I’m a huge fan of playdough for those ages. My littlies would play with playdough for ages.. Another good idea is to fill a container with rice and little toys that they need to find off a list. Obviously this would need to be supervised with the small pieces but it’s quite fun.

Anything that requires mixing – always a hit and lots of fun!

Chocolate crackles, yum yum balls, pizzas are good basic cooking activities a 2-3 yo could help with.

Play dough. You can make your own. There are a few recipes online.

Try the library for activity books with ideas.

i would suggest anything comes as waste like papers, flour, toilet rolls. give them they will enjoy

Build a fort using the couch and every cushion/pillow you can find and get your little assistant to help.

We did a lot of drawing, painting, recycle craft with toilet rolls & egg boxes & cradboard boxes & bottle tops

To be honest, you could have a hundred tasks planned and it still not be enough ????

Also; books on craft and activities from the library should be helpful in finding new ideas.

– Finger painting with cheap shaving cream. This can be done on the shower screen or on a table.
– ‘Cooking’ with little bowls, cups, funnels etc fill cups with oats, some sultanas, rice, anything that isn’t sticky or will make too much of a mess ie; not flour
– Painting outside with water and a big brush
– Making an inside cubby with blankets
– Bathing dolls. Use a large container or dolls bath. Set up a towel on a table. Use a plastic doll. Use miniature shampoos and conditioners from hotels, or a little bit of your own in a small container. Use a facewasher etc. Make the water bubbly.
– Let them ‘sort’ out all your plastic lids and containers
– Go outside and collect leaves.
Have fun 🙂

i make play dough using flour, water oil colorings, that is all they will enjoy.

We are fans of stations; paint, dough, colour, build, dress ups, messy and more.

Anything waterplay. My boys loved mixing colours in cups. Play dough is another idea.

Wowie, what a list. Thanks so much – some great ideas to try!!

Water play with cups and bowls is always fun (well supervised of course). Picking flowers and gifting them in painted paper cups.

I can’t wait for when I can teach my little guy gardening and growing our own produce together. Identifying animals and insects. Fostering a love of nature and the outdoors.

Some activities I do with my kids are:
Arts/Crafts
Sticker collages – give them a variety of stickers to let them create their own masterpiece on a blank sheet of paper.
Paper Plate Animals – Cut out ears, eyes, noses for them from coloured paper and let them glue them onto paper plates to make some animal faces.
Pasta Necklaces – String large, uncooked pasta onto some yarn to make necklaces (helps with fine motor skills)
Playdough – I make home made playdough (and let them help)
Nature collage – I help them collect twigs, leaves, flowers and then create a collage out of them on a blank piece of paper.

Cooking
Fruit Salad – my kids help me wash the fruit and mix together different colours in a bowl to make fruit salad – I’ve found it also helps with them trying new fruits
Home made pizzas – I give them some pre-cut toppings and let them make their own mini pizzas on dough or muffins
Ants on a log – I put peanut butter or cream cheese on celery or carrot sticks and add sultanas on the top as “ants”
Decorating cupcakes – this one gets messy!

Other activities
Bubbles – You can either blow bubbles or buy a bubble machine from Kmart – my kids love to try and pop them.
Music and Dance party – play their favourite music and have a dance party together.
Sensory play with rice – Fill a container with rice and hide small toys for them to discover (helps with sensory exploration)
Story time with puppets – You can either go to a local library to story time (We love this) or use your own sock puppets to act out simple stories or nursery rhymes
Balloons – we like to bounce balloons, play “Keepy-Uppy” (from Bluey) and even draw faces on them