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Looking for ways to keep your little ones busy?
These very engaging activities for 1-year-oldswill help you do just that!
They say it takes a village to raise a kid, and they are not wrong.
Its tough to keep these young ones occupied, so here we are with 51 Engaging Activities for 1-Year-Olds.
These activities are highly amusing for kids who are one year or older.
Most of these activities encourage independent play.
So, if you are a parent with multiple kids, these might just be the thing you need.
Winter-Ice Sensory Bin
Source: simplyfullofdelight.com
Whats summer without a bit of Ice play?
Order your arctic animalshereto make your arctic bin a huge success with your kid.
Order bottles suitable for this activity here.
Add your colorful bands to your bottle and let the fun begin.
Check out moreactivities for kids at home.
Fizzy Ice Cube Sensory Bin
Source: liltigers.net
There is no kid who doesnt like ICE!
Summer is the perfect time to do some ice-related fun activities.
With this activity, you will help your kid practice fine motor skills, observation, and communication skills.
Moreover, it will also help your kid build focus and encourage critical thinking.
Halloween Sensory Bin
Source: momafterbaby.com
With every season and holiday, you could create a sensory bin.
Sensory bins are great for a lot of reasons.
The biggest reason is that it engages all senses of your childs senses.
Order your sensory bin scoophere.
Add your pumpkin to the bin, with eyes and mouth cutouts buried in the seeds.
Let your kid explore the bin and dig out the cutouts.
Help your kid glue them on to create their Halloween pumpkin.
you’re able to use plastic or foam pumpkin for this activity.
you’re able to use red and pink for Valentines, and red and green for Christmas.
Sensory bins encourage independent play, which is why we love them so much.
For this colorful activity, you will need food color dye, a rainbow pack, and spaghetti.
you’re able to add all sorts of tools to make this more fun.
Let your kids dye the spaghetti with you, add them to the bin, and just play around.
Bonus points, you might also serve this dyed pasta for dinner.
Easter Egg Puzzle Activity
Source: littleladoo.com
Puzzles are great for your childs cognitive development.
you could order your colorful felt sheetshere.
Now layer them and sew to complete your puzzle.
Sit with your kid, help them once and let them do the rest independently.
There is no need to get special tools and fillings for your bin.
And it’s possible for you to use aZiploc baglike thisto store the oats for next time.
To make your bin look vibrant, you could even paint the egg with your little toddler.
Summer Sensory Bin Food Edition
Source: mamaofminis.com
Eat and play.
Is there anything better for a toddler or even a preschooler?
Well, this next idea is full of play and flavor, make a Food Safe Summer Sensory Bin.
Who said snack time has to be boring?
Lets create some fun food sensory bins.
To make this puzzle activity, you will need cardstock and a coloring book.
Color your picture, cut it into fun pieces, and work with your kids to put them together.
Our favorite is the farm animal coloring book.
If your little one loves animals, you’re able to order yourshere.
Hammer Painting
Just two things are needed for this excellent toddler activity, hammer and paints.
Smashing paint and creating masterpieces will soon become the favorite pastime of your baby.
Edible Yogurt Finger Paint
Whoever said food and fun dont go hand in hand was highly mistaken.
you could do a lot of fun activities with food while enjoying a bite or two.
This cool Edible Yogurt Finger Paint is one of those fun activities.
This is just like any other painting activity, but with Yogurt.
Toddlers are curious beings, they love putting things in their mouths, and paint is no exception.
So, give them edible paint and watch them eat and paint and have the time of their life.
The only thing you oughta worry about is getting high-quality food-grade color; get yourshere.
Ice Cube Sensory Bags
Source: mimosasandmotherhood.com
I cant stress how important sensory play is for toddlers.
It encourages independent play and helps your kid become confident in exploring their environment.
Its highly important for your kid to be able to explore and be curious about their surroundings.
Give this to your baggy to explore and play.
Painting on foil is a lot more different than painting on paper.
The texture and resistance of the foil are very unique, unlike paper.
Help your kids learn the difference between painting on foil and paper.
If you are fresh out of foil,click hereto order more for your kids.
The supplies are easy to get, you will need toilet paper rolls and a cheesecloth.
