43 Fun Birthday Party Activities For Toddlers!

Looking for amazing birthday party activities for toddlers? Here are 43 you’ll love! Just pick a few of these and your party will be a hit!

I LOVE birthdays! Just love them! It’s so special to me that birthdays are a day all about one person. It’s a day to celebrate them!

It’s important to me to make my family feel so special and loved on their special day!

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We have an amazing bakery close to my house that sells giant dinner plate sized donuts. I get one for each of my children on their birthdays. The rest of us get regular sized donuts.

Then, I plan a day with tons of activities and food and treats they love. It’s a day full of their favorite things!

My husband and I throw birthday parties for our kids every other year and do family parties on the off year. For two years, my kids tell me all about activities they want to do for their party.

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My kids love birthday parties soooo much! I mean, who wouldn’t?!

Table of Contents

Birthday Party Tips

I’ve thrown a lot of parties in my day. Here are some tips that will help your party run smoothly.

I think toddler birthday parties should be between an hour and a half to two hours max! They have such short attention spans at this age. This will be the perfect amount of time.

Try to stay away from competitive games. You don’t want any kids to get angry or upset at your party.

Make sure you have enough supplies for all of the children. You don’t want to be panicked during the party that you don’t have enough of something. Grab a few extra supplies just in case!

My top tip is to keep it simple and enjoy it. You don’t want to be so stressed about the party that you miss seeing the joy on your child’s face. That’s the best part!

I chose to center this post around little kids, but kids of all ages, and even adults, would have a great time with these activities!

So without further adieu, here are the best birthday party activities and games!

Birthday party confetti popper with multi colored confetti on with a blue background.

Party Schedule

My favorite time to have birthday parties are from 10:00-12:00, 2:00-4:00, or 5:00-7:00. If you’re having your party from 5:00-7:00, make sure you feed them dinner.

Here is a sample birthday party itinerary:

2:00-2:15 Free Play: The kids can just play with toys on their own until everyone arrives.

2:15-3:00 Activities and Games: Choose some of the activities in this post to do at the party. The kids will love them!

3:00-3:25 Birthday Cake and Snacks: This is when you’ll serve the birthday treats and any other food you’d like to have at the party.

3:25-3:50 Presents: Now it’s time for the birthday boy or girl’s favorite part…..PRESENTS!!! Open the presents and free play.

3:50-4:00 End of the Party: Hand out your favors and thank your party guests for coming.

It’s good to keep in mind that some parents will stay for the party. Make sure you have some food for them to eat. Food makes everyone happy!

