Toddlers are often naturally curious, so it would usually be difficult for parents to contain them since they want to explore around the house, touch certain things that make them confused, or eat anything that looks enticing to them. Also, it would take a while for them to get tired of exploring, so you have no choice but to keep a closer eye on them for hours before they get sleepy. Luckily, there are several better ways for you to keep your toddler busy while allowing you to have better supervision of them. Here are some things to do to keep your toddler busy for the day.

Let Them Help You with Chores

Since they are toddlers, they may not have faster reflexes and strong muscles to do serious chores, but you can allow them to help you by doing some simple tasks within those chores. These simple tasks include putting clothes in a laundry basket, putting away ingredients that are not needed for cooking, watering the plants, and more.

By helping you with chores, your toddler will be able to see the fun of doing the tasks, which is needed if you want them to grow up to be hardworking when it comes to doing chores. Doing simple tasks also fills their curiosities, as they would often wonder what you are doing and how they were able to help, thus keeping them busy and a little bit more behaved.

Train Them on Meal Times

Toddlers would usually be playful during meal times, and they would often play with their food instead of eating them. It is essential that you train them to respect meal times, as they would need to learn the importance of food to the body. You can teach them about the benefits of eating healthy food, and then train them to eat the food properly so that they won’t play with it.

A toddler would typically copy what he or she sees at the table, so it is also important that you eat a meal with them to demonstrate how to eat properly. Eventually, they will be able to understand meal times, thus keeping them busy while they are eating their food. Eating together is also a great opportunity for you to bond with your toddler, so make sure that your mealtimes are always in sync.

Go Outdoors

As mentioned previously, toddlers would always want to explore their surroundings, and what better way to satisfy their curiosity than by going outdoors where the area for them to walk or crawl around is bigger. If your house has a backyard or front yard, you can let your toddler go there and enjoy playing some outdoor games like basketball, football, or even flying a kite when it is windy enough.

You also have the option to go to a park and just let your toddler see different animals that they can observe. In the park, you can also ride a bike with your toddler to make the trip much more exciting for him or her. An outdoor playground is also an ideal place for a toddler to play in, and he or she might even learn how to socialize by playing and talking with other kids in the playground. Of course, if you are outdoors, you should always have to keep an eye on your toddler to prevent any accidents.

Play Puzzles and Open-Ended Toys

Playing puzzles and open-ended toys like wooden blocks, building bricks, and toy cars are arguably the best ways to keep your toddler busy, as it would usually take hours before they can stop playing with these toys in a day. Open-ended toys are also great forms of entertainment for toddlers to enhance their creativity, as building blocks and bricks allow them to create almost anything from big castles and robots to small cars and houses. Be sure that the puzzles and open-ended toys that you buy are big so that they won’t swallow the toys if ever they think that the colorful pieces look enticing to eat. In addition, you can also buy smaller sets so that it won’t be difficult to clean them up after your toddler finishes playing with the toys.

Let Them Discover Their Talents

Every person has a talent, and all it takes for them to discover their talent is having someone that encourages them to try different hobbies and see which one is the most suitable for them. Encourage your child to try out different toddler activities, like drawing, painting, or playing musical instruments, as one of these hobbies may eventually be the one that they will continue to practice and hone.

For drawing, you can buy them a set of crayons and a sketchpad, and then just let them try to use these crayons to create their unique artworks. For playing instruments, you can buy them a kid-sized instrument (drums, piano, or guitar) and see if they will enjoy playing it. They may eventually move on to play the bigger counterpart of that instrument once they get older, and it may turn into their hobby.

Encourage your toddler to try out things and don’t stop them from exploring or being curious, as the curiosity is just their natural attitude towards things that they aren’t yet familiar with. Moreover, the curiosity would often turn into fascination, and that fascination may eventually turn into what shapes their goals in life.