Fun with no prep needed! Indoor activities perfect for 1-year-old classes
Children in the one-year-old class are starting to walk, learning to jump, and becoming more and more active.
Even when you suddenly have to switch to indoor play, you’ll want to make sure they can still move their bodies a lot.
Sometimes the weather or staff scheduling forces an unexpected change to indoor play, leaving you unprepared or unsure what activities to do.
For teachers in that situation, here are indoor activities you can do even without any preparation.
We’ve gathered ideas that are perfect for one-year-olds, so please try incorporating them.
Let’s spend a fun time with the children through a variety of activities.
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No prep needed! Top indoor activities recommended for 1-year-old classes (1–10)
Let’s make a ring.
Let’s use unwanted newspapers or scrap paper and some vinyl tape at the preschool to make rings.
There are endless ways to play with the rings! Hang them on hooks, use them like ring toss, or try spinning them by hand… As long as the activity isn’t dangerous, let the children enjoy using their own ideas.
Be especially careful about putting rings around the neck—this is dangerous, so keep a close watch.
If you use vinyl tape in a variety of colors, children can notice color differences and choose their favorites as they play.
It’s also a great idea to prepare rings in intentionally different sizes.
Cardboard play
Do you have cardboard boxes from deliveries that pile up unused? Cardboard lets children freely create what they like, adapts to their flexible movements, and is perfect for active play.
So this time, we’d like to introduce some fun indoor cardboard activities.
Roll cardboard into a tube and crawl inside to play pill bug, rock and sway, or build a bridge with cardboard—there are all kinds of games to enjoy.
Through playing with cardboard, children can nurture their imagination and discover the joy of making things.
Let’s play with the pool cue!
This time, we’re introducing indoor play using pool noodles.
It’s a good idea to set goals that encourage free, imaginative play and activities that use fine motor skills.
The first play idea is tunnel play or hurdle play.
For tunnel play, attach 2-liter weighted plastic bottles to both ends of a pool noodle to adjust the height.
The second idea is a ball-drop game.
Put decorative pom-poms into the holes of pool noodles that have been sliced into rings.
Threading the sliced pool noodle rings onto a string to move them around also looks fun! When playing, be sure that a parent or teacher is always nearby to supervise.
Play Without Preparation! Recommended Indoor Activities for 1-Year-Old Classes (11–20)
Paper play
You can do this with items found at school or at home! Here are some paper play ideas.
It’s good to set goals like practicing tearing and crumpling motions and enjoying the different textures and sounds of paper.
The play is simple: tear or crumple tissue paper, newspaper, facial tissues, or copy paper.
Using your whole body to dynamically tear a large newspaper can be fun, and imagining what shapes the torn pieces look like can spark creativity.
It’s also fun to roll the torn paper into balls in your hands.
Give it a try!
Let’s become various animals!
Animal role-play is a recommended activity that lets even one-year-olds move their bodies a lot.
If they pretend to be frogs, they can imitate hopping around, and if they pretend to be rabbits, they’ll put their hands up like ears and do cute little jumps.
It’s heartwarming to see children use their bodies to express the image of each animal.
It’s great that no preparation is needed, and another nice point is that this play lets you see a wide range of expressions on the children’s faces.
Playing with the sheets
Let me introduce a sheet game you can play right away with no preparation—just a sheet! All you need to do is have two teachers hold the ends of the sheet and move it up and down.
It’s easy to set up and can entertain several children at once! When you move the sheet up and down, the breeze wraps around the children.
You can also create variety—and even more excitement—by stopping the sheet’s movement for a moment, draping it over the children and then lifting it quickly, or adding other irregular motions.
Playing with plastic raffia (Suzuran tape)
Suzuran tape is a charming item that even young children can play with safely.
In particular, children aged 0–2, who are sensitive to sound, may find the rustling of the tape especially appealing.
Experiencing play with Suzuran tape can stimulate their sensory curiosity and support their development.
The activity we’re introducing here uses Suzuran tape in your favorite colors to make pom-poms; then use your hands or a hairbrush to shred the tape.
Pretend the finished pom-poms are a bath or a pond and play with them.
It also sounds fun to hang lots of Suzuran tape to create an aquarium and let fish “swim.” The great thing about Suzuran tape is that there are so many ways to play with it!