Inexpensive and Easy Activities for Toddlers—Series. Post 1: Tape

This post starts a series of posts about Inexpensive and Easy Activities for Toddlers that re-use cheap and common supplies. Today’s feature: tape!

My friend Danielle is sharing a creative idea she had today. Welcome Danielle!

Hi, I have two very busy little boys who love to do imaginative (often messy) play projects with anything they can get their hands on.

To keep them entertained day after day, but still keep costs down, I’ve found some creative ways to re-use supplies in different and unique ways. This keeps their interest buzzing and their hands busy, all without breaking the bank.

You can purchase craft tape, washi tape, or painter’s tape for fairly cheap. Here’s the one I got. The activities listed below, needed the 131 ft length.

Be aware that some types of tape may damage hardwood floors. Doing these activities on carpet or tile is safe, or test the tape on hardwood in a non-visible spot first.

Day 1: Roadway

Make a city of roads for toy cars to drive on. You can overlap roads, create a maze, and even include a parking lot.

Practice color matching using various colors of tape (the red car drives on the red road).
If you label the road with alphabet letters, your child can follow the alphabet along the road or stop to say the letter each time they come to one.
When they’re through with driving the cars, this makes a great motor skills activity as they get to peel the tape off the floor.

Day 2: Shapes

Tape out various shapes on the floor and cut corresponding shapes out of paper.

Match the paper shapes to the tape shapes.
Call out a shape and have your child jump onto the correct shape.
If you have a block set with shapes you can sort the blocks into the shapes on the floor.
Practice tossing a beanbag or ball into the shapes and naming the shape it lands in.

Day 3: A Line

You can do so many activities with just a single line of tape!

Use a straw to blow a pompom, goldfish cracker, or small ball and see if you can keep it on the tape line.
Practice walking on the line like a balance beam – forwards and backwards.
Measure how tall you are on the tape line.
See how far you can jump on the tape line.

Day 4: Build Letters

Tape out alphabet letters on the floor.

Use any building material you have (Legos, blocks, rocks, etc.) to “build” the letters.
Practice tracing the letters with hands or feet.
Play a game of “jump on the letter I call out.”

Day 5: Spider Web

Use tape and a door frame to create a spider web.

Leave openings large enough for your child to try climbing through.
See how many toys, pompoms, or pieces of balled up paper you can get to stick to the web.

Alternatively, tape out a spider web on the ground and label the intersections with numbers or letters.

Ask your child to “walk the web” until they find a certain number or letter.
Place pieces of paper with letters on them around the web and ask them to walk the web to collect the letters they need to spell their name.
Play music and when the music stops you must race to the center of the web.

Bonus Activity

With any tape you have left over from the week of activities, let your child do a creative project of their own. They could decorate a cup or a pair of sunglasses, create a picture out of tape pieces, or make the biggest ball of tape they can.

With just one main supply (tape) you can entertain your child for hours. You may even come up with some of your tape-inspired play activities! Be sure to share them with us in the comments below.