Activities for 18 Month Olds

Last Updated on February 4, 2026 by Jordyn Koveleski Gorman

Developmental activities for 18 month olds

With a toddler always on the go, it can be hard to wrangle them for focused playtime. That’s okay! Our favorite activities support their budding imaginations and let them get out all that energy!

Here are our top 5 activities for 18 month olds:

Tea time! A tea set is absolutely perfect for pretend play. Let your little one’s imagination take over while they explore. This is also a great way to indirectly practice following directions in a fun way. Our favorite tea set is super durable and cleans easily so you don’t have to worry about rough play. 

Play sink! Hours of independently fun play…yes please! This particular sink actually has running water and comes with a variety of dishes including cups, utensils, and plates. Your little one can imitate what they have watched you do in the kitchen. It’s functional, educational, and occupies littles for extended play time! Pro tip: put a towel under the sink to soak up any spilled water. Set your little one up in the kitchen in a toddler tower and do the dishes together.

Mr. Potato Head! You might have thought Mr. Potato Head was a toy of the past, but it’s still the perfect toy for this age group! There are so many milestones that can be tied to just this single toy. It’s the perfect mix of play and learning body parts, as well as adding adjectives like “wiggly, big, bumpy” to the body parts. This is a really great toy to imitate 2 word phrases with nouns and actions (e.g., “eyes on” and “hat off”).

Movement play! Let your new toddler move about on a balance bike! These bikes can be used outside and inside. All your little one has to do is push with their feet and legs. This is a great activity to get some zoomies out and work on gross motor development.

Crayons or chalk! When giving your little one some type of drawing utensil, there is no expectation. At this age, they don’t need to be coloring inside the lines or tracing any particular shape. Just allow their creative spirit to go, and model how to scribble and make lines. Try out these crayons and chalk—they’re chunky for your child to easily grip!

Sensory activities for 18 month olds

If you’re looking for a classic sensory activity in the form of a sensory bin, we’ve got you covered with an entire blog post of sensory bin ideas. We love sensory bins! To get all the senses working together, it’s great to incorporate other activities as well.

A few of our favorite sensory activities for 18 month olds are:

1. Pretend to be different animals when going from room to room! Jump like a frog, slither like a snake, stomp like a dinosaur, or run like a cheetah. See how many different animals you can be! This is a great way to work on body coordination and get the jitters out, and a great speech-language activity took!
2. Shaving cream in the bathtub is so much fun! You can use whipped cream for a taste-safe option, too. Spray the tub wall with the cream and have your little one help you spread it out to make a canvas. Have them practice using their pointer finger to make marks and scribbles! You can model starting at the top to make one straight line and see if they try to imitate you. It’s okay if the line isn’t perfect!

Crafts for 18 month olds

As your child settles into toddlerhood, the world of crafting opens up wide! We love our craft station, and our favorite craft supplies are always on rotation.

Some of the best crafts to do with your 18 month old include:

Silly leaf person

Supplies needed: leaves, twigs, googly eyes, glue stick, construction paper

Time to complete: 10 mins prep, 10 mins craft

Ages appropriate: 15+ months

Fine motor skills it supports: pincer grasp, hand-eye coordination, writing utensil grasp (with glue stick)

1. Get outside! Find some fun colored leaves (not too crunchy) and twigs. 
2. After gathering leaves, head inside and build your leaf person!
3. Glue the leaves and twigs on construction paper, using the leaves as the “body” and the twigs as the “arms” and “legs.”
4. Add those silly googly eyes on top! If your little one isn’t ready to use the glue stick, have them help you by pointing where they want to put the glue.

Paper garland

Supplies needed: construction paper, scissors, glue stick

Time to complete: 10 minutes

Ages appropriate: 18+ months

Fine motor skills it supports: cutting (older toddlers), drawing lines (2+ year olds), writing utensil grasp, bilateral coordination

1. Remember these from grade school?! Grab some fun colored construction paper and cut a bunch of paper strips to get this craft ready.
2. Let your little one help you glue the ends of the strip together to make a circle.
3. Work on lacing skills as your little one weaves the next strip of paper through the first circle to create the chain.
4. Continue weaving and gluing the strips into circles until you have a lovely colored garland! Hang it over a doorway or your mantel for a fun decoration at any time of year, or use it as a countdown for something exciting that’s coming soon!

Gross motor activities for 18 month olds

Toddlers are fast, and they’re always changing directions. Encouraging gross motor development is pretty easy at this age, since almost all of their energy seems to be devoted toward wiggling and giggling.

A few of our top gross motor development activities for 18 month olds are:

1. Grab a ball and head outside for some fun. Have your little one try to throw the ball as far as they can, then have a race to see who can get it first. Your little one will start by trying to throw overhand, but will eventually transition to underhand tossing. If they need a little help, model throwing the ball both ways for them. It’s going to look pretty uncoordinated at first. Don’t worry about their feet; they’ll get better soon!
2. Play a game of balloon ball! Blow up some latex balloons to lightly tap/toss to your little one. Balloons move nice and slow, giving your toddler time to stretch out their arms to try to catch it. Make sure to only use balloons when supervised, since popped balloons can quickly become choking hazards.

Fine motor activities for 18 month olds

Fine motor skills are showing up everywhere, from sensory exploration to arts & crafts. You can never go wrong with helping your child develop their fine motor skills, which will soon turn into new abilities like cutting with scissors! (Don’t panic, you’ve still got a few months before then!)

Our favorite fine motor activities for 18 month olds are:

1. Zipper practice! Grab a few of your little one’s jackets/coats and put them on your pillows, making little pillow people! Have your little one practice zipping and unzipping the jackets to put them on/take them off the pillows. It’s easier to zip/unzip someone else’s coat, so this activity helps build confidence to work on their own!
2. Grab some markers or crayons and an empty Amazon box, and get to scribbling! Help your little one scribble on all the sides of the box. Practice drawing lines by starting at the top of the box and drawing all the way down to the bottom. Say “down” as you draw, then pause to see if your toddler tries to do it too! Drawing on a vertical surface increases wrist strength and coordination needed for writing skills.

Need more play ideas?

The best advice for keeping an 18 month old engaged and learning? Bring them along for daily tasks! To grown ups, doing laundry or getting the mail is just another boring chore. But to a 1.5 year old? It’s the most exhilarating 10 minutes of the day!

Building language skills is a huge priority for parents at this age, so remember: language is everywhere. Model for your child what you’re doing by narrating day-to-day tasks while you do them together. Use simple phrases whenever possible, naturally carrying on a chat even when you don’t have a clue what your child is babbling about.

You’re rocking parenthood!

Looking for more support? For 100+ play ideas using only what you have at home, check out our Playbooks!

Sources

1. Abigail Fiske, Liam Collins-Jones, Carina de Klerk, Katie Y.K. Lui, Alexandra Hendry, Isobel Greenhalgh, Anna Hall, Henrik Dvergsdal, Gaia Scerif, Karla Holmboe; The neural correlates of response inhibition across the transition from infancy to toddlerhood: An fNIRS study. Imaging Neuroscience 2024; 2 imag–2–00206. doi: https://doi.org/10.1162/imag_a_00206