50 Activities for Siblings to Play Together
Are you looking for activities for siblings to play together? When you run out of ideas, it’s always nice to have a list on hand. I first compiled this list in 2018 when my kids were 8, almost 4, and almost 2. Three years later, it’s still my go-to.
Just like any kids, mine don’t always get along. Usually this is when they are hungry, tired, or just can’t think of anything to do but annoy someone else. That’s when I suggest a play idea or set something up for them. This collection of activities for siblings is full of things that my kids play on a regular basis. Some of the activities require more than one person to play. Others are just side by side activities that engage multiple ages. I get commissions for purchases made through the affiliate links in this post.
50 Activities for Siblings to Play Together
I divided the activities for siblings to play together into two main categories: activities with no special set up required and activities that require some set up. Not all of our toys are left available to play all of the time. (We don’t have space for that.) So they are stored in the closet or in the basement. I rotate through them often to keep what’s available interesting. I have also found that limiting what they have immediate access to helps them see what they can play with. My kids tend to pull out every toy and throw it on the floor. When there are too many options, they play with nothing.
The activities with no special set up use toys and materials you already have available in your home. The only requirement is that you make them available to your kids. Their imagination will take care of the rest. Activities that require set up will often require you to be more hands on depending on the age of your child. (You might not want to cook dinner while your toddler paints with watercolors.)
Sibling Activities with No Special Set Up Required
These activities may need an introduction from you the first time they are played. Then, you can set out the materials and let the kids play.
Pretend play. This is how my kids spend a good portion of their days. They use their stuffed animals, dolls, and other random toys to act out their imagination. A doctor kit allows them to give check ups to their dolls or pretend to be a veterinarian to their animals. Pretend food allows them to feed the animals. A wash cloth will be used for “cleaning,” as a blanket, or as a rug for an animal to sit on. Provide a variety of accessories to help encourage or direct their play.
Read books. My kids have access to lots of books. When they were toddlers, they had free access to board books. They still love getting out books and reading them. Often they read the books from memory. Other times they make up stories based on the pictures. My first grader is a beginning reader. She is super excited by her new found ability and can’t get enough books.
Follow the leader. This game is often a side effect of having a little brother or sister. They tend to follow you around and mimic whatever you do. The older sibling doesn’t always appreciate this and sometimes needs some alone time. Follow the Leader is a fun way to get siblings to play together. Have them take turns being the leader – that way little brother or sister gets to see what it feels like (and also gets to be in charge for a change).
Cardboard box. Give the kids a cardboard box (of any size) and see what their imaginations make of it. Will it become a boat for their toys or for themselves? Will they ask for scissors, tape, and markers to modify the box into something else?
Have a dance party. Play some music and let the kids dance. It’s a fun way to get them moving. We love reading books with songs. Some of the publishers have the books available on their websites. Workman Publishing has several of Sandra Boynton’s books/songs available. (We enjoy her books with CDs, too.) Do you love Tad Hills’s Duck & Goose books? Duck & Goose, Let’s Dance is available to listen on the publishers site.
Play musical instruments. My kids love playing music together just as much as they love dancing to it. The only issue here is deciding who gets what instrument. They learn the art of sharing or negotiating. You can also make your own instruments. Craft sticks and a few buckets or bowls make for an easy drum set. Add some rice to a plastic jar or container and shake it. What else can you use as an instrument?
Sing with a recorder. Do your kids love to sing along with the music? Give them a way to record it. We have the Daniel Tiger Sing Along with Daniel player. It plays several songs or parts of songs from Daniel Tiger. There is a record button for kids to sing over the top of the music. Then, they can listen to the music they’ve created. My kids think this is super cool. If you’re not into Daniel Tiger, there are several other music recorders that are similar.
Race cars. A bucket of cars can keep my kids occupied for quite a while. They love pushing them around or lining them up. We also have a few larger pull back or push down cars (the B. Wheeee-ls! Soft Cars and Disney Cars Revvin Action.) It’s awesome to watch these race across the floor.
Build a fort. All they need is a few blankets and a table or a couple chairs to build a cozy fort. My kids like to take their stuffed animals inside the fort to play.
