Check out these fun toddler games to play inside! Maybe the weather is not great, or you don’t feel great, or you just can’t do another round of peek-a-boo right now.
This list of games is great to have on hand for rainy days, cold days, hot days, or just plain “I need a break” days! With these 14 indoor games for kids, you’ll be ready to entertain the children in your life no matter why you need to stay indoors!
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Here’s the deal: I’m all for kids being outside in all kinds of weather! But there’s still limits on how many hours my kids can realistically spend outside when it’s blazing hot or below freezing.
My bigger kids can withstand more adverse weather for a longer time, but my littlest needs to be brought inside sooner! So what does the toddler do while the bigs are still frolicking out in the heat? After a little snack break, I get one of these games going for her!
Some are crazy simple to put together, others take a little bit more set up but will also keep their attention for longer. It’s all about what works best for you as the parent!
No matter which ones you try, these games for toddlers are sure to entertain them while you’re inside (for whatever reason)!
Toddler Games to Play Inside for Any Weather
Quick note: while most of these are listed as “toddler games,” I’ve been pleasantly surprised to find that most of them can be played with children as old as 8 for a really fun time inside! Even my 10 year old jumps in sometimes!
Educational Games To Play Inside
When you’re stuck inside, take the opportunity to teach your kids through play! These educational activities and games will help them establish early learning fundamentals while still having a great time inside.
1. Masking Tape Letter Game
This is a great toddler game that combines learning with burning energy! Just use masking tape to create letters on the floor around your living room.
Once you have a few letters in place (I’d say 5-15, depending on space) you can give your child a letter to find and run to!
Every time they get to a letter, give them a physical activity to do, like “do 3 jumps on A” or “bounce a ball on B”, and so on!
2. Fingerplay Games
All you need for these games are your hands! Think thumb wars, pat-a-cake, ink-a-bink a bottle of ink, eenie meenie minie moe, or rock, paper, scissors!
The hand stack I pictured above is one of our favorite hand games. Each person takes turns counting (we usually play to 10), but they are only allowed to count 1 or 2 numbers higher than the person before them. Player 1 will lay down either one or two hands and count either “1” or “1,2”.
The next player then has the option of stacking one or two hands on their hand and counting up that many from the number that Player 1 left off at. Whichever player counts the number “10” wins!
3. Barn Yard Sequencing Puzzle
Another free printable activity that takes just seconds to put together. This early math skill activity will help your child solidify the 1-10 number order concepts while giving them a fun puzzle to put together.
You can also print this puzzle in black and white and let your child color it before cutting the strips apart!
4. Alphabet Matching Game
This free printable game is easy to pull together and keeps your child busy for quite a while depending on how well they know the alphabet!
It also helps with sorting, letter recognition, and fine motor skills as they search, seek, pick up, and place each letter!
You could even cut out two copies of the letters and play a memory game with half the alphabet at a time!
6. Roll & Play Game
You can absolutely have fun playing games that don’t require you to spend any money! But this game was so thoroughly loved by every single one of my kids when they were toddlers, that I would buy it over and over again!
I love to give this as a gift at a 1st or 2nd birthday party, and my bigger kids still are willing to play it with my youngest because they have nothing but happy memories of this game.
DIY Fishing Rod Preschool Math Game
This is such an easy DIY that makes working with numbers so much fun for kids! Feel free to adjust any element of it to meet your child where they are at – many toddlers will simply be mesmerized by the magnet magic part!
Memory Games
Try these free printable Thanksgiving and Christmas Memory games, and if your toddler is hooked on the fun, you can invest in a version of memory games that will last a long time!
Strategy Board Game for Little Kids
Toddlers who are heading into the preschool phase (interested in matching, colors, etc) will enjoy this game best of all, and the attention span required is not terribly long!
Gross Motor Skill Toddler Games
Looking to just get your kids up and burning energy while having fun? These activities are a great way to help everyone forget your trapped inside for the day!
