These fun activities for one year olds will encourage your tot to explore her surroundings. Our favorite toddler activities have been researched and tot-tested! Play with baby doesn’t require fancy toys or the perfectly designed nursery. Activities for one year olds often use things already found at home in a unique way.
Favorite toddler activities:
- Sensory Activities
- Discovery Toys
- Baby Toys
- Craft Ideas for Toddlers
Sensory Activities for One Year Olds:
A lump of clay and household items or toys can keep a toddler entertained for hours!
You and your tot can go on a texture hunt, make a book of different textures to explore (via Bloesum Kids), use the lid to a box to create a sensory version of hide-n-seek with family photos (via Inspiration Surrounds), enjoy a washrag maze (via Lilla A), or match textures as you feel them inside balloons (via Tutus and Turtles).
All these sensory experiences can introduce your one year old to new things.
Discovery Toys for One Year Olds:
Toys don’t have to be fancy for toddlers to enjoy them! Some of my infants favorites are created with items found around the house.
We made I-Spy shaking bottles, Imagination Tree added glitter to her oil and water bottles, over at Pre-school Play they have a smorgasbord of bottle ideas including one where they added marbles to shampoo, Southern Thomas added colorful items to plain water to create a collection of visual effects and Cluck, Cluck Sew made a bottle-free discovery bag for her kids to play with.
A trip to the toy store with your toddler in tow isn’t necessary when you can upcycle what you already have at home.
One Year Old Toys:
One of our most popular DIY creations is our toddler clipping toy – sure to entertain!
There are other ways to create toddler toys from everyday objects. Counting Coconuts made blocks from tree branches, mix pipe-cleaners and a sifter and you have toddler poking fun (via The Imagination Tree), an old cereal tub or a large tin can when decorated becomes a drum (via No Time for Flashcards) and help your tot practice fine motor skills with pom-poms and a tupperware tub (via Engaging Toddler Activities).
Life is ALL about play when you are a one year old!
Craft Ideas for Toddlers:
Toddlers are about the process, not the end product, so crafting with a one year old is an experience all its own.
Finger paint with edible paints. A Bunch of Keys made finger paint from condensed milk and The Imagination Tree made paint from flour and food coloring. Don’t want to risk the mess? Angelyn’s Life has a great solution. Put the paper and the paint in a bag. Tape it shut and watch your tots squish to their hearts content.
Have dried out markers and maybe a tot like mine who likes to color on herself? This blogger made watercolors out of her old markers.
More Activities for One Year Olds:
Each week here at Kids Activities Blog, we host a kids meme, It’s Playtime. If you have ideas for baby’s, toddlers, preschoolers, or elementary aged kids, please join in. We would LOVE to feature you. All these activities for one year olds were linked up on our Wednesday, It’s Playtime link up!
Fun Kids Activities
OK, so maybe your child is a bit older…never fear! We have researched fun kids activities for toddlers, preschoolers and Kindergartners too:
About Rachel
Love these. My one year old can be challenging to entertain sometimes. I’m marking this so I’ll be able to come back to it when I can’t think of anything to do with him!
What a fabulous collection of ideas!! A real resource to return to over time. Thanks SO much for linking to some of our posts!
great ideas!!
Curious when you start doing art projects and such with your children – my daughter is 11 months and still puts everything from her hand into her mouth. So, I don’t want to give her crayons yet, or paint. Looking forward to the day that I can do that!
I realise you posted this almost a year ago, but I started panting with my kids as soon as they could hold their head up.
I made finger paints for them from food colouring, water, and corn starch. That way, if they DID put it in their mouth, it’s no big deal.
Fantastic. I love the paint in the bag idea. Thanks so much!
You really should consider asking the owners of the photographs you use in your blog here whether they mind you taking them and using them in your post, even if you are referencing your readers back to the original blog the picture came from.
Chris
what are the fun shaped bottles from? I love the red and blue odd shaped ones and the ones with the silver lids I have never seen those
The ones with the silver lids are Voss water bottles!
What an amazing list of activities! Thank you for sharing…
Thanks for sharing these great ideas! I found the link on Pinterest. I’ve been trying to get my 1 and a half year old more comfortable with touching different textures, so we’re starting out slow. The paint/paper in a bag will be great for him!
Awesome activities. My son will be one next week. And these are all things he would enjoy. Come check out my blog in a few weeks and Ill post some of your ideas and how my son liked them!
Thanks again for sharing
Love the unexpected tot toys picture. Toddlers can have fun with just about anything that allows them to use their imagination, it doesn’t have to be expensive! Gotta watch them with those little fuzzy balls, many 1 year olds are still putting everything in their mouths!
Brilliant round up of fab ideas. I have pinned this to our board.
Thanks for linking to the Sunday showcase.
Really great ideas. I especially like the clips. I will also be trying those watercolors too. Thanks for sharing at Mom’s Library!
Thank you! This is an awesome post! I’m a part time nanny for a child who just turned one and I am always looking for creative (and affordable) ideas! As well, I was Montessori trained many (many) years ago and so your ideas feed right into that learning! Today I will be watching a child who is almost one yet who has significant developmental delays…texture fun will be absolutely perfect for her! Thank you so much!
I really like what you guys tend to be up too.
Such clever work and coverage! Keep up the great works guys I’ve you guys to my blogroll.
Thanks for everything! Brilliant round up of fab ideas. I have pinned this to our board.
Fabulous resource for tiny tots. I’m always on the lookout for new and fun experiences for my grandchildren.
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