Children thrive on new and creative types of play, balanced out with their old familiar favourites. Great summer activities for toddlers inspire movement, explore texture, encourage creativity, and are fun and engaging. Take a look at our summer fun ideas to keep your little one entertained.

1. Go on a scavenger hunt with your toddler and collect natural objects, like pinecones and leaves. Then, turn them into works of art with paint! Paint projects like this allow your toddler to discover different shapes and textures while they paint, unlike painting on a flat white piece of paper.

2. Play Pass the Parcel. On every layer, you unwrap a challenge: make a daisy chain; jump all the way to the end of the garden; sing The Sun Has Got His Hat On; tell the time on a dandelion clock; give somebody a big cuddle.

3. Keep the whole family entertained this summer with Sand Pal. Use the seven different moulds in the kit to create the coolest sand castles on the beach. Sand Pal also encourages creativity and teaches valuable life lessons such as team building, coordination and cognitive skills. 

4.Create a mud kitchen in the garden. Fill up a washing-up bowl or plastic tub with water and another with mud. Collect together pots, measuring cups and wooden spoons you don’t use anymore so your toddler can get creative. Let your little one collect leaves, flowers, stones and other “ingredients” for their muddy culinary concoctions.

5. Fill up your paddling pool with water and different objects like shells, cars, balls, plastic animals, and cups. Your little one can cool down on warm summer days and enjoy some sensory play.

6. Make an ice treasure hunt. Fill plastic containers or ice cube trays with water and some fun plastic toys and let them freeze overnight. Your kids will have so much finding their frozen treasures. Can they find them all before they melt!

7. Create an edible garden. Get your toddler involved in learning how things grow by showing them how to plant seeds and water their plants. Easy to grow vegetables such as basil, cress, rocket, radishes and tomatoes are great plants to start with, and you can enjoy eating them too.

8. Create a dinosaur dig! Bury toy dinosaurs in sand for your toddler to dig up. They can use spoons, paint brushes or child-safe garden tools to create an archaeologist experience. This would be a fun activity to do after a trip to a natural history museum.

9. Take a trip to your local library and check out their summer activities programme. Having a few backup plans for rainy days is always a good idea!

10. Make a den in the garden or indoors using cardboard boxes and blankets. The den can become a café, a school, a supermarket, or even a spaceship. Let their imagination run wild!