Play in a tent. Do you have a play tent set up? We rotate through 2 different tents. We have this princess castle tent which Lily got for Christmas one year. It’s not my favorite because the poles are annoying to put together, but Lily really likes it. We also have the Space Station Dome Tent Pacific Play Tents sent us for review. (Check out our full review plus our favorite space toys here.) The kids love this one, too. It’s a great one to put up outside or inside.
Crawl through tunnels. Our Space Station Dome Tent also came with 4 tunnels. (You can get just one tunnel if you prefer.) Instead of setting up the entire tent, we often have out one or two tunnels. It’s another way for kids to get moving inside. They take turns crawling through the tunnels or they race each other. The tunnels often become part of their obstacle courses.
Race your ride-on toys. Lily says her favorite thing to play with her little brother is horses. We have two ride on horses – one horse with wheels (that was my husband’s as a child) and one horse hopper. Lily bounces on the one horse while Elon rides on the other one.
This past year we added two Wiggle Cars. They were intended for Lily and Elon, but Aiden likes to ride on them sometimes as well. The weight limit is 150 lbs so it’s no problem at all. There is a variety of colors. Some Wiggle Cars come with stickers. Our stickers fell off almost immediately on the first one we bought. We didn’t even attempt to add stickers to the second purchase.
Create with LEGO. We are huge LEGO fans in my house. We have several DUPLO sets that all 3 of the kids play with. Aiden (age 11) has many regular LEGO bricks set as well. Lily just got her first LEGO JUNIOR set a year ago for Christmas. She needed some help putting it together. Aiden supervised this operation.
Even toddlers can be proficient at assembling DUPLO creations – mine usually chose towers or trains. When playing with other, toddlers often enjoy destroying everyone’s LEGO builds. (Read about the Importance of Destructive Play for Babies and Toddlers for more on this.) To combat this problem, have your older child build something specifically for the toddler to take apart. This gives them some time to work on their own creations. Then, invite your toddler to pretend play with the set, LEGO figures, and whatever else they want to incorporate. Encourage your toddler to play with others without taking apart the pieces. Sometimes my toddlers cooperated. Other times, they had to be removed from the area and given their own play space.
Build with blocks. Blocks are something my kids play with occasionally. We have the smaller block set from Melissa and Doug. Sometimes the blocks are used to build something. Mostly they are used as an accessory in their pretend play. Build a wall or use the blocks as food for a horse. If you have room for them, this set of unit blocks from Melissa and Doug would be fabulous. My kids gravitate towards them any time we are at a play place that has them. There’s just something about their scale that appeals to kids.
Play with Magformers or other magnetic building tiles. Magformers are another building toy that my kids play with almost every day. They like to build on a metal drip pan or a baking sheet. This helps give their build a bit more stability. Having a few sets of these allows my kids to all play and build at the same time. They are a bit pricey, so watch for sales and stock up.
Go outside. I’m adding this one here just to say that it’s a great way to get kids playing together. When they have no toys (or very few), they have to rely on the environment, their imaginations, and each other. Sometimes kids seemingly forget how to play. Getting them outside helps them reset. This happened to my kids during our summer vacation. Read about the unexpected benefits of our family road trip here.
Sibling Activities that Require Some Set Up
Build a ramp. Use whatever materials you have on hand to build a ramp. We often use plastic storage bins and cardboard. Race animals down the ramp in a little blue truck. Siblings can take turns adding animals to the truck or they can race down more than one vehicle. Read this post for experiments to do with the ramps.
Make a short ramp and baby can play too. Two plastic storage bins formed the ramp for our egg rolling baby game. (You could use balls or vehicles that are safe for baby, too.) Big brother or sister will have fun showing baby how to play.
Conduct a Things That Go Experiment. Test how fast different vehicles race. We used a race track but a ramp would also work. Have each sibling choose a vehicle to place on the track. Take turns releasing them.
Set up a short train track with a ramp. The goal of this activity is to occupy a younger sibling and let him explore cause and effect with trains on a short track that hopefully he won’t destroy. Older siblings can play alongside with their own train track ramp or they can build a longer track. When our toddlers have their own things to play with, they are less likely to interrupt big brother or sister.