Birthday Activities For Toddlers

Obstacle Course: Make an obstacle course in your house or backyard! Use pillows, cones, blankets, hula hoops, barrels, anything you can think of. Lay them on the ground in a line to make the course. It would be super fun to get your neighbors involved and make a huge obstacle course for the kids. They would be in heaven!
Magic Show: Hire a magician to do a magic show for the kids. Or have a family member learn some simple tricks. The kids will be mesmerized!
Sensory Party: Use this dyed rice, this dyed pasta, this homemade frosting play dough, or this edible dirt and have a sensory party! Add rocks, sticks, leaves, little trinkets or toys, and anything else you’d like to play with the play dough, rice, or pasta. The kids will love it!
Baking Party: Make cookies or snacks with the kids! My kids love to cook with me and they would love to do this at their party. And the best thing about a baking party, is you can make the treats you want to serve! Talk about a win, win!
Musical Chairs or Bumps: Have all the kids play musical chairs or bumps. For musical bumps, play some music. The kids can dance and run around while the music plays. When the music stops, the last one to sit down is out. Younger children especially love musical bumps!
Craft Party: Gather your supplies and buy more if you need some. You could paint, make bracelets, or make pictures with beads.
Olympic Games: Set up your own olympics for the kids to play. You could have a three legged race, egg run, water balloon toss, or long jump. You could also give out medals to the kids!
Minute To Win It: Play a bunch of Minute To Win It games with your guests. They are so fun for all ages!
Scavenger or Treasure Hunt: Have the kids do their own mini scavenger hunt. You can hide things around your house and give clues for the kids to find them.
Color Party: Get poster boards for each child and give them markers or crayons and let the kids go crazy coloring. Let them use their little imagination!
Game Party: Play classic games like Red Light Green Light, Red Rover, Simon Says, Hide and Seek, or Duck, Duck, Goose. These are such fun toddler birthday party games. Have treats at the end of all the fun and the kids will be so happy!
Parade Party: Kids LOVE parades, so let them have their own! Give them musical instruments, let them throw candy, and they could even decorate their own signs.
Giant Bubbles: Have a bubble machine going. Give the kids their own bubbles to blow. Buy bubble wands of all sizes.
Puppet Show: See if you can find a puppet show your student can go to. If you can’t find one, get puppets and make a stage, and let the kids put on their own puppet show.
Sing-A-Long: Hire a local musician to come and play for the kids. It would be super fun to have musical instruments the kids could play, too.
Water Party: Water parties are always a hit! Get a slip in slide, water table, water balloons, run through the sprinklers, or go to a splash pad or pool.
Band Party: Give the kids pots and pans and shakers and have them make their own band. They could even come up with a band name! They’ll have a BLAST making their own band!
Pass the Parcel: Get a main prize for one of the children to win and wrap it in as many layers of newspaper or wrapping paper as you can. Play some music. When the music stops, the child holding it can unwrap a layer. The child who unwraps the toy at the end, gets it.
Cookie Decorating: Make a bunch of sugar cookies and different colors of frosting. Let the kids go crazy decorating their own cookies!
Dance Party: Have the kids dress up in costumes or dress ups. Then, play lots of fun music. Let the kids run around dancing and playing. You could even play the “Party Freeze Dance” song. My kids LOVE to dance to it.
Sidewalk Chalk: Take the kids outside and let them draw chalk all over the sidewalk. I LOVE seeing the pictures kids draw.
Party Stations: Set up fun toys at each rotation for the kids to play with for whoever long you’d like. Toy ideas could be wooden blocks, train set, marble sets, cars, barbies, magnatiles, legos, and anything else you’d like.
Piñata: Get a piñata, fill it will candy, blindfold each child, and have them take turns trying to hit it to knock the candy out. I bought a unicorn one for my daughter’s unicorn birthday party and all of the kids loved it.
Play Dough: Make this recipe. It’s my favorite homemade play dough recipe. Get a bunch of dollar store toys and trinkets. Let the kids have fun playing. They’ll love it! You could even make homemade play dough as party gifts.
Face Painting: Face painting to so fun! It’s easy to impress toddlers with simple designs. Anyone can do it! So don’t worry if you’re not very artistic. If you don’t want to do it yourself, you can always hire a face painter to come.
Relay Races: Set up a bunch of relay races like carrying a plastic egg on a spoon, passing a stuffed animal, carrying the birthday child, running, or bottom scooting, where they literally scoot as fast as they can on their bottoms until they cross the finish line. The kids will love it!
Balloon Games: Blow up a bunch of balloons for the kids to play with. They could play keepy uppy with the balloons where they don’t let the balloon touch the ground. You could also play balloon volleyball! Put a net up and split the kids into two groups. Have them pass the balloon to each other and try to get it over the net.
Pin the Tail on the Unicorn or Donkey: We did this at my daughter’s 5th unicorn party and it was a huge hit. Draw or print out whatever you’d like the kids to use. Blindfold the kids. Hand them a tail or a horn. Have them walk towards the sign and see who can pins theirs closest. It’s so fun!
Make Party Hats: Get feathers, sequins, glitter, construction paper, and anything else you’d like. Let the kids make their own party hats!
Musical Statues: This game is so fun and so easy! Just play music for a little while and then pause it. The first person to stand as still as possible, get a prize. They sit out and everyone else plays again until all the kids have a turn. So easy, right?!
Parachute Games: Get a parachute and play parachute games! My kids LOVE doing this at school in PE. You could put balls on the parachute and throw them up and down. You could call out different colors, lift the parachute up, and have the kids run underneath it and switch places.
Trampoline Party: Take the kids to a trampoline place. They are so fun and the kids will love it!
Gym Party: Take the group to a kids gym where they can run and bounce around. My kids love going to places like this!
Children’s Museums: Name a kid who doesn’t love going to a children’s museum? I’ll wait….But in all seriousness, a children’s museum is an amazing activity for a child’s party.
Go To The Zoo: Take the kids to a zoo, petting zoo, or reptile experience. Kids love animals and will love going to a zoo party.
Little Town: See if there’s a little town play place you could take the kids to.
Bounce House: I don’t know if your town has a bounce house place, but mine does and my kids love going to it. It’s perfect for a birthday party. If your town doesn’t, see if you can rent one to put in your house or backyard.
Playground Party: Take the kids to the playground and let them play! Best and easiest party ever.
Drive-In Movie Party: This is such a fun themed party! Get a bunch of big cardboard boxes, make wheels for them, and let the kids decorate them to look like cars. Then have them “drive” them where the TV is so they can watch a drive-in movie. Feed them popcorn and movie treats and the kids will be in heaven.
Circus Party: A circus theme would be so cute and fun for a birthday party! You could play some of the games I’ve listed above, like a ring toss.
Tea Party: Get plates and tea cups the kids could use and decorate if you’d like. Serve them lemonade or soda or chocolate milk or tea to drink. You could have people dress up like servers and bring them little sandwiches and treats and drinks.
Pirate Party: Have the kids dress up like pirates and play pirate games. You could have a fishing game, walk the plank, water gun war, and any other pirate games you can think of! You could also have a treasure chest to hold the presents in if you’d like. This is such a fun party theme and it’s perfect for both genders. Everyone will have a good time!
Animal Party: Have the kids bring their favorite stuffed animal to the party. Have animal themed decorations if you’d like. You could play Animal Sounds for one of the games. That’s where you say an animal and the kids make its sound.

Strawberry cake surrounded by balloons and birthday party decorations.

The Bottom Line

I’ve listed so many fun activities to do at birthday parties! Each one of them is a winner. Pick one activity, or a few, and enjoy celebrating your little one!

Everyone will have a great time. There’s a 99% chance your child will say it’s the best day ever!

Try to keep it simple so you’re not too stressed and try to enjoy the party as much as possible.

FAQs

How do I celebrate my 2 year old’s birthday?

Take your son to a trampoline place, hire a magician, go to the zoo or children’s museum, have a play dough party, go to a playground, or have a bubble party!

How do I entertain my toddler at a party?

Have a bubble, play dough, sensory, zoo, magician, children’s museum, water, face painting, party stations, color, band, parade, dance, scavenger hunt, gym, trampoline or craft birthday party!

How do you celebrate a 3 year old birthday party?

First, invite friends over for a party. Then, greet them when they arrive. Next, have fun activities and games to play. Then, eat birthday cake and snacks. Finally, open presents. Lastly, thank your guests for coming.

How can I make my son’s birthday special?

Choose any of the following activities to do at his birthday. Then, have cake and open presents. He’ll be in heaven. Some of my favorite birthday activities are bubbles, play dough, sensory activities, go to the zoo, watch a magician, go to a children’s museum, have a water party, do face painting, have party stations, color together, make a band, have your own parade, have a dance party, do a scavenger hunt, have a gym party, go to a trampoline place, or have a craft party.