Cheap and Easy Backyard Play Ideas for Toddlers

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Backyard Play Ideas for Toddlers

Stuck at home like me? Or should I say the rest of the world right now? Desperately trying to come up with NEW ideas to entertain your toddlers?

Mama, I got you.

I am currently writing this post during the virus madness to hopefully help you out while we’re stuck at home for an unknown number of weeks, months, or whatever it ends up being. Everything is uncertain right now and honestly, I needed to make this list for myself.

My twin toddlers are driving me nuts. I can absolutely tell that they are stir crazy but I mean, what else can we do other than get creative at home?

So like I do with everything else, I took to Pinterest and did some research for the best cheap and easy backyard play ideas for toddlers. Here are nine of the best creative, but most importantly CHEAP, ideas I have found!

Easy and Cheap Backyard Play Ideas for Toddlers:

Color in the tape chalk activity (for this, you’re going to grab some painters tape, make out a square, then make some lines to create shapes for your toddlers to color in with chalk)

Turn on the bubble machine (IMO, this is always a hit. Dogs love it too!)

Create a backyard lounge in a blow up kiddie pool (snag a kiddie pool off of Amazon, fill it with blankets and pillows. That’s it!)

Make up a kids garden (again, snag a kiddie pool off of Amazon along with a lot of potting soil, seeds or even starters from your local shop with social distancing in mind and help your littles create their own garden and maintain!)

Build a kiddo construction zone (odds are your toddlers have some toy construction vehicles, cars, monster trucks, ect. Set up a little backyard construction zone with some dirt. Yep, huge project I know)

Build and obstacle course (doesn’t have to be crazy, lay out stones for your littles to hop to and from, pillows, a stick to walk across, colors to sort, get creative with what you have to get your tots to run around the backyard!)

Host a family picnic, but with the kiddos involved! (Throw some easy snack items together like pepperoni, salami, cheese slices, crackers, chopped fruits and bring them out onto a laid out blanket in the yard. Then encourage your toddlers to build their own picnic plates!)

Get them fishing (another kiddie pool idea. Fill it up with water and throw some bath toys into it and give them a net. Probably my most expensive idea but for sure one that you can easily put together day after day with new toys, some food coloring thrown in, even some bath bubbles!)

Host a “bug hunt” (Order some cheap plastic toy bugs off of Amazon and hide them around your yard like an Easter egg hunt. Encourage your tots to find them all and even make it into a learning activity. Do the same with foam/magnetic letters hidden around the yard and practice letters, this can get really fun!)

There you have it, nine of my favorite creative back yard play ideas for toddlers.

Which one do you think you’ll try out first? Do you already have the tools to make it up? Or did these ideas spark one of your own fresh ideas?

I’d love to hear!

Tag me on Instagram @twinsandcoffeepnw with your littles playing any of these activities!

Stay safe and healthy, mamas!