As a mum raising my girls in a small apartment, I’ve learned that keeping my kids occupied doesn’t always have to involve buying more toys; a handful of versatile DIY Toddler Activity Supplies can be turned into dozens of fun, low-prep activities. These are the hands-on learning materials we reach for countless times in our home, and they’ve been used for everything from independent play while I cook dinner to keeping my kids from begging me to watch Bluey for the billionth time. Most of them are inexpensive, easy to store, and can be used in countless different ways.
In this guide, I’ll share the 25 DIY Toddler Activity Supplies I believe every parent should grab, along with ideas for how we actually use them.
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Basic Supplies
- Washable markers
- Crayons
- Coloured construction paper
- Cardstock
- Child-safe scissors
- Glue sticks
- Washable liquid glue
Fine Motor Favourites
- Pom-poms
- Jumbo craft sticks
- Pipe cleaners
- Clothespins
- Dot stickers
- Googly eyes
Creative Extras
Learning Supplies
- Dry-erase pockets
- Whiteboard markers
- Alphabet stickers
- Magnetic letters
- Number stickers
Storage
- Small craft organiser
- Zip bags
- Plastic pencil box
- Supplies storage bins
5 Ideas for DIY Toddler Activity Play
1. The Pompom Sorting & Clothespin Counting Station
- Colour code paper cups, lay them out on the floor or table and place pompoms next to them. Then encourage your toddlers to clip a clothespin onto a pompom, and drop it into the matching coloured cup (e.g., red pompoms in the red cup!). It is a brilliant, focused colour recognition game that builds hand-coordination skills. For your older toddlers or preschoolers, you can do numbers instead of colours.
2. Dot Sticker Pathway
Draw a spiral line on a large cardboard or paper, then with your coloured markers, make large coloured dots along the line. Give your toddler or preschooler a pack of coloured dot stickers to peel and stick along the “path” matching the colours, until they reach the end.
3. Popsicle Sticks & Playdough STEAM
Let your kids roll the playdough into small connector balls, then use the popsicle sticks as beams and the playdough balls as glue to build 3D squares, triangles, or giant towers. This is a great activity for older kids – My 6-year-old especially loved this one. If this activity really appeals to you, you should check my post on 10 Low-Prep Indoor Activities for the Long Afternoon. I share ten entertaining ideas to keep kids busy indoors. You’ll love activity 10.
4. The Pipe Cleaner & Paper Strip Threading Station
Bend pipe cleaners into simple shapes like circles and hearts, then put them into a bowl of water. Place the bowl of water on the floor and encourage your toddler or preschooler to fish them out with another pipe cleaner bent into a hook.
5. Playdough Pancake Press
Encourage your kids to roll playdough into pancakes and press different objects such as buttons, beads, bottle caps, or LEGO bricks into the playdough. Moulding playdough and pressing things into it is incredibly therapeutic for lowering high energy.
Which of these 5 basic setups are you doing today? Also, if you want easy, done-for-you weekly play rotations and secret budget shopping guides sent straight to your inbox, subscribe to join my village circle!