You will also need a blender to make your paper mache dough.
Bubbles
Source: redtedart.com
Soap bubbles are captivating, and kids of all ages love them, especially toddlers.
Heres one excellent activity involving bubbles and squealing kids.
Whip up a large batch of liquid and spend your weekend blowing bubbles.
There is no stopping them once they get hold of the box.
Seeing their eagerness to play this game, I got them their own DIY wipes activity box.
To see your toddler getting the last one out with that triumphed smile is a huge win.
For this cool activity, all you need are some balloons.
So order a new pack and some paints.
Painting with water balloons is a summer-friendly activity.
Better to do it outdoors so that you dont have a lot of mess to clean.
Soon they will be taking out the flowers and putting them back in again.
Again a fun activity that can teach kids a lot about different textures and colors.
Lets create a ball dropbox with a nappy box.
This is a cool project that will get you a fantastic DIY toy for your toddler to play with.
If you dont have enough colorful balls, it’s possible for you to get somehere.
This excellent project will keep your toddler engaged for half or a full hour.
Kids love squishy things, and pom-poms are the coolest.
Aside from pom-poms, you will also need empty tissue rolls and some tape.
Your kid can shoot some hoops while you do your cooking.
If your kid is like most kids, they must also be crazy about play-dough.
Make peanut butter dough.
Fun to play with and safe if eaten.
Isnt this the coolest dough ever?
it’s possible for you to also help your kid learn different shapes with this edible dough.
Use tissue rolls and pom-poms to make color sorting games and increase their hand-eye coordination.
These rolls are precious.
you could do tons from these for your kids activity time.
Create a colorful stacking game with these rolls.
All you need is some paint and colorful printed sheets.
Dyed Pasta
Source: littlebinsforlittlehands.com
Do you know the ideal filling for a kids sensory bin?
Dyed pasta is perfect as a filler for all kinds of sensory play.
When you have the pasta, the rest is all the details.
Leprechaun Snow
Source: team-cartwright.com
Who doesnt love some magical fun?
The fun part is finding the buried gold coins in the green snow.
Texture Balloon Sensory Play
Did you know Tactile activities are super fun and highly relaxing?
Kids are curious beings; they love to explore and experiment.
These sensory balloons are also known to calm hyper kids and help them relax.
Scented and Dyed Rice
Do you need a sensory bin that engages both senses of smell and touch?
Well, heres the perfect scented and dyed rice sensory bin for you.
Colorful dyed rice is easy to make and a great filler for all kinds of sensory bins.
Bubbles and letters are a great sensory play to teach your kids ABC.
Make a bubble bath, scoop up the bubbles and add them to a container filled with plastic letters.
Things are easier to remember when you make learning fun.
Fine Motor Skills Coins
Who said you couldnt play and learn at the same time?
Heres another fantastic coin activity to learn maths and develop fine motor skills simultaneously.
Or you might also use dough or sand to bury your coins for the kids to dig out.
you could use both real and fake coins for this activity.
With salt writing activity, you could help your kid learn a lot and also work on their handwriting.
All you need is a flat tray, a pack of salt, and any color food dye.
Mark the letter and go back for another.
Clickhereto order yours and detail pieces like bones and rocks, the more, the merrier.
Christmas Pom Pom Water Play
The main ingredient for this sensory bin is WATER!
Isnt it the easiest thing in the world?
All you need is a big plastic bin or container, some pom-poms, and water.
Prepare your bin by filling the container with water and adding the pom-poms.
Now give your kids a scoop or a big spoon to get the pom-poms out.
Jell-o Alphabet Play
Source: inthekidskitchen.com
Up for some messy but extremely fun activity with jello?
All you need is somejelloand plastic alphabets; order a pack here if you dont have them at hand.
Cook and pour in the jello in your container, add in the alphabets when the jello is semi-set.
Once its cooled down, let the kids dig in.
St Patricks Day Shaving Cream Play
We have just two words for you: Treasure Hunt!
Add the shaving cream to your sensory bin, bury the coins, sprinkle some glitter, and holler!
Your kids will love digging their hands in the cream to get the coins out.
double-check you add tons of coins, so the game lasts forever.
