10 Fun Games for a Toddler Birthday Party

Not all party games and activities are toddler-friendly.

But there are many games that even your smallest children will enjoy.

These are not just games for a toddler birthday party, but activities you can do on any day to entertain your little one. You can play them with a larger group of toddlers and preschoolers, but they can be a lot of fun even for just the 2 of you (or an older and a younger sibling).

Most of these can be played both outside and inside the house. You just may have to make some adjustments.

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1. An obstacle course

An obstacle course is always a lot of fun. And you are not limited to the outdoors, you can make an obstacle course inside the house, too.

Chairs, tables, pillows, towels, and pool noodles all make for amazing obstacles, especially for smaller children.

There are some wonderful ideas from other mommy-bloggers to inspire you:

• Water Obstacle Course
• Simple Obstacle Course for Crawlers
• Balloon Obstacle Course
• Indoor Obstacle Course

2. Hot Potato

This is a classic game. Children stand or sit in a circle and pass a ball or another object as fast as they can. You play some music in the background and whoever has the “hot potato” when the music stops is eliminated.

It may be a bit hard to explain these rules to a toddler, so it is a good idea to do some modifications.

Let the kids just pass the object in a circle. If they are old enough to understand, play some music and whoever has the “hot potato” when the music stops has to jump 3 times up and down.

3. Red Light, Green Light

Another classic childhood game you probably know very well. But in case you don’t, let’s go through the basic rules.

• All children must get from the starting line to the finishing line.
• There is one child at the finishing line calling either “green light” or “red light“.
• “Greenlight” means kids can run, “red light” means everyone must stop and freeze.
• Whoever moves after the “red light” must return to the starting line.
• The game continues until everyone makes it to the finishing line.

Toddlers won’t probably be as fast to stop and freeze after the “red light” so the rules should be a little more relaxed there.

The child at the finishing line could also use colored papers to signalize the green and red light.

Instead of sending them to the starting line, you could have the children perform some jumps, and then they could continue in the race.

4. Musical Bumps

Everyone knows musical chairs. There is one less chair than players and each turn one player gets eliminated. You can introduce some adjustments to make this game more suited for toddlers and preschoolers.

So, instead of having them sit on chairs, they simply have to sit on the ground when the music stops.

The last one to sit down would have to perform a little “punishment”, such as jumping, turning around, or clap 5 times and would be able to resume the game.

This way they don’t get eliminated and they can all play the game for all the time they want.

5. The Eggs and Spoon Race

This fun game involves a spoon, an egg, and a course for the race.

The kids need to put the egg on the spoon and race to the finish line without the egg falling on the ground, balancing it on the spoon.

When the egg falls down, the runner needs to return to the starting line.

To make this game more toddler-friendly, buy some chocolate eggs for them to balance on their spoon. Once they pass the finish line they are allowed to eat it.

You could also remove the rule that the kids need to return to the start when the egg falls down.

6. Musical Animals

Do you now the Musical Statues game? Everyone is dancing and needs to freeze as soon as the music stops.

There is a more fun version that the little kids might enjoy.

Instead of just dancing the toddlers can pretend to be an animal when the music stops they have to freeze in the pose of that animal.

Whoever does the best interpretation gets chosen the say another animal. Then all the kids need to pretend to be that animal, and so on.

No one needs to be eliminated.

7. Food on a string

A game for all food lovers out there. It is always a lot of fun to try to eat some food from a string without using your hands.

You can use doughnuts, apples, marshmallows, etc.

Every kid will have their own string of food and needs to eat it all without using their hands.

There doesn’t have to be a winner. The reward is in the good food itself.

8. Magnetic fishing (for presents)

Do you remember those games when you had a fishing rod and you were trying to “catch fish” that had a magnet on them?

What if you hot-glued the magnet so some candy or little presents?

This present fishing will surely be very rewarding for all the little fishermen.

You can use lollipops, chocolate, stickers, or any type of small toy.

9. Plastic bottles bowling

Regular bowling is obviously too hard for toddlers and preschoolers. But you can DIY a more toddler-friendly version.

Use plastic bottles as your pins and a ball as the bowling ball.

You can make the boring plastic bottles fun and colorful with paint.

10. Toss games

A good old fashioned toss game is always a great idea to entertain even the youngest of children.

Just make sure you have enough balls as they will be scattered all around.

You can use:

• buckets
• pool noodles
• a card box with a hole

Final Tip: Create Lasting Memories – Capture the First Toddler Birthday Party

f you’re planning a toddler’s birthday party and want to make it extra special. During the party, have someone take lots of pictures of all the fun, laughter, and excitement.

Then upload the photos to the Annie Baby Tracker app, which your little one can look back on for years to come.

Annie Baby Tracker is an awesome keepsake that will capture all the magical moments of your child’s special day.

So, be sure to snap away and create a visual treasure trove that captures the true essence of your toddler’s celebration.