2 Year Old Daily Schedule
Two-year-olds are full of energy, excitement, strong emotions, and an eagerness to learn and play. This makes it one of the best years for new learning and exploring their surroundings. At this age they will experience many firsts and visit many new places. This is why it is so important to make sure to find age appropriate experiences for them, model how to play together, allow them independent play time, support their sleep needs, and more.
Finding the perfect schedule for your two year old can be take some trial and error but read on for some great ideas and tips to help. You can also look below for a sample schedule based on the schedule that we follow as an early childhood educator turned stay at home Mom of three.
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Sleep Schedule for a 2 year Old
According to the Sleep Foundation, at 2 years old, your child will need anywhere between 11-14 hours of sleep including both their nap time and night time sleep.
This means that a typical bedtime for a two year old should be anywhere between 6 and 9pm depending on when your child wakes up in the morning and how long they nap for.
Most two year olds will still need a nap to make it through until bedtime without getting too overtired. A naptime midway through their day works best for children this age. A wake time of about 4.5-5.5 hours in between waking and sleeping works best for most children at this age.
Two year olds tend to really show when they are starting to get tired. Often times they get cranky, rub their eyes, lay down a lot more, and cry and whine when they get tired. Some two year olds may even seem to run on over drive if they get over tired. Follow your child’s sleep cues to know when works best for their naptime and bedtime.
Try to stick to a similar bedtime each evening and follow a good bedtime routine (find a great one here). Use a bedtime routine chart, read books, give lots of snuggles, and put children down around the same time each night. These things will help your child to fall asleep more easily.
2-Year-Old Activity Time
Two year olds are so full of excitement and an eagerness to learn new things. They are beginning the “I do it” phase and want to be independent but are still working on the skills that lead to this independence. It is important to give your child opportunities to play, learn, talk, sing and more.
Create activities that help your child learn both independently and together, take your child fun and exciting places, read books, set up play dates or social experiences, and most importantly allow for play. Play is the best way for two year olds to learn and they love doing it!
Toys for Independent Play:
Toys are great tools to encourage learning and independent play for 2-year-olds. There are some amazing toys out there for pretend play, letter and number learning, language development skills, and more.
Some of the toys that we love best for two year olds are open ended and allow children to play in their own way. We love the pretend play toys to help children learn daily tasks and allow children to mimic the things that they see in their lives.
As a Mom of three and an early childhood educator some of our favorite toys for a two year old include Magnetic tiles, Mega blocks, books, a train set, dolls, a pretend kitchen, our Toniebox, and more. Check out some of our favorites below:
Sensory Play for 2 Year Olds
Sensory Play is an amazing way for two year olds to learn. Sensory play helps children develop language skills, help with fine and gross motor skills, regulate emotions, and more. Head over to the Cleveland Clinic to learn more about the benefits of sensory play for young children.
For easy sensory bins you can use dyed rice or pasta and add in things like puzzle pieces, magnetic letters and more. Throw in a few scoops, cups, and spoons and let children play. Children can search and find the items or just pretend play with them.
Messy sensory play bins are also great for two year olds. We love doing things like bubble foam, sensory dirt (fun for construction theme or little truck lovers), play-dough, oobleck, and chia seed play. There are endless options for sensory play for two year olds and it has so many great benefits on top of being fun and occupying young children.
Things to Do and Places to Take Your 2-Year-Olds
Each day try to plan an activity for your child. It can be but doesn’t have to be out of the house every day. If you don’t feel like planning an activity a simple stroller walk or outdoor play session in the yard is a great way to keep children occupied, happy, and learning. Sun and fresh air as well as the sights of the outdoors are some of the greatest things for a two year old.
Try to plan outoor play time, a daily walk, or an excursion out of the house each day. Two year olds are finally able to go for (slightly) longer car rides, and are starting to understand and interact with all of the fun places and things to do. Some of our favorite activities and places to take our two year olds include:
- Local Parks – try your normal neighborhood park or drive to new ones within the area. We could try a different park every week and still not be through them by the end of the year.
- Zoo trip – Two year olds love the animals and oftentimes start to have favorite ones to visit. Many local zoos will do a year pass at a discount.
- Play Cafe – these are popping up all over lately. They have tons of toy choices, large play structures, and a place for Mom to get a drink and sit (for a few minutes).
- Local library – There are so many local libraries out there and they are amazing for young children. Many local libraries have play areas both inside and outside and most of them also do a storytime for parents and young children. Ours happens multiple times a week and is one of our two year old’s favorite places to go.
- Rec/Music Class – Many rec departments have music and story classes for this age. Some also start beginning sports classes. We’ve done gymnastics, “wee friend” music class, sports samplers, soccer, and more with our two year olds.
- Beach/Pool – Many beaches are free and the perfect way to spend your morning with a two year old. Bring sand toys and allow them to play in the sand or water wings and let them play in the water (with supervision of course). Many local pools have summer or family passes available, which is a great deal.
- Playgroup or play dates – check out local Mom Facebook groups. Search for them on Facebook, Google, or the Peanut app and chances are pretty good you will find some (especially if you live in a larger city). You can meet other Moms with children the same age and set up play dates at the park, your homes, and more this way.
