Entertaining a toddler all day can be challenging. While we play make-believe almost all day, I try to get him onto some of his favorite toys to give myself a break. The following are some of my favorite toys for entertaining a toddler.
Even though we just went through a birthday and Christmas, he has already grown bored with the new toys. For every Paw Patrol truck or Batman action figure, a few toys capture his attention longer and more often.
These are some of my toddler’s favorite toys that capture his attention and are hits more often than not. Just remember that every kid is different, and what works for mine might not work for yours.
Dry-Erase Board and Markers
As a teacher, I thought I had my fill of dry-erase boards. Strangely, my son saw my wife’s old dry-erase board and wanted to see what it was. Since then, we have used the dry-erase board all the time.
Drawing and coloring empower toddlers with many benefits. I’m surprised my three-year-old can hold the dry-erase pens as well as he does. But he grabs those pens and starts to scribble. He loves to make “zippy-zaps” and “circle traps” of different colors. He’ll smile as he covers the entire thing with circles.
He’ll ask me to draw things. Despite my mom being an artist, I’m not much of an artist. I try to accommodate his requests, but more often than not, he gets a little bored and erases my work.
The board is excellent because it allows him to create without worries. You can erase it once you’re done or if a line gets out of place. We’ve tried to practice writing letters and drawing basic shapes. It’s too early for him to write, but he attempts it, and I love it.
We also work on responsibilities. I ensure that he puts the top back on whenever he moves on from one marker to the next. If he doesn’t, the colors might dry out. We’ve already been through one round of colors and only refilled them once Christmas came around.
One word of caution: make sure that you erase the board when you’re done. We got caught up with something else once and forgot. Now, the board is stained with green circles. If you have a good remedy, let me know on Threads.
Magnetic Tiles
One of my favorites of his toys are Magnetic Tiles. My brother gifted him his first set of Picasso Tiles for Christmas when he was one year old, but it took a while for him to start to like them.
Half a year later, my son got really into Monster Trucks. We started to use those Picasso tiles to build car washes. Since then, he has loved to use them.
Someone gifted him another set of these magnetic tiles for his birthday this year. They were from a different company, but luckily, they all worked together. Now, we use these things almost every day.
We haven’t moved on from car washes but have added to our arsenal of things we build. Thanks to some great Instagram and TikTok accounts, we’ve created ramps, coin drops, and more. The more we play and build, the more he takes over. While I might start to make something, he’ll take over or change some tiles around to his liking.
These tiles promote dexterity, creativity, patience, and more. There have been times when he tried to build something, and it all fell apart. Tears flowed immediately, but I used it as a teaching moment about emotions and accidents and how to rebuild.
Ball Pits and Tunnels
This is another one that we’ve had for a few years. It started as a hit when my toddler was learning to crawl. It took some time off but has recently made a big comeback.
Both of my kids loved crawling through the tunnels when they were young. The tunnels helped my oldest learn to crawl when he was eight months old. Since my youngest crawls all around, I popped the tunnels up for him to crawl through. Once I had one up, my toddler started to crawl through and play, so I continued adding the pieces. Both of my kids love playing in this thing again.
Both kids love the ball pit. They’ll both go in and swim through the balls. My youngest gets so much joy from grabbing a few and crawling around.
The cool thing about these tunnels is that you can arrange things to fit your room because they take up a lot of space. Five pieces come with this set. We have very rarely used all five. Most of the time, I have the ball pit up with one tunnel heading into it. Getting all five out creates a fun little village that the kids can crawl through. One of the other sections has a Velcro dart board and other activities that can help entertain the kids.
The entire thing folds into smaller sections, which is suitable for storage. The one thing I would recommend is getting an extra set of ball pit balls. There aren’t many in the set that comes with it.
You can also do many things with the balls from the ball pit. I have set up a target and worked on throwing. We’ve also worked on our colors; I’ll have him try to find and get all the pink balls out or put all the green ones in a shopping cart. We’ve also had some fun throwing these at each other.
Capes
This one might be for my kid, but capes have been a huge hit.
His first cape came from the library. They gave them out during story time about heroes. He put that cape on every day afterward. He wore it so much that the Velcro wore out. A friend who went to the same story time never wore their cape, so they gave it to us as a backup. The Velcro on that one also wore out.
For his third birthday, we got a pack of capes and masks as party favors. Once the party concluded, we had leftover capes in different colors. We hung them up in his room, and while it took a while for him to branch away from his normal cape, he started to use the party favor capes. Soon, he developed different powers and personas for every color. A blue cape brought Ice Guy, with the power to freeze, while red brought Fire Guy.
These things don’t fit well on me, but I make do with my thick neck. If your kid doesn’t like capes, maybe they like something else that can make them feel like someone else.
We’ve had a ton of fun pretending with these on.
Mega Blocks
Mega Blocks are a big hit with both my kids. The little one loves to grab a couple and bang them together or stick one in his mouth. The older one likes to build towers and rocket ships to fly around. It has taken a while for the older one to start building on his own, but it eventually clicked, and now he loves to build.
When he makes his rocket ships, he stacks blocks into shapes to make them look like a rocket ship. Unfortunately, these blocks aren’t made for that kind of play and often fall apart. So, watch out for outbreaks of rage when that happens. This is a good learning point, though.
He also loves stacking these things as high as possible. Stacking has taught him things like support and balance. His designs keep evolving and getting more complex. It’s incredible to watch him work and learn—although it is difficult not to step in and help.
Hopefully, as we transition into more advanced building blocks like Lego Duplo, he will have a better time. He already has a couple of Lego kits, but they are too advanced for him.
But he loves to build and destroy like everything on this list. It keeps him engaged and entertained for a reasonable amount of time.
Entertaining a Toddler is Hard
No matter what you go with, entertaining a toddler can be challenging. Hopefully, with tools like the ones I listed, you can find a good space for both of you.
Do you have some suggestions for toys to keep a toddler busy? Let me know in the comments, on Threads, or Facebook.
Post by @js_wordsmithView on Threads
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