How to Keep a Toddler Busy While You Homeschool

Okay, let’s get started! I’ve got some great ideas below for time-consuming toddler activities, awesome preschool homeschool options, and the best toys to keep a toddler’s attention.

Some of the links below are affiliate links. This means that I may make a small commission if you click through or purchase at no cost to you. For more information, click here.

Preschool Activities at Home

There are so many easy and inexpensive preschool activities you can create for your toddler.

Here are some of my kids’ favorites:

Animal match

For animal match, you’ll need a pack of small plastic animals. I really like this 54-piece Mini Jungle Animals set because it has a ton of great animals and is made from non-toxic PVC.

Once you have your animals, you’ll need to find and print out small pictures of the animals you have in your set. 3×3 or 4×4 squares and a Google image search will be best.

If your toddlers are the way my toddlers were (aka kinda slobbery and rough), you’ll probably want to print your animal cards on cardstock. If you want them to be extra durable, you may consider laminating them as well. I’ve owned this inexpensive laminator for years and it still works great!

After you have your animal cards ready, you can give your toddler the animals and the cards and have him match the animals to the cards. Often I’ll spread the cards out all over the kitchen table or living room floor and put the animals in a bag.

My toddler then has to pull out one animals at a time and find the right card for the animal he is holding. More often than not, my toddler ended up playing independently with the animals for quite awhile after making all the matches. #winning!

Ball and pipe cleaners

This ball and pipe cleaners toddler activity is completely no prep on your part and will help keep your toddler busy for a good chunk of time.

For this activity, you’ll need a few small practice golf balls with lots of holes in them (if you don’t know exactly what I’m talking about – check out the picture or click on the link!). You’ll also need a pack of pipe cleaners or chenille stems. This pack of chenille stems also includes 150 googly eyes too!

Simply give your toddler one holey golf ball and a handful of chenille stems. She needs to push the stems through as many holes in the ball as she can.

It could be really fun to make this holiday themed too! For example, you could give your kid an orange ball and black chenille stems for Halloween or a white ball with red and green chenille stems for Christmas time.

“Money” and a bank

Give your toddler an inexpensive unbreakable piggy bank like this and a pack of fake money like this. Set him on the floor nearby while you homeschool and let him fill the piggy bank with the fake coins. I was always amazed at how long my kids would be happy to put the coins in the bank!

A fantastic bonus for this activity is that the fake money can be used for math lessons for older children and the piggy bank can become your kid’s bank to keep his money when he is a little bit older.

Bears on Chairs

There were many days years ago when my toddlers would ask specifically to do “bears on chairs.” This is such a simple and fun activity for them!

You’ll need a pack of bear counters – and just like the money and piggy bank activity – these bear counters will be something your kids can use for preschool and early elementary math activities. I especially like this set of counting bears and coordinating cups.

Next, cut several pieces of cardstock into long strips and place one row of colored sticker dots in a long, straight row on both sides. You can have the dots arranged in a recurring color pattern or put them on randomly. (Again, if you want to make sure these last, run them through a laminator!)

Then give your toddler several of the cardstock strips with stickered rows and have her put one bear of a matching color on top of the matching sticker dots or “chairs.”

Color drop wall

This simple color wall drop maybe no-cost if you have some colored paper and a bunch of craft pom poms on hand. If not, here’s a great pack of inexpensive pom poms that you can use for lots of other preschool activities and crafts

You’ll also need six empty toilet paper rolls (or paper towel rolls cut down to size) and some colored paper or construction paper.

Wrap each paper roll with one color of  paper and staple or tape in place.

Then stick your colored rolls onto the wall with masking tape or sticky tack at a height where your toddler can reach. Place a small cup or bowl on the floor below the colored tube. If you purchase the counting bears set above, you’ll already have the perfect cups that you’ll need for this activity too!

Your toddler’s goal is to drop enough of the corresponding pom poms through the tube to fill up the cup below.

Straws in

For this great activity to keep your toddler busy, you’ll need an empty shredded parmesan cheese container with the lid and some plastic straws like these. Wash out the container really well and pull off the label if you can.

Then cut the plastic straws into two inch pieces and put them in a bowl. Open the lid to the container and let your toddler drop the straw pieces into the small holes one by one.

If the container is clear, your toddler will be able to watch it fill with the small colorful straw pieces and be entertained for a good amount of time!

Homeschool Preschool Curriculum

Purchasing a simple homeschool preschool curriculum is a a great way to help your toddlers feel involved with homeschool.

Don’t feel the need to do anything rigorous. Instead, preschool should provide a seamless transition to more formal learning that will begin in elementary school.

These two options are my favorites to help you create a homeschool preschool experience that will help your toddler to feel included in your family homeschool.

Center Stage Preschool 

This online preschool is going to be fantastic! It kicks off on September 8th and my four-year-old daughter can’t wait!

Every month students will receive an email with links to the classroom videos, monthly newsletter, shopping list for the optional crafts and activities, and a story book list.

Typically three and four year olds meet on Tuesdays and Thursdays and four and five year olds meet on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.

If you can’t attend live, you can choose when to hold your homeschool classes with your toddler or preschooler.

The classroom sessions will include Circle Time for you to watch with your child. Next you’ll do the worksheets. Then it’s time for the optional craft or activity. It’s that simple!

The two teachers have over forty years of experience teaching preschool.

Even better, the tuition is very affordable:

• $4o a month for the three year old class
• $60 a month for the four year old class

For more information, click the button below and use code RHM20OFF to get a 20% discount off your first month!