20 Easy Toddler Boredom Breakers

Kids Activities

Toddlers find it harder to process and express their emotions compared to adults. As a result of their frustration, they would throw tantrums.

It may be hard to know the exact reason for the sudden mood swing, but more often than not, boredom is the culprit. Toddlers tend to have a short attention span, so they need to have something stimulating to do throughout the day. 

Don’t get frustrated just yet. Here are some ideas on how you can help break your toddler’s boredom and keep tantrums at bay. 

How to Entertain A Bored Toddler

Luckily for busy moms and dads, there are always tons of easy ways to engage your toddler and we have a list of activities you can try. 

Here are 20 activities to curb your bored toddler’s tantrums:

Cultivate Creativity With Art

Simple art activities can inspire your toddler and nurture their creativity. You’ll only need a few materials: paper, crayons, pencils, and some other art supplies like glue and strings or even pasta.

  1. Drawing

  2. You and your toddler can do a competition on who can draw the family the nicest. You can even draw each other and compare afterward for a fun bonding time.

  3. Coloring Session

  4. You can give your child some crayons and let them go wild on a piece of paper or coloring book. Coloring can also be a stress-reliever for adults, so why not tag along?

  5. Pasta/String Art

  6. Gluing pasta and macaroni onto paper can be a fun way to engage your child’s creativity. Pasta shells can be used to make mosaic artworks or small sculptures like flowers or a stick figure. You can also add strings to complement your child’s art and these can represent the outlines of the petals of a flower or the hair of your child’s pasta stick figure.

  7. Paper Folding/Origami

  8. Paper folding or origami is a great toddler boredom breaker. You can create a wide variety of shapes and objects like a boat, hat, fish, heart, or even a paper airplane – the possibilities are endless!

  9. Mess-Free Painting

  10. Put up blobs of different colors of paint onto a piece of paper and place it inside a large zipper bag. Your toddler can spread the paint inside the zipper bag and mix them to create new colors and make an abstract, mess-free painting.

Chef-ing it up in the Kitchen

Cooking with your toddler is an excellent way to strengthen your bond and bust boredom. You can start with your kid’s favorite dishes or treats. It can also turn into a fun lesson, where you can teach your child the names of each ingredient or do a few easy tasks like mixing batter.

  1. Cooking Spaghetti

  2. Loved by almost everyone in every household, making spaghetti for kids usually never goes wrong. This easy-to-cook dish only requires spaghetti noodles, tomato sauce, and some meatballs to go along with it and you’re set for a fun and delicious meal with your child.

  3. Baking Cookies

  4. Baking is a fun way to keep your toddler engaged. You can start with simple recipes like chocolate chip cookies and let them mix the batter or scoop it out into the baking tray. Afterwards, let them enjoy the fruits of their labor, along with a gold glass of milk.

  5. Making Pizzas

  6. You and your toddler can have fun building your pizzas with different toppings. This can also bring up your child’s creativity and it will be a fun time testing which ingredients make a good, delicious pizza!

  7. Making Juice or Smoothies with Fresh Fruit

  8. Cutting up oranges and bananas to make smoothies with a blender or a juicer can be exciting for your toddler to see. Plus, enjoying their drink after the hard work of juicing the fruits will surely put a smile on your toddler’s face!

Explore and Play Outdoors

Going on a mini adventure to the great outdoors is a great fall-back option when you run out of ideas on what to do with a bored toddler. There are plenty of things for your toddler to see and interact with in nature – the trees, rocks, plants, flowers, and small creatures and animals.

  1. Play Hide-and-Seek

  2. This is a tried-and-tested game that’s been passed on to generations, and your toddler will definitely be entertained. You can play hide-and-seek with your toddler to pass the time and have a few laughs after all the suspenseful hiding and seeking.

  3. Basketball/Soccer

  4. Give your toddler a ball to play with and let the ball do the rest. You can even join in and play catch, pass the ball to each other, or shoot the ball into a basketball rim or a soccer goal post.

  5. Bubble Blast

  6. Blowing bubbles can be the most effective way to break your toddler’s boredom. There’s just something about bubbles that keeps toddlers engaged. Maybe it’s because of the mesmerizing shape or the entertaining fact that bubbles pop. Either way, this fun activity will preoccupy your toddler for a long while.

  7. Sprinkler Time

  8. This activity would only require a sprinkler. Turn your sprinklers on and let your toddler run around. It’s today’s equivalent of dancing in the rain and hopping on puddles, which was all the rage among children back in the day. 

Simple Science Experiments

  1. DIY Slime

  2. One of the hottest online trends right now for kids, this hands-on activity will turn the frown of your 2 year old bored at home into a smile in a flash. You’ll only need to mix school glue, water, a slime activator such as borax, shaving foam, and food coloring, and your toddler will be playing with their very own slime for hours.

  3.  Magnet Play 

  4. Magnets are an easy way to entertain your toddler as they drive children’s natural curiosity. You can even bring the magnet outside and collect some iron by just grazing the magnets on the dirt outside.

  5.  Ice Cream in a Bag

  6. A science experiment where you can eat what you make! You’ll need two press-n-seal bags, one bag for the ice and salt mixture and the other bag for half a cup of milk, ½ cup heavy cream, 2 tablespoons of sugar, and a ½ teaspoon of vanilla extract. Close the ice cream mixture zipper bag and place it inside the ice bag. You can give the bag to your toddler to shake, keeping them occupied, until the mixture hardens and becomes ice cream.

  7. Investigating with Magnifying Glass

  8. Your toddler would be amazed to see that the world goes into much more detail with a magnifying glass. Give this handy tool to your toddler and let them investigate the surfaces of objects around the house or even look at ants or small creatures on a patch of grass.

Play Educational Games

  1. Sing Nursery Rhymes and the Alphabet Song

  2. Test your child if they remember the nursery rhymes they were taught, or play nursery songs on the television and sing with them. You can even sing the alphabet song and ask for a word example for each letter in the alphabet.

  3. Mimic Animal Noises

  4. You can teach your toddler the animals of the world and their noises. You can even test your child’s memorization by asking what noise a dog, lion, or cat makes.

  5. Read a Book Together

  6. One of the most effective ways to teach your child language skills and get them to pay attention is by reading a fun story to them. Your toddler would want to listen to the adventures of their favorite character in a book. You can also quiz your child on what happened and the characters in the storybook afterward.

For more fun toddler games and information on toddler development, visit the Rayito De Sol blog.

May 13, 2022