Playtime Activities For Two Year Olds
Make sure your child’s time spent playing is filled with opportunities to learn.
Are you looking for fun home-learning activities to do with your two-year-old? Our team of early childhood curriculum experts thoughtfully curated these home-education activities from our proprietary Life Essentials® curriculum to help your family Learn On® when away from the Academy. Whether it’s during mealtime, playtime, clean up time, bath time, or bedtime – our at-home curriculum is built so you can easily integrate school-from-home learning opportunities in seamless, easy, and fun ways.
Name Game
Level of instruction: Detailed
When: Playtime
Time recommendation: 30 minutes
Participants: One-on-one, Siblings, Family
Learning Domain: Language and Literacy
Learning Standards: Alphabet and word knowledge
Materials: Paper, marker, scissors, glue stick
Instructions
Write your child’s name on a piece of paper in large letters. From another piece of paper, cut a square for each letter in your child’s name. Write a letter from his or her name on each square. Encourage your child to identify his or her name on the paper. Give your child the letter squares. Invite your child to match the letter on the square to the letter written on the piece of paper. Encourage your child to glue the letter on top of the letter in his or her name. Continue until all the letters have been matched and glued onto your child’s name. Invite your child to touch and say each letter name with you to spell his or her name. Repeat this activity using other family members’ names.
Is your child able to recognize and match the letters in his or her name?
Goldilocks and the Three Bears
Level of instruction: Moderate
When: Playtime
Time recommendation: 20 minutes
Participants: One-on-one, Siblings
Learning Domain: Language and Literacy
Learning Standards: Sorts objects by size, Comprehension, Attentiveness
Materials: Book Goldilocks and the Three Bears; household items that are small, medium and large
Instructions
Read the story Goldilocks and the Three Bears to your child. Invite him or her to repeat the predictable text with you. After the story, display the items that you collected from around the house. Invite your child to help sort the items by size. Encourage him or her to make a pile of the big, medium, and small items. Use synonyms for the size words—large, tiny, etc.
Observe your child using vocabulary from the story. Does your child sort the objects by size? Does your child repeat the predictable text as you read the story?
Cloud Dough
Level of instruction: Moderate
When: Playtime, Outdoor, Mealtime
Time recommendation: 20 minutes
Participants: One-on-one, Siblings
Learning Domain: Cognitive Development
Learning Standards: Physical science, Fine motor development
Materials: Flour, oil, mixing bowl, spoon measuring cups
Instructions
Invite your child to help make cloud dough. You may need to adjust the amounts to get the right consistency. Blend eight parts flour to one part oil (i.e., 8 cups flour to 1 cup oil, or 4 cups flour to 1/2 cup oil). Encourage your child to feel and describe the dry ingredient (flour) and the wet ingredient (oil) before you mix the two. Allow your child to help knead the dough with his or her hands. Discuss how the resulting mixture might feel like a cloud, and encourage your child to play with and manipulate the dough.
Observe your child mixing the ingredients and following 1-2 step directions.
Chalk People
Level of instruction: Easy
When: Outdoor, Playtime
Time recommendation: 20 minutes
Participants: One-on-one, Child-led, Siblings
Learning Domain: Creative Arts
Learning Standards: Body awareness, Fine motor development
Materials: Sidewalk chalk
Instructions
Invite your child to lay on a concrete area while you trace the outline of his or her body with sidewalk chalk. Encourage your child to use chalk to draw his or her features, such as eyes, ears, mouth, nose, clothes, etc. Invite your family members to join in on the fun!
Does your child draw two eyes, a mouth, and a nose? Does your child recognize and identify different body parts?
Texture Building
Level of instruction: Moderate
When: Playtime, Outdoor
Time recommendation: 20 minutes
Participants: One-on-one, Child-led
Learning Domain: STEM
Learning Standards: Physical science, Thinking and reasoning skills
Materials: A variety of materials with different textures, glue or tape
Instructions
Invite your child to explore the materials collected. Ask him or her how the items feel. Encourage your child to build a structure of his or her choice using all of the materials. Take pictures of your child and his or her completed structures to share with your classroom teacher.
Observe your child using textured materials to build a structure. Does your child use some or all of the materials when making his or her structure?
Find more activities for you and your two-year-old
- Quiet time: Encouraging low-key activities during quiet time helps children develop independent play skills.
- Outside Time: The great outdoors can be the best classroom of all.
- Bedtime and Bath time: End your child’s day by integrating learning into their bedtime routine.
Or return to the Life Essentials® At Home page to find activities to explore with other age groups.
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