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Do you worry about not doing enough activities with your littles?
I know personally that is a huge struggle for me. I feel like I don’t work their brains enough and it’s honestly one of the biggest things I doubt about myself as a mother.
So I thought it would be fun to put together a list of super cheap and easy activities for toddlers from the dollar tree to stimulate our toddlers brains.
I asked you guys about a month ago now on instagram about this idea, and you voted for $20 in activities from the dollar tree.
With that, I ran to the dollar tree and snagged 20 different items that I had a few different plans for activity wise, and winged the rest!
I ended up with over 20 different, EASY and minimal prep activities for cheap for our toddlers.
The ice buckets were #1 for sure.
These activities for toddlers from the dollar tree are especially made for moms of twins, or multiple toddlers.
There is enough to go around!
I love them for getting anything done. Dinner on the table, laundry folded, a minute to myself. They’re good for it all!
You might not even need to run to the dollar tree for a lot of these activities. I tried to make them up with items that a lot of us likely have laying around the house, like a bucket, ice and some cooking spoons for the ice scoop transfer.
Read through them and then let me know which one you’re ready to try first!
What to Buy:
- 2 Lego Packs
- 2 Sand Toy Packs
- 1 Pack of Cars
- 2 Monster Trucks
- 2 Animal Toy Packs
- 1 Pack Balloons
- 1 Package Noodles or Rice
- 1 Package Plastic Cups
- 2 Cooking Utensils with Holes
- 1 Package Pipe Cleaners
- 1 Package Crayons
- 1 Package Construction Paper
- 1 Paint Brush Set
- 2 Large Plastic Bowls
Pour Station: Set up bins, cups and bowls with assorted amounts of water. Encourage your littles to use the cups to pour and scoop water between the different bins. Add a couple drops of food coloring for extra fun!
Rice/Pasta Bin: This is a great sensory idea. Simply pour the pasta or rice in a bin and let them explore it with their hands, cooking untensils and plastic cups. Kendall enjoyed collecting the pasta inside of a plastic cup and then pouring it out.
On the Road Again Box: Car rides can be a whole lot more fun with some easy toys. The plastic legos are great for car rides, and stack together for easy storing!
Lego Bath: Five second idea. Fussy toddlers? Need to cool down and don’t have a pool? Fill up the bath with some cool water and add some legos. It’s also a fun way to change up bath time.
Pipe Cleaner Pull: Use a collander and shove some pipe cleaners through the holes. Let your babes pull the pipe cleaners out and try to stick them back.
Toy Bath: Take a break from normal bath toys, and add in some water safe toys they love from outside the tub.
DIY Water Table: Fill buckets with a a couple inches of water and encourage your toddlers to pour, splash and play in it with assorted toys, utensils, cups and such from the 20 activities you purchased.
Ice Smash: *for older kiddos! Let them use a hammer to crush ice inside or outside of the buckets on pavement. I have not tried this, just an idea!
Ice Sorting: Fill up buckets with some ice and let them use the utensils to transfer and play with the ice. Fun sensory idea!
Balloon Play: Blow up balloons and let them have at it!
Stacking Cups: Lay out cups and encourage them to stack and unstack the cups. Kendall loves this!
Bubble Fun: Mix a lot of dish soap in with some water in the tubs and let them play in the suds with cars, utensils, and cups. Good, clean fun!
Monster Truck Rally: Pour some rice on your patio, or place you don’t mind rice being, and encourage them to race their cars through the “gravel”. Or just play with the cars. Simple!
Smashing Bin: I got this idea from Busy Toddler, but throw some of your expiring cereal/crunchy foods in the bins and let your littles crunch away with the utensils and cups.
Cart Cars: My twins love bringing the cars with to the store. Let the cars occupy them while in the cart!
Pasta Scoop: Pour the rice or pasta into bin and encourage toddlers to scoop the pasta between the bins.
Coloring OUTSIDE: Hand over the crayons and construction paper. Let them go crazy outside where they can’t ruin anything.
Confetti Sort: This is messy, but fun! Rip up a bunch of the construction paper and pour into bins. Encoruage toddlers to use their fingers and cups to scoop the confetti between the bins
Rice Garden: Pour rice into bins and let them use the sand toys as gardening tools
Sensory Color Bins: Fill bins with some water, add some food coloring and animal toys. Let them splash around in the colored water. Great sensory idea!
Painting Paper: Simple and no mess! Give your toddlers buckets with some water, and encourage them to use the paint brushes to paint with water on colored construction paper.
Those are just a few of the endless ideas you can put together with the 20 items from the dollar tree.
Which of these activities for toddlers from the dollar tree do you think your littles will love the most?
Let me know in the comments or tag me on social media! I love seeing what you guys are doing with your twins!
Click here for some more activity ideas for your toddlers!
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