5 Indoor Activities For One-Year-Olds (Perfect For Long Winter Days)

Try one of these indoor activities when you’re stuck inside during long Winter days.

I gotta say, keeping my son busy this Winter has been one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. Not that we spend a crazy amount of time outside normally, but I swear, it’s like he knows that the option is off the table. As soon as the temperature drops, he’s screaming his little head off from boredom, and I’m left pulling my hair out, wondering what I’m going to do to help us both make it through the day without a huge meltdown.

Since it’s been freezing outside all week, we’ve been trying out some fun indoor activities! To make things even easier on myself, I ordered the items used in these activities from Amazon, which I’ll link below! (They are affiliate links. Any purchases made through these links is greatly appreciated.) 

I figured I certainly can’t be the only first-time mom wondering what in heck you’re supposed to do with a crazy, active one-year-old during the winter months. I definitely recommend any of these five activities. They kept Marshall busy! Finding activities for a one-year-old isn’t as easy as it sounds. Marshall’s in this weird middle phase, where he’s not walking or acting like a toddler yet, but he’s not a baby anymore either. He’s bored of his baby toys, but he still puts every object he comes across into his mouth.

Lord help me, I’m ready for whatever’s coming next because it has to be better than this weird, fit-throwing, not-walking, everything-goes-in-the-mouth phase. I was pleasantly surprised by these activities though. He only tried to mouth the noodles a couple of times! Maybe they’re just engaging enough to distract him from that urge. I hope the same will be true for your little ones, but definitely supervise them during these activities.

Indoor Activities For Toddlers 12 months & up

1. Alphabet Magnets

Easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy. Just put some magnetic letter on a cookie pan, and you’re good to go! Here are the magnetic letters I ordered.

2. Pasta Scoop

Again, it’s nothing too complicated. Throw some raw noodles in a dish and give your kid some spoons. Who knew raw pasta could be so fun?

3. Scarf Pull

I put a hole in the top of an old coffee tin, and honestly, Marshall wasn’t impressed. What a bummer! Maybe I made it too difficult for him to pull the scarves out. He loved pulling the scarves out of his little fake oven though! Whatever works, right? Click here to see the scarves I bought.

4. Taped Toys

I don’t know what it is about tape that made these toys so interesting, but Marshall was diggin’ it! He hasn’t played with some of these toys in months, but I guess the work he put into taking them off of the cookie sheet made them super interesting all of the sudden. He crawled around holding them for a while after he’d already finished the activity. Too cute!

5. Window Sensory Bag

Yay, mess-free sensory play! Add some paint to a ziplock bag and slap that sucker on the window, and you’ve got a busy baby. Light makes Marshall sneeze like a maniac, but other than having a sneeze attack, he had a blast with this one.

I hope these help you through the rest of winter. Have you tried any of these activities with your kids before? Let me know how it went in the comments!

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