Having a weekly play routine with 30 minutes of structured playtime can greatly support your toddler’s overall development by incorporating learning through play.
We focus on seven key types; sensory, fine motor, gross motor, speech and language, pretend, problem-solving, and art and craft play, which ensures a well-rounded approach to meet all the age-appropriate milestones.
My 20-month-old son and I do 30 minutes of structured play (often broken into a few 5-10 minutes sessions) every day.
These are our themes for each day of the week:
- Monday – Problem-Solving Play
- Tuesday – Fine Motor Play
- Wednesday – Gross Motor Play
- Thursday – Speech & Language Play
- Friday – Imaginative and Role Play
- Saturday – Sensory Play
- Sunday – Creative and Artistic Play
Monday: Problem-Solving Play
Use a shape sorter to model problem-solving by demonstrating how to turn and align each piece. Then, encourage your little one to explore the shapes, and figure out how each fits into the sorter.
Stretch rubber bands tightly around a plastic container, crisscrossing them to form a “web,” and place small toys inside. Encourage your little one to move the bands to retrieve the toys.
Use a wooden latches board with your toddler to explore different latches, locks and doors. Help them figure out how to open each door and encourage them to try the latches themselves.
Place small toys (cars, animals) in a muffin tin, and cover each compartment with tape, crisscrossing it for added challenge. Ask your toddler to peel off all the tapes to find hidden objects. I bet they will want to do it over and over. Plus it’s great for fine motor skills 🙌🏼
Tuesday: Fine Motor Play
Cut small slits on the bottom of an empty egg carton. Hand your toddler a few popsicle sticks and encourage them to slide each one into a hole. You can also help them match colors as they go.
Provide pom-poms and an empty water bottle with a wide opening. Encourage your toddler to pick up each pom-pom using their fingers (or a toddler tong) and drop it into the bottle.
Guide your toddler to grab the hidden worms in the holes with the magnetic bird beak. Then, work together to “feed” the captured worms to the baby bird one by one.
Show your toddler how to hold the disc between their thumb and index finger and guide them to drop it into the slot of the box. Keep the focus on practicing hand movements and coordination rather than color matching at this age.
Wednesday: Gross Motor Play
Guide your toddler to push the train around as a ride-on toy. As they steer and move, prompt them to stand and walk along. You can also encourage them to pull the train behind them as a wagon, filling it with toys.
Set up a crawling race. Get down on the floor and encourage your toddler to crawl to a specific spot, while you crawl behind, pretending to chase them. Make it fun by using playful sounds, like “Rawr!” as if a monster was coming to get them.
Pick a few animal figures you have, and guide your toddler to act out different animal movements. For example, squat and hop like a frog, march like an elephant, or walk slowly like a turtle etc.
Help your toddler get seated in this Dino car and guide them to push with their feet to move it forward. Encourage them to steer by turning the wheel, while you can gently push from behind for extra support.
Thursday: Speech & Language Play
Involve your toddler in baking by modeling key terms like “stir,” “whisk,” “mix,” “pour,” “scoop,” “taste,” and concepts such as “hot,” “cold,” “wet,” and “dry” while you work together.
Read a book with your toddler to model animal sounds, and then pause, allowing them to mimic the sounds. Instead of reading the whole sentences, explain the pictures in the book with your unique storytelling.
Create fun conversations with safari hand puppets by making the puppets talk to each other or to your toddler. For example, the elephant says, “Hello, I’m an elephant! *Trumpet sound*” Prompt your child to imitate different animal sounds.
Build a short story sequence with favorite family photos. Show your toddler different photos and talk about each one in simple sentences, e.g. “Mommy is smiling” or “Daddy is playing with the ball.”
Friday: Imaginative and Role Play
Set up a car wash station in your kitchen sink (or a bin). Model pretending to clean the toy vehicles using water and a small sponge or an old toothbrush. Encourage your toddler to do the same to “wash” the cars, and practise scrubbing!
Use a doctor play kit to model simple actions like “I’m checking your heartbeat” with a stethoscope, or “I’m giving you a little shot” with a syringe. Encourage your toddler to mimic these actions, as they pretend to take care of their stuffed animals or dolls.
Encourage your toddler to use the play knife to “cut” the fruit like and place it into the blender, modeling simple actions “chop” and “blend.” Then, pour the smoothie in a cup and offer it to you or stuffed animals while learning to serve and share.
Create your own “coffee cup” by poking holes in a paper cup to make a handle and filling it with brown pom-poms for coffee and white pom-poms for cream. Model the action of drinking coffee in pretend play or serve it to family members.
Saturday: Sensory Play
Encourage your toddler to explore the water beads by guiding them to touch, squish, and scoop them with their hands, modeling words like “soft,” “slippery,” and “wet.” Pause and let your toddler experiment with the beads.
Show your toddler how to cut, roll, and flatten the Play-Doh. Encourage them to make different shapes, using words like “squeeze,” “poke,” and “press.” Let them explore independently.
Pour 1-2 tbsp of yogurt into 3-4 compartments of a muffin tin and add a few drops of food coloring to create different colors. Encourage your toddler by smearing, to dip their fingers and explore mixing, or making fingerprints on paper.
Set up a dinosaur sand play bin. Encourage your toddler to explore the texture of the sand, and feel it through their hands. You can model digging and hiding the dinosaurs, prompting them to do the same as they explore and play.
Sunday: Creative and Artistic Play
Give your toddler washable markers and encourage them to “paint” the windows, or bathroom walls, modeling how to draw simple shapes or lines. Guide them in creating their own designs and let them explore freely.
Use a themed sticker book to create sticker art. Peel a sticker, and show your toddler how to press it firmly onto the page. Then, encourage them to choose, and paste the tickers themselves.
Use a finger paint coloring book to encourage your toddler to dip their finger into the paint and color the shapes on the page. Have a bowl of water nearby for rinsing their finger between model words like “dip,” “color,” and “paint.”
Press your fingers onto the rainbow stamp pads and show your toddler how to create colorful shapes or patterns on paper. Encourage them to experiment with different colors, letting them create their own designs.
