11 Easy Educational Toddler Activities for 19-Month-Olds At Home

At 19 months, toddlers are super curious, always moving, and learning at lightning speed. And they get bored fast, so I had to wonder “How do I entertain my 19 month old?”

Here are some of my favorite ideas we did this month—without needing a Pinterest-worthy setup .

These are tried-and-tested activities, some of them from my own childhood, all ideal for curious toddlers who love to touch, explore, and repeat everything (and then some).

💰 1. Feeding a Piggy Bank

Practice fine motor skills with a simple piggy bank! My son loves taking my small coins and feeding his piggy bank. (I have to take the coins back out so he can refeed it.)

I also hope it’ll teach him saving money from a small age. And maybe later counting.

Wash the coins or use plastic coins or buttons and let your toddler “feed” the pig. I literally use a really big piggy bank.

🌀 2. Marble Tower

Another fun brain activity. Drop the marble, watch, repeat! Use a marble tower or DIY (like this one on Amazon I love that it is see-through).

You can also use a tower made off paper towel rolls taped to the wall. Swap marbles for pom-poms or balls if you’re still in the mouthing stage.

I’ve had this since my childhood and my son likes it too <3.

🐴 3. Gummy Horse Bouncer Play

I think when I was young every German had this toy. It’s a rubber horse with air and you can jump on it. (Not sure if this one on Amazon can bear 20 years as well as the one we had.)

You can use it for indoor or outdoor play both.

🌱 4. Mud Play & Planting

Get messy with outdoor mud play! Add some water to a bin of dirt, throw in toy animals or diggers, and let them go wild. Bonus: planting a real flower or seed builds a love of nature. For more Summer Montessori Activities check this post.

🫧 5. Foam Sensory Play

Foam is always a hit! We use tear-free baby soap whisked with water. Add spoons, cars, or plastic animals. It takes like 5 minutes to prep and lasts for like 45 minutes.

🪨 6. Stone Wash Station

A bowl of water, a pile of stones, a brush = 30 minutes of joy. Toddlers love the “before and after” of washing nature treasures.

🎨 7. Coloring

Keep it classic! At 19-months my son finally starts showing interest in drawing. Jumbo crayons or washable markers on a big sheet of paper or cardboard are perfect at this age. We also add stickers sometimes.

Here are more mess free drawing ideas.

🎁 8. Surprise Bags

Hide objects inside bags or socks and let them guess by feel. We use items like small animals, pokemon, stones. A toddler twist on mystery boxes!

🌈 9. Tissue Painting + Water Dissolve

We cut out shapes from white paper kitchen towels. Color them with colorful markers and put them in water.

My son is obsessed with this activity. Definitelly supervision is needed unless you want color everywhere.

🧺 10. Sensory Bins

From rice to nature items—bins are super simple and always fun. Use tools like scoops, tongs, and containers for pouring and sorting. Switch themes weekly: farm, ocean, color sort.

🏖️ 11. Sandbox Adventures

Whether it’s a full sandbox or a tray of kinetic sand, digging, burying, and filling buckets never gets old. Add real kitchen tools for more fun! We have this mill-toy. You can either pour sand or water. It’s another toy I already used as a kid.

It still works. I gifted one to my friends daughter and she loves it too. Here is a nice one on Amazon.

🌟 Real Play = Real Learning

Every activity listed supports something big:

• 🧠 Language development
• ✋ Fine motor practice
• 💞 Emotional regulation
• 🎨 Creativity
• 🤝 Bonding

And the best part? You don’t need to buy anything fancy. Most of our favorite moments come from stuff we already have or find in nature. Better yet all of these Toddler activities for 19 month olds can be done at home.