Build a Fort
Even if it’s a simple blanket thrown over the table or couch, a fort has yet to fail me! Why is a little cozy space made of blanket walls so inviting?!
Paper Streamer Obstacle Course
This is one that ALL of my kids really enjoy. In fact, we even used caution tape to set this up for a bunch of kids at a summer camp and it was a really big hit!
Cut or tear paper streamers (we like to use a variety of colors, but just one color works!) to be long enough to stretch the width of a hallway. Next, tape them at a variety of heights and angles across the hallway!
Have kids go through the paper obstacle course without breaking any streamers. Older kids can try to get through the obstacle course maze without touching a streamer at all!
Paper Shape Jump
A great movement game for busy toddlers! Use construction paper to cut out various different shapes (circle, triangle, square, heart, and so on…) in various different colors.
Tape the shapes to the ground (or make the shapes out of tape!) to keep your child from slipping, then call out directions if you want, or just let them hop from one to another!
We like to take the shapes fairly close together so it’s more of a hopscotch type game, however, you can also space them further apart for a game more like the masking tape letter game… that way there is a bit more running involved!
An advantage to using different colored paper (instead of just tape) is that it allows you to call out color words with the shapes, ie “red heart” and “pink circle,” for a more involved, long-lasting game!
Paper Cup Target Practice
Let your child throw things inside without fear of breaking anything! This is a great, constructive way to redirect a kid who has a tendency to throw things around.
Use some string and paper or plastic cups to create this simple activity.
With a large box on its side, hang the cups from the top so they dangle and swing when hit. Then let your child child toss rolled up socks or plastic balls at the cups! Instead of a box, you can also use tape to affix them to the bottom of one end of your table.
The balls will hit the back of the box and roll out, ready for another throw.
Add a layer of learning to the game by putting letter, shapes, or numbers on each cup, then calling out which one they need to try and hit!
Make it extra special by giving them a “point” for each correct hit and let them redeem the points for something fun later in the day!
Hide and Seek:
This is one of my favorite games to play when I need a little downtime! I’m still playing and interacting with my toddler by playing the game, but I get to sit and be quiet when it’s my turn to hide.
As my kids get older, I make my hiding places better and better! When I’m playing with only my youngest child, I tend to keep my hiding spots simple.
Sticky Spiderweb Toss Game
Painter’s tape + crumpled up newspaper = a really fun throwing game!
Fine Motor Skills:
Want to work on pinching motions or sorting skills? These fine motor activities will help tune your child’s small movement coordination while keep them happy and engaged!
12. Cheerio Pencil Grasp Activity
Fine motor skills kids can eat, yes please! Strengthen fine motor skills and pencil grasp development for kids- toddlers, preschoolers, and early elementary- with this fun and easy pencil grasp activity!
Make it a game by racing your child to fill the skewer, or by seeing how fast they can thread a predetermined number of cheerios! For example, “How fast can you get 10 cheerios on the skewer?”
13. Cardboard Tube Drop Game
If you have a bunch of toilet paper or paper towel tubs, you can easily make this toddler game!
Just create a series of chutes by taping the tubes together, then taping them to the wall. From there, give your child a bowl full of pom poms and let them drop them down the various chutes!
Place a bowl under each drop point to keep them from rolling all over the room.
This is perfect for strengthening the pinching motion, which will help your child with pencil grip later on!
Tongs Pick Up Activity
This may be the easiest game in the entire list to put together. Just grab a set of tongs, a container, and have your toddler start picking up whatever is already on the floor!
Or you can gather a bunch of block, legos, cars, or other items that could be picked up with tongs. From there, let your child work to place the items into the container using nothing but the tongs.
Just make sure that the items aren’t too heavy or too small to be picked up with tongs. Also, help your child see where there might be danger of the tongs pinching them so they can hold the tongs higher up.
Even More Indoor Activities for Kids:
- Homemade No-Cook Playdough
- 3 Homemade Paint Recipes for Toddlers
- Setting Up An Art Center for Kids
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