Toddlers usually get bored playing with crayons, blocks, play-dough, and dolls, after some time. So, here are seven creative indoor games you can play with them next time.

 Recognize the Family

  • Take print outs of different members of the family and stick them onto pieces of hard cardboard. Now, for the game, she has to –Match the same faces. For this you will need two copies of each picture.
  • Match the relations that you call out. For example, mother-daughter, brother-sister etc. This one, however, would be more appropriate for a three year old child.

Change the Story

  • By now, your child would definitely be used to the popular bed time stories like ‘Goldilocks’, ‘Rapunzel’ etc. So go on and create a game out of it, by changing the story. Ask her questions like, ‘What if Goldilocks had fallen asleep on papa bear’s bed?’, ‘What if Rapunzel’s hair was not long enough to reach all the way down?’ It surely would help her to begin thinking for herself.

Touch the Food

  • Put in food of different textures in small boxes, and then ask her to close her eyes, and touch them one at a time. For each one she touches, she needs to tell you what it is, without looking at them. You could use food like noodles, cooked rice, popcorn, fruits etc. If she can’t guess, then the next step is to smell, and finally taste them, to tell you what it is.

Car Wash Time

  • Get your little boy to take out all his cars, and put them in the bath tub, or even a large bucket. Next give him a small towel, and two bowls, one filled with water, and one with soap. Tell him it is car wash time, and ask him to scrub off all the dirt from his cars. He is sure to enjoy, and this game will instil a sense of responsibility within him as well. For a girl, replace the cars, with her favourite toys, if she wants.

Vegetable Painting

  • Cut pieces of different vegetables and then ask your toddler to dip them in different colour paints to make her own drawing. Ladies Finger imprints make good flower petals, tomatoes make ladybirds, etc. If you have a garden nearby, then leaves of different shapes can also be used or even different spices. For example, pepper makes the centre of a sunflower; the skin of a cardamom can be a leaf, etc. This will surely charge up her imagination and the final art can also be framed and hung for everyone to appreciate.

Balloon Tennis

  • Blow up a balloon, and make your tennis racquets by folding a newspaper into a long rectangle. Now play your tennis game right inside your home. This game will help her to learn connect two objects, and it’s definitely safer than playing with a rubber ball, and breaking things all over the house. You can also use the same newspaper roll as a cricket bat for a game of cricket.

Hand Stories

  • Fold both your hands in a fist, and paint faces on each of them to tell your baby a story. Use watercolour instead of felt-pens as they wash off better. If it’s evening time, you can even tell her a shadow story by making different shadows on a wall.

So go on and get creative and see how time flies playing and laughing with your little one.