Toddler treasure hunts. No clues to hide here. You just have your child look for the treasure. Start off by hiding it in plain sight and then work towards hiding it in more difficult locations (up higher, down lower, partially underneath something, behind something, etc.) These are perfect for siblings to do together. Check out our dinosaur treasure hunt for an example (including a video).
Go on a rainbow toy scavenger hunt. Hunt around the room/house for toys of different colors. Make a giant rainbow on the floor.
More treasure hunts and scavenger hunts. Check out my collection of more than 30 treasure hunts and scavenger hunts. My favorites are the ones with picture clues. (No reading required.) Print out the clues and then siblings can take turns hiding them for each other.
Set up an obstacle course outside. Check out our Follow the Numbers Obstacle Course. My oldest helped me set this up for him and his toddler sister. We walked her through the course and had her find each number. What obstacles would you create?
Set up an obstacle course inside. Help your kids think of obstacles they can play around the room. Talk to them about safety inside and set up some ground rules. Have them crawl through tunnels and jump over pillows. You can also create an obstacle course for your toys. Have your kids work together to create a spider web obstacle course. (This would work best with at least one elementary age sibling.)
Play with paper plates. My kids have fun playing these 5 paper plate games together. Use the paper plates as stepping stones, carry golf balls, try a number run, and more.
Set up a pretend pet store (or any other kind of store). Use toys and props to set the scene. All three of my kids played this pet store shopping game. They took turns using the shopping cart and cash register. When two wanted to shop, the other one used a shopping bag. They played this all afternoon and for two days after I set it up. It was great for having them practice clean up, too. Every time they finished shopping, they would reset and put everything back where it started.
Open a pretend restaurant. Set out pretend menus. Show your kids how to set the table and order from the menu. One child can order and eat while the other one cooks and serves. Switch this up and turn it into a picnic by putting a blanket or towel on the floor.
Have a tea party. Do you have a pretend tea set? We love this tea set from Green Toys. We like to add real food and drinks sometimes, too. Make your tea party extra special by dressing up as a favorite book character. Get messy and take your tea party outside with a princess mud tea party. Have a monster tea party by adding in some baking soda and vinegar explorations. There are so many themes and possibilities to have a lot of variety here.
Set up a pretend science lab. My kids love mixing and stirring whatever random items I give them. Check out this simple science lab for an example. It’s really all about the containers, spoons, and tools. You can give them colored water or baking soda and vinegar for even more science fun.
Paint with water. Give your kids wet paint brushes. (I like a big thick brush for this.) Allow them to paint on a chalkboard. You can let them draw with chalk first or just let them paint with water directly on the blank chalkboard. It changes color when it’s wet. You can also let your kids paint with water on paper. The paper will eventually rip or get a hole in it. If your kids are skilled enough, you can let them have a cup of water to re-wet their brushes. Or they can run to the sink and get their brush wet again that way. It depends on what level of potential mess you are comfortable with.
Wash the car. Do you have a ride on toy? Give your each of your kids a wet wash cloth and let them wash their car. We have a Cozy Coupe that my son drew on with washable crayons. I gave him a wet wash cloth to wash off the crayon and he loved it. He washed it over and over again. (Before you let your child draw on the toy, double check that your crayons will wash off easily. The quicker you wash them off, the easier it is.)
Paint with washable paint and cookie cutters. My kids could sit at the table together and paint for hours with just a paint brush and paint. Adding in something as simple as cookie cutters gives them another prompt for their imagination. Switching up the type of paper you use is equally fun. Try painting on sheet music for example. Or use colored paper, magazines, or newspaper.
Paint with watercolors and salt. Whenever we paint with watercolors, they always ask to add salt to their paintings. The salt absorbs some of the paint and leaves a really cool effect behind. Check out our Penguin Painting for Toddlers or our Watercolor Ocean Art.
Create art with stamps. Encourage your kids to create a collaborative piece of art with a stamp set. Give them a long piece of paper and let them add stamps to create a scene. Finish with markers or crayons.
Create art with stickers. A piece of paper and some stickers are all you need to create a simple piece of art. This one is great for developing fine motor skills, too.