Other Fun Activities to do with 2-year-olds
Activities for 2-year-olds should be engaging, explorative, and feed into their natural desire to learn. They should be simple and may not last long but they are so worth it. Check out some other fun activity ideas for 2 year olds:
- Bubbles
- Sensory Bins – Dyed rice sensory bins, chia seed sensory bins, oobleck, sensory dirt, and more.
- Outdoor scavenger hunts – search for certain colors, signs of seasons, and more.
- Walks – around the neighborhood, to a local park, around a state park, and more.
- Sand play – in a sandbox, at a park, or at a beach
- Water play – in the water table, a blow-up swimming pool, large community pool, the bathtub (yes in the middle of the day is great for this too even), sprinklers, and more.
- Outdoor play – play climbers and swing sets, bikes & push cars, balls and sports toys, nature walks, hikes, and more.
- Building Toys – Magnatiles, Legos, large building blocks, etc…
- Pretend Play Toys – play kitchen, baby dolls and accessories, doctor kits, dentist kits, dress up clothes, trucks and construction toys, train set, and more
- Books – board books for longer durability, shorter story books, books with friendly characters, or favorite items like trucks, animals, people, and more.
- Play Couches and climbing blocks – great for climbing on, different builds, making tents, obstacle courses, and more.
- Coloring – Coloring books, super simple crafts, painting, chalk, dry erase boards and markers, and more.
- Screen time – No more than an hour maximum a day for a 2 year old. Could be educational shows, shows that help teach emotions and feelings (Daniel Tiger is a favorite at our house), Ipad apps that help learn letters, colors, numbers, etc..
Eating Schedule for a 2 year old
If you’re like me your two year old will be obsessed with snacks. Follow your child’s hunger cues and feed them at times that work best for you.
Our two year old has breakfast when they first wake up, a mid morning snack, lunch around noon, an after nap snack and then dinner. It is followed by the occasional bedtime snack. This is pretty typical for a 2 year old.
However, if you see your two year old is getting super cranky an hour or so before snack you could offer something healthy to hold them over.
Our favorite way to do this is by keeping a tray of fresh veggies in the fridge. If they get extra hungry right while you are cooking or before it is time to eat just pull out the tray and give it to them as an extra option.
Try to keep meal and snack times as consistent as possible.
2 Year Old Daily Schedule Examples:
Sample Schedule for a Two Year Old
*The sample schedule below is what works best for our family. Adjust the times and move them around to suit the needs of your children and family. What works best for one family may not always work for another family. Other things to keep in mind include if there are other children in the mix, the time zones that you live in, how often your child needs a diaper change (or if they are potty trained), and more.
- 7:00 – Wake-up
- 7:15 – Breakfast
- 7:30 – Get dressed, diaper change, brush teeth, get ready for the day
- 7:45 – Indoor playtime – Building toys, pretend play toys, etc…See above lists of activities and toys for additional ideas.
- 9:00 – Snack
- 9:15 – Storytime, diaper change (Read books, sing songs, and wind down)
- 9:30 – Outdoor and/or out-of-the-house excursion – see list above for ideas
- 11:45 – Lunch
- 12:15 – Storytime, sing songs, wind down, diaper change
- 12:30 – Naptime
- 2:30 – Wake-up, diaper change, snack, snuggles
- 3:00 – Active Play – outdoor/backyard play (water play, bubbles, playset, climbers, cars/bikes) and/or gross motor indoor play (trampoline, play couch, slides, tent building, etc…)
- 5:00 – Independent indoor play OR educational screen time (As independent as possible…see above list for ideas)
- 5:30 – Dinner
- 6:00 – Indoor playtime (see above lists of activities for ideas)
- 6:30 – Bath time
- 7:00 – Bedtime routine: storytime, brush teeth, pajamas, snuggles
- 7:30 – Bedtime
Overall, this is our daily schedule that we follow for our two year old. We also have a 4 year old and 6 year old at home as well. Our schedule during the school year may look a bit different as we have school pick ups and drops offs as well as sports for my older two to take into account.
However, each day we almost always try to go for a walk or do an out of house activity unless the weather is bad (and even then we still bundle up and go if possible). Winter is tougher than the warmer months but there are still library play areas, play dates, toddler Mom and me classes, and more that we can attend.
There is no right or wrong way to spend your day with a 2 year old. All 2 year olds are different and what works for one child may not work for others. Some 2 year olds may thrive out of the house and some may try to run and get into things out of the house and you may feel more comfortable staying home.
Feel free to alter the schedule however you desire. Just remember that consistency is key. Try to keep the same eating and sleeping times each day. That way your child will be used to the day and know what to expect.
This consistency helps with behavior, attitude, and more. Two is such a tough age as there are so many big emotions and milestones. However, it is also an age filled with curiosity, smiles and giggles, energy, and excitement to see the world.
If you’re looking for daily schedules for 1 year olds or even younger babies be sure to also check out the other schedule options that I share as well!
