30 PLAYFUL ACTIVITIES FOR ONE YEAR OLD

Looking for fun and playful activities to keep your one year old engaged? Well, then you are the right place! Find a complete list of 30 playful activities for one year old to chose from.

One year old is a beautiful age but they can also get very handful to manage at times. They are in that in between stage where they have started to enjoy things around them but getting them to concentrate on a single thing can be a difficult task.

One year old is more like young explorers, that are extremely interested in touching and feeling everything that comes across them. All you have to do is look for fun and different activities to do in a day with them like giving them items to play with different textures or letting them create a mess with some washable paints and then keep rotating these activities to keep them interested.

Trying to expect a one year old to concentrate and create a craft or peacefully read a book is a lot to ask from them. I remember when my daughter turned a year old, she would be least interested in sitting next to me. Most of the time she would run away with the book or better sit on it :). But as of today, she loves sitting with me to read a book.

In this blog post, I am sharing a list of 30 playful indoor as well as outdoor activities for one year olds that you can choose from to keep your little one engaged for long!

Running out of ideas to keep your little ones engaged at home for long. Download this FREE 45 list of activities that you can do with your kids to keep them engaged for long.

Related blog reads:

Benefits of playtime with kids

Tips to soothe a teething baby

Tips to save money while raising a baby

How to introduce cow's milk to your baby

20 Playful activities for three year old that you can do easily

Pin this post to keep it handy all the time!

Inside playful activities

If you are stuck indoor with your little one on a rainy day and you have nowhere to go, don’t worry about it. Pick a few fun activities from the list below that are very easy to do and have your little one have some fun with them.

1. Play with bubbles – Bubbles are a great activity for one year olds. You can play with them indoors as well as outdoors. Blow some bubbles using these and let your kid run after them or you can also get a bubble-making machine.

2. Play peek-a-boo with a blanket – This was one of my daughter’s favorite games to play. We would create a cave and hide under the blanket and then pull it down at the count of 3 calling out peek-a-boo. It is still a lot of fun.

3. Play with an old cardboard box lying around – I am sure you must be having a ton of old cardboard boxes lying in your basement. Pick one and remove one side of the box and then let your little one play with the three-sided cardboard box. Also if you can get things to get a little messy, then give your little one some colors and washable paint and let them have fun finger painting the box.

4. Play with playdough – Let your little kid imagination run wild with creating fun shapes using play dough. It is one of my daughter’s favorite activities. I also give her a few playdough tools like a rolling pin, cutters, etc and she spends hours having fun with it. Also if your kid is anything like mine who likes to eat everything off the ground, then you can check out this easy to make homemade playdough recipe that is toxin-free and safe to play with.

5. Play with household items – One year old loves to touch and play with anything that looks different. Give them spoons, spatulas, bowls and any other household items that are safe to play with and let them have fun.

6. Read books – A great activity and also reading to a child from early on has a lot of great benefits for them. Pick a fun picture book and spend some time reading to your little one. You might notice that your one year old might not be that interested in reading with you but I am stating this from my personal experience that if you continue reading to your kid, then his concentration will improve.

7. Sing nursery rhymes – A great fun activity to do as a family. Some of my daughter’s favorite nursery rhymes are five little monkeys, baby shark, and ringa-ringa roses.

8. Play with the kitchen set – A great activity that can keep your one year old busy for hours. I bought this kitchen set in pink for my daughter when she turned a year old and she absolutely loved it. She would spend hours playing and cooking new things in her kitchen set. Also, this same kitchen set is available in blue and red and I also like this one and this.

9. Play with a musical instrument – Exploring music and sounds is a great activity for one year old. You can choose between the battery-operated or acoustic, but either of them are great. Also, you can get a box of musical instruments, but it is always best to give one toy to your kid at a time and then take that away before giving them the next one as they can get easily bored.

10. Play with building blocks – Building blocks is another great activity for your kids to play with. Give them a set of fun and easy to hold building blocks and let them have fun trying to attach them to each other. Also, you can jump into the fun and create some fun structures with them.

11. Jump on the inflatable bouncer – We got this bouncy horse as a gift from our friends and my daughter absolutely loved it. Although for the first few times, you will have to help your kid to bounce as they can tend to fall.

12. Play with the toys on the mat – One of our favorite toys with our daughter when she was a year old. We would lay this mat down and let her touch and explore the lights and toys hanging on it. She loved playing with it and would spend hours in the mat lying down.

Related: How to clean kid bath toys

13. Play with balloons – It was so much fun to watch my daughter play with the balloons for the very first time. She was so surprised to see them and kept pulling the string in amazement all the time. Also, you can get a set of helium balloons but it will be ideal to play with them indoors.

