20 Activities for Toddlers When You NEED Them to Be Quiet

Anyone who has children knows that kids can be very demanding and very hard to please from a young age.

However, there are a lot of activities and things you can do to keep your child calm and entertained.

Many people think that children like to be destructive and loud when they usually just want to be entertained.

Here are 20 activities your kids will love and will keep them entertained and relatively quiet….as quiet as toddlers can be anyway!

1) Puzzles

You’d be surprised how bringing out a puzzle or a puzzle style game can calm a child down. Children are usually very analytical from a young age so figuring out how to piece something together could keep them occupied for hours at a time. It doesn’t have to be one of those 500 piece hard to solve puzzles, something as simple as a starter 10-20 piece puzzle or a few of those is enough to get a head start. Puzzles are also great for building logical and critical thinking skills from an early age.

2) Colouring

Sometimes, children just want to express their opinion on paper and show off their creativity. I’m sure most homes have a drawing of something their kid drew on their fridge or wall. All you really need are paper and some crayons for your kids and they’re good to go. Just remember to teach your child to only draw on the paper or you’ll end up scrubbing a wall full of red crayon for hours!

3) Letter Learning Games

There’s a lot of fun games from an early age that can teach children all about letters. Getting a head start before kinder will help them excel through the rest of their school years. There are various numbers of games out there that provide challenges such as re-arranging letters to spell words and other fun games that help teach children the alphabet and proper letter structure.

4) Reading

Reading definitely helps calm most children down but there’s a trick to it. You need to make sure that the story is engaging enough and sometimes, the child will want the story to be read by you. Picture books engage a child’s imagination and allow them to create their own vivid fantasy of how the story is playing out in their head. Kiddy comic books and children’s books spark curiosity and keep them engaged.

5) Music & Singing

Not everyone likes to sing but you can have a quiet sing-along to the child’s favourite songs and help develop their vocal skills. There are plenty of kid’s sing-along CDs available, and most of them are relatively cheap.

6) Walking

As simple as it sounds, a nice stroll or a nice cruise around in a stroller may be soothing for both you and your toddler.

7) Toy Trains

Both boys and girls can appreciate the beauty of model trains and collectible vehicles.

8) Ask Them to Help with Household Chores

Sometimes, children want to feel important, so involving them in your own day-to-day activities such as chores around the house or at least letting them help can be great for them.

9) Quiet Time

Having a personal quiet time in between activities is ideal so that children don’t get overly fussy when they get tired. You can always give an incentive to nap time with a reward at the end if they’re quiet.

10) Screen Time

While it’s not healthy, there’s nothing wrong with having movie time every once in a while or even watching a movie once a day. Even if you’re just out shopping, giving them an iPad or something to watch can keep them entertained and not distracted on all the shiny toys in the aisles you go down.

11) Building Blocks or Lego

Building blocks can enhance a kid’s creativity and imagination by using the blocks to construct whatever they have in mind.

12) Library Time

Not all kids may be thrilled to see books but some of them may want to go and check out some new books at the library.

13) Cuddling Up

Do you know how powerful the human touch can be? There’s nerves in our bodies that immediately calm us down when someone we care about touches us and sends impulses to our brain. This can also be used to engage nap time or quiet time as well.

14) Talking

Sounds simple right? Using a soft and kind voice to just talk to your child and ask them questions can raise their curiosity, spark interesting conversation and keep them occupied from screaming or breaking something.

15) Dress Up Play With Stuffed Animals

Does your child own any stuffed animals? Role play with them. Help them dress their animals up. Ask them about their stuffed animals, if they have names and play with them.

16) Start a Band (With Spoons)

You don’t need a loud drum or bass guitar to start a band with a child. You can just use some containers and plastic spoons to simulate a drum.

17) Popsicle Sticks & Play dough

Kids can build possibly everything using popsicle sticks and play dough — even a tiny toy house!

18) Take Them to a Movie Theatre

It’s not exactly the cheapest thing in the world to do. There’s the tickets, the popcorn, the drinks and so on but children don’t tend to generally talk while being entertained during movies. Especially when they’re being played in surround sound on a gigantic screen.

19) Construction Paper Play

Have some construction paper? Have your kid tear it up into pieces and try to build something with it. Have them construct whatever’s in their imagination.

20) Sticker Decoration

Children love decorating using stickers. While they can be messy, this is a perfect substitute for having them paint on walls or colour on places they shouldn’t. Some stickers do come off relatively easy so if they get on a place they shouldn’t be, you can easily remove them.

What other activities for toddlers can you think of?