toys. He has the plastic and wooden versions. But we all know kids. First, they get bored easily. A brand new toy could easily lose its awesomeness, and kids would look for something “new” again. New- meaning something they have not seen the past hour.
Second, children covet something that adults actually use.
Hence, the canned good stacking.
This activity is really good for developing your children’s crush grip.
A well-developed crush grip can help children with life skills such as drinking water from a cup and holding objects.
The weight of the canned goods add extra benefit to the activity. Imagine going to the gym and using dumbbells and bar bells.
Yeah, that’s it, Seb. Work those muscles!
3. Fridge Magnet Manipulation
For this activity, all you need to do is lower the fridge magnets to your child’s level, and let him/her move the magnet around on the fridge door.
Beware, though. This activity could potentially scratch your fridge (permanently.) Yikes!
So if you like to keep your fridge immaculately scratch-free, find another metallic surface where your child can use the magnets.
But if you’re a dare-devil like us, then just go ahead and let your child go wild on the fridge door.
P.S.
Seb learned how to stand with this simple activity. Awesome, right?!
4. CD stacking
Bring out your old CDs (even pirated ones- because you know you have it) and let your child do wonders with them.
When we first introduced this to Seb, he immediately stacked the CDs on its holder. And from there, he progressed to using it as a mirror, boomerang ( which doesn’t fly back to him), and a finger toy.
He just loves putting his pointer finger into the hole and then poke his nose. He actually finds it funny. I think it’s funny, too.
5. Kitchen Tongs
It’s simple. Hand your child the tongs and let him pick up random items with it.
This is another activity that would surely exercise your child’s hand muscles.
So that’s it! Those are your top 5 no prep indoor activities that would totally develop your child’s fine motor skills, too!
I hope these activities would help you during hectic and lazy time (because there are just really THOSE DAYS.)
Please let me know if you have other no prep activities in mind, so I can include them in my list, too. <3
Oh, and please visit my Free Printable Page for more!
P.S.
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Happy learning,
46 Responses
This is certainly the best i have come across today. It is indeed nice how you shared the information is a simple yet well-detailed manner.
Utility and resourcefulness. Some streetsmart thinking and there you have stuff to pacify these little munchkins
As adults, we really must ne resourceful in keeping toddlers busy and productive. 😁
Very creative ideas! Kids can become easily fascinated with the simplest things sometimes (boxes the gifts come in, for instance!), so why not try these “no prep” activities?
I know! As adults we have this notion that the fancier the toys, the better. But in reality, kids appreciate even the simplest of things. 😊
I loved everything and we did most of it when my son was young.
That’s great! Thank you! 😁
These are some fantastic ideas for moms. Will definitely pass this on to my mom friends
Thank you for sharing, Carrie! 😊
These are really good and easy ideas to teach and entertain a child. My niece did almost all of these.
That’s great! I hope your niece had fun, too.
These are really great ideas for parents who are tired of taking care of their toddlers because they can’t let them out. Easy but fun toys.
True! These activities will definitely keep toddlers busy indoors. 😁
They are all activities I will enjoy doing my daughter.
Good luck and have fun! 😁
Love the magnet recommendation. I think that’s a great indoor activity for kids and it gets them used to picking things up, pulling them away and putting them back.
May from http://www.lavieenmay.com
These are such great ideas! I will be letting my son know about these for my granddaughter, she will definitely find these things a lot of fun. Especially the coin bank slot!
My nephew loves the coin bank activity. He loves it so much that we’re already running out of coins. 😁
these activities are very cool and helps them use their imagination as well
come see us at http://shopannies.blogspot.com
What some awesome ideas for kids to do! I love that you had just used things you can find around the home.
I love it, too! Makes things easier for us to entertain my nephew. 😁
These are such good ideas! It’s really important for kids to be creative and use everyday things to entertain themselves. I applaud you for sharing this.
Thank you! I agree that these activities also build creativity and imagination in children.
Nice suggestions for keeping the child creatively engaged and that too without spending anything…
Regards
I also love that there’s no need to spend a lot on these activities!
I have 2 toddlers that are not in school. When it rains I struggle with things to that is indoors with them. These were some really good ideas and I will try them next time it rains.
We can relate. Rainy days can make it tough to provide quality activities for kids. Because we’re limited to indoor ones. Good thing there are household items such as these that kods can enjoy.
Love your tips! I wish I had seen your blog when my son was younger.
Thank you! 😊
These are such awesome ideas. We did a lot of them when the kids were tiny. They liked stacking cans.
I also tried stacking can and they’re really fun to do. They’re heavy, too, compared to normal blocks. 😁
I hope your nephew finds it amazing. Some great ideas to keep toddlers busy.
I agree. These are simple activities yet very entertaining.
These are all awesome activities to do with little ones. I’m gonna share this with my sister in law so that she can try some of these activities with my nephews
I hope her child also enjoys these activities as much as we do. 😁
That’s easy and not complicated, can prepare to play like that anytime.. great ideas..
Thank you! We do love no prep activities in our household.
These are all awesome ideas! WE have had a lot of rain recently, so been looking for more indoor activities to keep the little ones entertained!
I hope they also enjoy these simple household activities. 😁 Rainy days can be challenging for both adults and children.
Definitely! I don’t know if it’s just my nephew but he really seems to enjoy household items more than his toys. I mean he plays with his toys, he enjoys it. But he’s more focused when playing with household items. Like, half an hour busy! 😁
Thanks for dropping by!
I definitely learned this with my second child. After spending so much money on toys and stuff for my first one and he chose to play with pots and pans, child #2 got pots and pans and cans and whatever else we could find around the house!
🤣 I wouldn’t be surprised if my sister does the same thing. My nephew has a whole crib of toys! And yet he kept on looking for the canned goods, tongs, ladles and other household stuff. Thanks for dropping by! 😊
I love the idea of using canned food as a blocks. Kids are always fascinated by “real life” objects. I will test this out soon!
I hope your child finds it amazing, too! I think my nephew got strong arms because of the canned goods. 😂 Thank you for dropping by!
Some great ideas on how to keep your toddler occupied when you’re stuck indoors. It’s amazing how everyday household items can keep them amused for hours!
I was actually surprised at first. He has a lot of toys and yet he always picks household items to play with. 😁