Quiet Church Activities for Toddlers

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Having a 15 month old toddler has really been a challenge for me in church! Sure the singing is fun for him and the up and down. But once it comes time for preaching, he’s still ready to go! With a few quiet church activities for toddlers he can usually make it through a whole service.

I quickly realized how lacking I was in preparing quiet activities for my little guy in church.

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We don’t have a staffed nursery so everyone’s children stay with their family through the whole service.

I love having our family together during church and teaching my child how to sit quietly and be respectful.

It’s not easy, though! I’m still learning how to train him in church, but it is getting easier each week.

The best part is I’ve created a free Church Activities checklist for you in my resource library. You can sign up for the list at the bottom of this post.

Keep it Special

One thing about church toys is I keep them put away all week. By taking them out only during church, the activities are new and special for my little guy. He knows that only during church he can play with certain toys.

Keep it Small

Sometimes it looks like you are moving in when you fill your church pew with a purse, Bibles, diaper bag, blankies, and a whole loot of activities for your littles!

Ideally church activities for toddlers will be small, slender and not take up much space. You can easily slip them into your diaper bag or purse so that you don’t have to have a whole separate bag just for toys.

Quiet Church Activities for Toddlers

“Quiet” is the hard part when it comes to entertaining toddlers. Papers rustling can get noisy. Valcro sounds like the man in front of you just ripped his pants. And the toys can’t be noisy with batteries like they are used to at home.

Getting creative with church activities is essential when it comes to “quiet.”

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My List of Quiet Church Activities for Toddlers

Most of these ideas I’ve used for my own toddler. Some ideas I’ve gleaned from others but haven’t had to use yet myself. And still others are what I remember my mom bringing to church for us as kids.

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Get your Quiet Church Activities for Toddlers checklist from my free resource library (password given when you sign up) when you sign up below!

Board Books

Barnyard Dance! is one of my son’s favorite books. It has lots of animals for him to look at without me reading the words. Also, Goodnight Moon is another fun board book because he likes finding the mouse on every page.

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Tricky Dogs

Tricky dogs are tiny magnetic dogs. You can make them kiss or run away from each other! Open a hymn book cover, put one on top and one on the bottom of the cover and they dance! My little guy loves these and it seems like every lady in our church has a set of these in her purse if he goes to sit with them.

Magnet Tins

These magnetic tin playlets are the best! Everything comes in a compact carrying tin so you can just shove it in your bag. There are tons of magnets and different sceneries inside for your child to play with.

Stickers

My little guy loves stickers! He will play with them and get frustrated at them for 20 minutes at a time. I keep only one sheet in my diaper bag at a time because I don’t want him to have free reign of all the stickers at once.

Matchbox Cars

Really, any small cars or tractors are fun for toddlers. Anything with wheels. We let our guy sit on the floor between us and play with his tractors. Or stand on the floor and run them back and forth on the pew between us.

Sewing Boards

Sewing boards are fun for both boys and girls! These are thin, light and don’t take up much space at all in your bag. The nice thing is, if the string gets worn out, you can just buy some shoe laces to replace it.

Water Wow! Coloring Books

These little coloring books are amazing! No mess. Only one coloring utensil. No noise. Just re-fill the pen with water and go!

Quiet Book

When I was little, my brothers and I loved playing with a quiet book our aunt had made for us. Inside were tons of activities requiring fine motor skills: tying shoelaces, buttoning a coat, snaps, counting, sliding beads and more. It was so much fun for us even as we got older!

For my nephew’s birthday I made him one of these quiet books inspired by my childhood memory. It was a lot of work! I’m not sure if I’ll get one made for my son, but I did keep all my patterns I created in case I do.

Just buy one here or look for cute, handmade ones on Etsy. These books are quiet and full of fun activities for fine motor skills. The only drawback to these books is that they can be quite bulky.

I love that this one I found on Amazon zips up!

Taking toddlers to church can be a struggle. But with a little training and a few fun, quiet church activities for toddlers you’ll begin looking forward to going to church again!