The paper tearing is very satisfactory for many kids, even for adults.
If your child is the same, you need this paper ripping, Montessori-approved activity.
Get your kids some colorful paper and explain the difference between ripping books and ripping activity paper.
Once they understand, start the activity.
Create fun shapes and pictures like a house and tree with colorful ripped pieces.
Glue them on white paper.
Thats killing two birds with one stone.
These squishy water beads make the perfect sensory bin filler.
it’s possible for you to order your packhere.
One small packet will be enough for hours of play.
to your bin and present it to your toddlers for endless hours of play.
Pom Pom Rainbow Collage
Source: danyabanya.com
Everyone loves rainbows, even when you have never seen one.
Rainbows fill our hearts with love, hope, and peace.
This is why every time I sit with kids and colors; I draw a rainbow.
If you are fresh out of pom-poms, you’re free to order somehere.
Colours and Letters Water Play
The kids I know jump with joy every time I say water!
They adore anything and everything to do with water.
So, the most prevalent sensory bin I know is the water sensory bin.
For this one, you will need blue or any specific color toys and foam letters.
Looking for foam letters for this activity, gethere.
when you land your letters, just add them and the blue toys to the bin.
A Valentines sensory bin is extremely easy to create.
Sit your toddler down with the sensory bin and some tools to scoop out the pom-poms.
This way, they can develop their motor skills and learn shades of red.
Gak
Source: mamasmiles.com
Do you know how to make GAK?
If not, you are missing some serious fun.
With Gak, you’ve got the option to do a lot of sensory play.
Mix white school glue (order Elmers School Gluehere), liquid starch, and water to make Gak.
the rest you should leave on your kids.
They can mold and play with Gak any way they want.
Its a modern-day technique that helps kids communicate better and also enhances their cognitive skills.
Plain wooden blocks can be used to make all sorts of sensory play blocks.
to stick and paint on the block.
Once your blocks are ready, sit with your kids and let them explore the world of different textures.
Wall Mosaic Art
Sensory play is great, even more so when there is no mess.
If you dont have supplies like foam blocks, you’re free to click here to order apack.
These foam letters can be reused in other activities like the water foam letter sensory bin activity.
Check out moredevelopment activities for 1-year-olds.
Playdough Forest
Playdough is a fun medium that helps kids explore the world from the comfort of their homes.
With this playdough forest activity, you could teach your kids about the forest and how natural habitats work.
Apart from play-dough, all other supplies can be found in the backyard.
Playdough is versatile and can be used in a lot of other sensory play activities.
Slime
Are you ready for some messy sensory play?
This sensory play is two experiments in one.
you’re able to also leave this overnight to get even more frim for the next days activity.
DIY Ball Pit
Source: lovelyindeed.com
Making your ball pit is a great way to engage your toddler.
All you need are bags full of balls and a kiddie pool.
Blow up the pool and add your balls to it.
Imagine giving your kid the liberty to play the attacking game on their own?
With stacking cups, you’re able to play all sorts of games like
48.
Kids have a very short attention span, and they are, by nature, curious beings.
Hence a busy board is a fun activity that will keep your kids occupied for a good bit.
it’s possible for you to even find the door latchhereand an electric bellhere.
These two are super fun and favorites for the busy board.
Kids love to paint, but the mess can be unbearable at times.
Soap Foam
This ivory soap experiment is a massive hit with kids of all ages.
For this soapy foam-filled water activity, you will need Ivory Soap and Water; thats about it.
First, heat up the soap in the microwave and watch it explode.
Use the exploded foam to make soapy foam in a big container and let your kids play with it.
This thick foam lasts longer than any bubble bath I have ever seen.
Get more inspiration with these2-year-old baby activities!
Lucky for you, we have the perfect play dough recipe that will put your worries to rest.
Make your play-dough with 1 cup of frosting and 2 cups of icing sugar.
The fun part is that its just like any other dough.
you’re able to make shapes and animals with it.
you might also push toys in to make different shapes.
And even if this ends up in your toddlers mouth, you dont have anything to worry about.
Entertaining kids and keeping them still in one place is a huge task.
But with all the above-mentioned toddler activities, you and your little ones can have a great learning time.
