Love dance parties. Also dumping vinegar in baking soda.

Put a bunch of salt in a baking dish (with rim) and let them trace in it. Or you can make something in the salt like a spiral and have them fill it in with black beans.

Glue cheerios onto letter print outs.

Check out happytoddlerplaytime and busytoddler on Instagram. Tons of ideas!

We love bubble foam and contact paper on the wall.

Play Floor is Lava

I highly recommend the pp’s idea of washing plastic toys in water with soap/bubbles. This is the only activity that seems to last more than 15 minutes with my 3.5 year old. He has loved doing this since around 18 months. It’s worth the wet floor and waste of soap. Also cleaning big toys with wet wipes.

A large empty box and crayons.

Board games together. Or play restaurant or grocery store.

Scavenger hunts around the house or outside. Tons of versions online. If s/he is learning letters, finding a book with each letter on the cover. Or can do it with pictures.

Hide and seek for objects.

For the child alone, putting stickers on as big box or on paper.

Kinetic sand. Water beads. Plus little figurines, trucks, etc.

My kid loved play doh at that age. And cutting and sticking paper with her own scissors and glue/tape. Collecting outside stuff, like leaves, rocks, sticks etc....

Make homemade play-doh.

Buy glow sticks and let them play in the bath with the lights out.

Play hide-and-seek.

Draw pictures together.

Cutting up magazines to make collages, simple cooking like pancake mix, "washing" hard plastic toys in a bucket with bubbles, making a pillow fort, hide and seek, hopscotch, taking a walk to "collect" things like leaves, acorns etc.

Run or dance

Suggestions for fun low-maintenance activities that don’t require a great deal of planning or prep?