Music Activities for 2-Year-Olds

Tape ribbons or streamers to a stick and dance with your flowing wand while music plays — circles, waves, and figure eights through the air.

Explore dynamics by making sounds quiet as a whisper and loud as a roar — your toddler will love the contrast and learn about musical volume.

Flip over pots and pans and let your toddler bang away with wooden spoons — a loud, joyful kitchen drum session that builds rhythm and coordination.

Play different music tempos and have your toddler move like animals — stomp like an elephant to slow music, hop like a bunny to fast music.

Gather every noisemaker in the house — shakers, pots, bells — and march in a musical parade from room to room while singing a marching song.

Play a cooperative version of musical chairs where everyone finds a spot — no one gets out! Perfect for teaching listening and movement transitions.

Play different styles of music while your toddler paints — watch how fast music leads to big strokes and slow music leads to gentle ones.

Give your toddler a maraca or homemade shaker and parade around the house while shaking to a beat — a moving music adventure that builds walking confidence.

Staple two paper plates together with dried beans inside and decorate with stickers — then shake your homemade tambourine along to music.

Sing a catchy cleanup song while tidying up toys together — turning a dreaded task into a musical game with a beat that motivates movement.

Sing 'Old MacDonald' with toy animals and let your toddler make each animal's sound — a beloved singalong that builds vocabulary and vocal play.

Wave ribbons or streamers to music, creating flowing patterns in the air.

Take a familiar story and sing it instead of reading it, making up melodies for each page.

Walk at different speeds matching the tempo of music — slow, medium, and fast.

Wear jingle bell bracelets and dance to make music with your movements.

Wave colorful scarves in the air while dancing to different tempos and styles of music.

Tap rhythm sticks together in patterns, following a leader or creating your own beats.

Sit in a circle and drum on buckets, boxes, or pots to the beat.

Lead your toddler through stomp-stomp-clap patterns using their whole body — a high-energy activity that introduces simple rhythm sequences.

Sing classic finger play songs like 'Itsy Bitsy Spider' and 'Five Little Monkeys' while acting out the hand motions together — building fine motor and memory.

Sing a short phrase and have your child sing it back — a call-and-response game that builds pitch awareness, memory, and the joy of making music together.

Clap a short rhythm pattern and ask your toddler to clap it back — a listening and memory game that's as fun as it is developmental.

Act out a story through song and dance, moving like animals, weather, or characters.

Create and repeat stomp-clap patterns, building rhythmic memory and sequencing.

Sing songs with movements like Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes or If You're Happy and You Know It.

Use clapping, stomping, snapping, and patting to create rhythms using only your body.

Turn on music and dance with your toddler. No materials, just fun and movement.