Looking for an easy, no-prep, fun outdoor toddler activity for your 2-year-old? If you happen to be at the playground and your toddler seems to get kind of tired from jumping around, give a try to balls in the sand.

Created by our 2-year-old, it can be enjoyed anytime of the year by anyone his age or under age of 2. Best thing about this activity – it’s very engaging. Moreover, it combines different activity areas – gross motor, fine motor, sensory, math and language, so your toddler can practice different skills at once.

If you want to learn more about the benefits of sand play read here. In short, sand play is particularly beneficial for developing a sense of textures.

Materials for this fun outdoor toddler activity

All you need are couple of colourful plastic balls and a toddler willing to dig into the sand.

What did our 2-year-old do?

First, Aiden scooped out some sand and made a small ditch. Then, he put the balls into the ditch one by one, naming their colours. At the end, he covered them with the sand. And not only them, he liked it pretty much to cover his own shoes in sand. Which is great for toddlers. In fact, when toddlers bury themselves in sand, they gain a feeling of their body relative to space and develop their proprioceptive sense. So, every time when I clean his cloths and shoes after beach or playground, I am happy to remind myself that all that dirt had an educational purpose.

Finally, the preparation was over and the actual activity started – finding the balls in the sand.

He was happily screaming when taking them out one after another. And with this the activity was not over – the balls started to fly everywhere in all directions. Indeed, throwing balls is a great gross motor exercise.

If you need more ideas for toddler activities with balls, check out these indoor ones here.

Happy playing!