14. Put toys in a basket – Ask your little one to help you put toys in a basket. This can teach them how to clean up after creating a mess and also teach your little one some basic household chores.

15. Wipe a surface – Get your little one involved in household chores with you by giving them simple tasks like wiping a surface or putting the toys back in the bin. They will absolutely love doing this with you and feel responsible for completing their task.

16. Spaghetti play – Take some plain cooked spaghetti and put them in a plastic box. For even more fun add some food colors to it and let your kids enjoy playing with them. This sensory bin is great for one year old as it’s edible and toxin-free.

17. Pretend play with animals – Pretend play is very important for young minds as well as it can help your kids play independently for a really long time. Get some plastic animal toys and have fun listening to your little ones use their imagination and create fun stories about them.

18. Bathtub painting – It's a lot of fun and can be easily done with your one year old but make sure that you are in the bathroom with your kids while they are playing in the bathtub as it can get really slippery with the washable paints. You can use washable finger paints or you can get create your own DIY toxin-free finger paints at home using this recipe here.

19. Create a busy basket – Think of this activity more of like a sensory bin. I would pick up a small plastic box and put some toys, household items and colors in them and give it to my daughter. She would spend hours looking at each and every item in the box and playing with them.

Art & Craft activities for 1 year old

Arts and crafts are a great way to keep one year old engaged for long. Pick a fun and easy to do a messy or non-messy activity from the list below.

20. Hand printing with washable paints – A great activity and your kids will love it. I have them in four colors and give them to my daughter. She loves printing her hand on the paper or painting with her fingers. Caution – this activity does create a lot of mess, so I usually do this activity with my daughter when she is sitting in her high chair.

21. Paint with fingers – Let your little one dip his fingers in some paint and dab it on a piece of paper. It is a great fun activity to keep your kids busy for long but again make sure to do this activity on a high chair.

22. Draw on a piece of paper – If you don’t want the mess, then give your little one some plain sheets and coloring pencils or crayons and let them have fun drawing something fun.

23. Play with dot markers – I loved this activity. These colored washable marker pens are so easy to hold by little hands and your one year old will have a lot of fun dabbing with these colored pens to create something fun.

Download this FREE list of 45 activities for kids to keep them engaged for long hours. From indoor to outdoor activities, find something fun to do with your little ones.

Outside playful activities

Outside play is really important for kids and it is best to give them a few hours of outside play in a day. Below are a few activities that you can easily do with your one year old outside.

24. Play with sprinklers in your garden – Turn on a garden sprinkler and let your kid run through it and have some fun getting wet. My daughter loved playing with the sprinklers in the garden and I enjoyed running through them with her too. It is always a lot of fun.

25. Play with chalk – This is a fun activity to do with your kids on a sunny day. Get them a box of colorful chalks and let them have some fun drawing fun shapes in your driveway.

26. Visit a local park – This is always a great and fun activity to do as a family. Look around for kid-friendly parks around your neighborhood and spend some time exploring it. Maybe grab your kid's tricycle or sidewalk chalks for some fun.

27. Playdate with other kids – Always a great idea! Have some moms meet up in the park or at someone’s place with their kids and let them all have fun playing together. Also, it can help moms connect and recharge themselves.

28. Go to the local fairs like pumpkin farm or sunflower fields which are kid-friendly – Always keep a lookout for local fairs happening in your town that are kid-friendly. As soon as the season starts to get warm, I would keep a lookout for fun and kid-friendly fairs like the pumpkin farms, Halloween fest, sunflower farms, etc. You can have some great family time, letting your kids play as well as let your kids run wild and free playing with the swings or in the petting zoo.

29. Go to the mall – After living in Buffalo where the winter prevails for close to six months in a year, over the years mall has become our favorite spot to take our daughter to for some good physical exercise. It’s a great place for kids to walk and run and also some malls have cute play areas where the parents can sit and relax while the kids can jump and have a lot of fun.

30. Play on the swings – Lastly playing on the swings never gets boring. As the weather gets warm, pack your kids and take them to the park and let them have fun swinging and running around in the playground.

Keeping a one year old engaged might feel like a lot to do sometimes, but honestly, all they really require are fun and different activities to do. You don’t have to buy a lot of toys to keep them entertained. All you need is a list of easy playful activities in a day and make sure to keep rotating their toys so that they don’t get too bored.

Related baby reads:

Inside playful activities

Art & Craft activities for 1 year old

Download your FREE printable
45 Fun Activities to do with your kids!

Outside playful activities