13 Indoor Activities To Do with a 1 Year Old at Home

When my son Theo turned about 8 months old, I finally got the point where I was like “hold on, what am I supposed to do with you all day?”. Suddenly he was napping a lot less and wanting to do a lot more than just play with his toys all day, so I started getting more creative and looking into sensory activities, Montessori activities, etc. to help fill up our days together. Now my son is 14 months old and I feel like I have a lot more options and activities for us to have fun together during the day! I try to spend a lot of time outside with my toddler, but some days that’s not possible (example: rainy days!) and we have to get extra creative. Here are 13 indoor activity ideas for your toddler!

Mess-Free Finger Painting

This one has a less than 5 minute set-up and is completely mess-free art! All you do is put a piece of paper into a gallon sized ziploc bag, add in a few squirts of acrylic paint, seal up the bag and give it to your toddler!

For best results, I recommend taping it down to a high chair tray or something and then putting kiddo in the high-chair, but do what works best for you! Encourage your toddler to touch the paints and spread them around to make some gorgeous artwork.

Foam Party

This one I call foam party and while I normally do this one outside, you could easily adapt it to be inside by putting it in the bathtub for your kid to play with. This will keep the mess contained and you can even give your kid a bath when you’re done if need be!

Here’s a post I wrote about how to make it:

Obstacle Course

My neighbor has big foam blocks like these for her toddler and while they are so fun and the boys love to play on them together, I don’t think they are necessary if you are willing to just grab your sofa cushions and pillows and get creative!

We do have this collapsible tunnel that Theo loves to climb through, so I like to add this into our obstacle course!

Dance Party

This one is pretty self-explanatory, but one of our favorite things to do, especially when Theo is having a fussy moment. I love to have music playing most of the day, and sometimes just encouraging Theo to dance, shake his sillies out, and picking him up to spin him around can really change around both my mood and my son’s mood!

This is my Spotify playlist that we listen to together! 🙂

Book Club

Theo LOVES books and so sometimes I will just grab all of the books off his shelves and we see how many books we can get through before we get sick of reading 🙂

P.S. Here is a reel I made about getting free monthly books for your child:

It’s Your Not Birthday

If your kid loves ripping up paper, this is a fun activity, but it definitely takes a little bit of prep. During Theo’s nap, I’ll wrap some of his toys (not new toys, just ones he already has) and then let him unwrap them. Also a good way to reintroduce toys if you do a toy rotation or something.

Fashion Show

For this one, I just grab the container of hats, scarves, and costumes that we have in our closet and set Theo up in front of our mirror. Then we try the different things on. Seeing himself with different things on his head always gets a good laugh from him!

Sensory Bin

I know there are some really cool and complex sensory bins on Pinterest, but you can keep it simple too. I just will get a box and fill it with some cut up party streamers and hide some small animal figurines from the dollar store in it.

Family Band

For this one, I grab all of the instruments that we have in the house and just let him try making noise with them. He especially loves playing the piano right now. We also see what we can make an instrument! Whether that’s pots and pans with some spoons to make some drums or a box of spaghetti to make a maraca.

Stair Practice

Opening up the baby gates and practicing going up and down the stairs is a great way to use up some energy and teach your kid how to safely go up and down. I will put toys on the stairs to encourage Theo to go up and down to reach them.

Couch and Blanket Fort

Any age can appreciate a couch fort! The nugget couches are cool, but you can make a fort the old school way with a sheet and some couch cushions!

Cardboard Box Drawing

This one is a great way to get a second life out of your Amazon boxes! I got Theo these egg shaped crayons so that they are easier for him to hold and not break as easily. I just put him in the cardboard box and let him practice coloring on the cardboard of the box he is sitting in. Then I can still throw it in the recycling when we are done!

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