Set up a sensory bin. I like to choose a large under the bed storage bin. This allows all 3 of my kids room to play. Sensory bins can really be full of anything you want. Be sure to pick things that are safe for your children’s ages. (Small parts are not great for kids who still like to put everything in their mouths. You’ll want to choose taste safe things for them as well.) If you’re worried about the mess, place the storage bin on top of a large towel or shower curtain. I’m going to recommend a few of our favorite (and easy) sensory bins below.
Use sand in a sensory bin. I love the colored sand from Crayola. You can pick it up at Walmart once they have their summer stuff out. Bury objects in the sand and have a treasure hunt. Check out our Fossil Hunting Sensory Bin. Add construction vehicles to the sand. Check out our DIY kinetic sand recipe and play ideas.
Add pom poms to a sensory bin. This idea is way less messy than most sensory bins. You might end up with pom poms everywhere but they are much easier to pick up than sand or flour. This one is not for little ones who still put things in their mouths. I love our Find the Unicorn Rainbow Sensory Bin where we combined colorful pom poms with unicorns and dragons.
Pour oats, rice, corn meal, or barley into a sensory bin. Aiden’s very fist sensory bin had steel cut oats, cups, cars, and trains. Steel cut oatmeal feels a lot like playing with tiny rocks or coarse sand. Aiden and I played for a long while together with the oats. It was a very calming experiencing for me. There’s something about running it through your fingers and hands. I don’t specifically buy food items for sensory play like this, but whenever I clean out my cabinets, I save any grain that’s past its date that could be used in a sensory bin (nothing gross or rancid – just things my husband won’t let me cook with anymore because its quality has declined). Right now I have a small container of old corn meal waiting to be used.
Play with water. This was Elon’s favorite thing to do as a toddler. He still loves the bathtub with a cup or two. A water table is great for water play outside. Fill a large storage bin with some water. Add cups, spoons, bowls, and/or water safe toys. (I like using plastic toys that don’t have a hole in them. Some of the ones with hole will mold.) Make it a themed bin for even more excitement. Our Finding Dory Inspired Sensory Bin has blue sand on the bottom.
Make oobleck. Mix together some cornstarch and water for a squishy sensory experience. Check out these great oobleck recipes.
Freeze the oobleck. It’s cold and squishy and doubles the fun of normal oobleck. We used a gorgeous blue color and a bit of glitter for this frozen oobleck recipe.
Experiment with baking soda and vinegar. Aiden says his favorite activity to do with his siblings is baking soda and vinegar. (Baking soda and vinegar explorations were his favorite thing to do before his siblings were even born. Now he has fun letting them join in.) We have so many baking soda and vinegar related activities listed here on Inspiration Laboratories. I will share our favorite 3 below.
Start with a simple baking soda and vinegar exploration. Take a large storage bin and add baking soda to the bottom. Fill up a spray bottle with vinegar water. Or fill a cup with water, vinegar, and dish soap. Allow your child to spray vinegar onto the baking soda or drop the soapy vinegar water onto it. Read this post to see how it plays out and also check out how I like to hide colors underneath the baking soda. Our Fizzy Color Mixing Experiment is a great variation on using different colors.
Try making a fizzy dough. Make your own play dough with any combination of flour, cornstarch, salt, water and baking soda. Adding vinegar to your dough will make it fizz (if you you used enough baking soda). Check out our Fizzing Pinkalicious Cupcake Experiment for the set up. Or try one of our other fizzy dough recipes – Fizzy Valentine Play Dough (because it’s pink and heart shaped), Fizzy Coconut Lime Play Dough (because it smells like coconut and lime). or make a Fizzy Melting Snowman using a basic baking soda clay.
Freeze the baking soda or vinegar. Freezing the baking soda or vinegar slows down the fizzy reaction and allows more time to observe and play. We’ve made Frozen Vinegar Hearts and Frozen Vinegar Stars. We’ve also frozen the baking soda. Combine the baking soda with a bit of water and freeze it. Turn this into Fizzy Snow. Or add letters for a Melting Hearts Word Search.
What are your favorite activities for siblings? How old are your kids?
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