18 Learning Tower Practical Life Activities for a Young Toddler

A learning tower is an incredible tool that every family with a young child needs. It is a safe way to bring a child up to counter height so they can participate in many practical life activities. We just got our twin double-size learning tower for my 17-month-old twins. Since we added this to our home environment, the opportunities for practical life have been endless! Here are 18 practical life activities that your young toddler can work on doing at their learning tower.

Getting in and out of the Learning Tower

The first step before doing any work at the learning tower is for your child to get familiar with getting in and out of the tower. My boys have been very interested in climbing on just about everything for the last few weeks, so this was no challenge. They do still need some assistance at times with getting out the the learning tower. All learning towers are a little bit different but are all intended to be climbed into. If you are looking to purchase a learning tower, check out this blog post about different learning towers to choose the one right for your kitchen space!

Potato Scrubbing

Potato scrubbing was the first practical life activity I introduced to my twins in their learning tower. Scrubbing a potato is simple. It can be done independently and requires no prior skills. It is also a very helpful activity that contributes to a family meal.

To set up this activity, lay down a towel on the counter, to prevent the potato from rolling away. I introduced this with a larger sweet potato, making it more stable and offering a larger surface area for scrubbing. Next, I wet the potato and set it on the towel. Using a vegetable scrub brush, I modeled how to scrub the potato. I got this scrub brush from the dollar store, but here is a similar one. You can show your child how to turn the potato to scrub the whole thing.

Just remember that at this age, a child isn’t concerned with the outcome of having a clean potato. Just the activity and motion of scrubbing itself are beneficial for the child. They will repeat as long as they need to meet this need. You can offer many other fruits and vegetables for them to scrub as well. Come back to this same activity often.

Wiping the Counter

Offer a wet washcloth or rag for your child to wipe off the counter. You can build this step into any activity you do at the learning tower. Wiping down the counter can be the way that every activity ends.

Making a Smoothie

This was a fun one! I can see how over time this will be a favorite for my boys for sure. We made a fruit smoothie with yogurt and milk. Here are ways that my boys helped in making the smoothie.

• Peeling the banana, putting the banana peel into the compost bin, and putting the banana into the blender.
• Grabbing frozen strawberries from the bag and dropping them into the blender,
• Scooping yogurt from the container, I assisted them in putting it into the blender.
• Pouring milk from a smaller pitcher that I filled for them
• Adding in handfuls of frozen spinach to the blender
• Pressing the on/off buttons on the blender
• Cleaning up spills with a rag

When doing an activity like this with a young toddler, be prepared for the worst thing to happen. I turned away for just a second and one of my sons grabbed the handle of the blended and tipped it on the side and all the milk spilled out onto the counter. They both started splashing in the milk. But, when I gave them towels to clean it up, they knew just what to do!

Spreading Peanut Butter

My boys love peanut butter so much, so they usually just eat it directly out of the bowl I give them for spreading on their toast. However, I still like to model how to spread peanut butter, or any spread, onto a piece of toast. Their absorbent mind is soaking in all of these impressions with ease. A dull spreading knife is perfect for this. I have a collection of some I got from a thrift store many years ago, but here is a similar one.

Putting Veggies on a Baking Tray

The other night we were having asparagus as a side with our dinner. After I washed the asparagus in a colander, I showed the boys how to snap the asparagus and set it onto a baking tray. Naturally, they love to explore, so they tasted them as we went. As they started to do other things with the asparagus like take bites of it, set them on the counter, or put them back into the colander, I would take over certain parts like the snapping. Then I would hand them the pieces for them to set onto the baking tray. Activities like helping put different vegetables on a baking tray is a great activitiy to do in a learning tower.

Cutting Cucumbers

A crinkle cutter is a perfect beginning kitchen tool and perfect for cutting cucumbers. Set up a cutting board and offer a cucumber that has been cut in half lengthwise. If the cucumber can lay flat on the cutting board then it won’t roll around. Model how to use the cutter to slice the cucumber. Odds are they won’t continue to look like slices and may get eaten along the way. All of this is part of the process of learning how to prepare food.

Shaping Dough

I love to bake all things sourdough. I will make pizza dough, sandwich bread, and a very basic artisan loaf. When it comes time to shape my loaves of bread, I like to cut off a small piece of the dough for each of my boys to play with. This can be done with any bread dough. They love the texture and feeling of playing with dough.

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Using a Salad Spinner

BLT’s were on the menu for dinner one night and I needed to get the lettuce washed. I pulled out my salad spinner and I knew that this would be a perfect activity for the boys to do at their learning tower. Our salad spinner has a string you pull like you are starting a lawn mower. They had so much fun using this new kitchen tool!

Having a Snack

A learning tower is a great place for your child to have a snack. Especially if they are preparing it first and then eating it along the way.

Washing Their Hands

The learning tower is a great way to bring your child up higher at the sink to allow them to wash their hands. We have also used a step stool, which works well but isn’t quite as safe for a younger toddler.

Peeling and Cutting a Banana

Peeling a banana is a great beginning practical life activity. We can start by opening the peel at the top and modeling how to pull down the peel After a few times of practice, they will catch on and do this all by themselves. I still need to offer reminders to peel the whole peel off. Sometimes they will go right to eating the banana with parts of the peel still on.

A wooden chopper is a great tool for slicing bananas. Set out a cutting board for them to do this work on. You can have a bowl or compost bucket for them to put the peels into and a separate bowl for the cut pieces of banana. But, if your child is anything like mine they will likely just eat as they go.

Pouring Water and Drinking from an Open Cup

Coming up to the counter to pour a glass of water is a great practical life activity for a young toddler to do in their learning tower. I use this small stainless steel pitcher for them to pour into their weaning cup. Soon, we are probably ready for some bigger cups, but these weaning cups have still been working out well. Have a towel close by for them to clean up any spills.

Sensory Oatmeal Play

The learning tower is a great way to bring your child up to counter height so they can see what you are doing in the kitchen. Sometimes when I need to do the dishes or cook dinner but can’t oversee the activity that they are doing very closely I will pull out some dried oatmeal. I set it out on a baking sheet with some measuring spoons, small whisks, and differnet little kitchen tools I could find in my kitchen drawers. It inevitably will make a mess, but since it is dried oatmeal, it is super easy to sweep up with a broom. Offering yet another opportunity for practical life!

Transfering Eggs

I like to transfer our eggs into a more beautiful egg basket for the fridge. There is something about being able to reach into the fridge and grab one or two eggs rather than needing to pull out the whole carton and hear that awful stereophone sound as you open and close the carton. All that to say, your toddler could help you transfer eggs from the carton into the basket. Here is another activity where you need to be prepared for the worst-case scenario, craked eggs.

Start by modeling how to grab the egg and place it into the basket gently. You can continue to give them reminders to do it gently. Pause and remodel how to do it as it is necessary. At this age, they are still developing the ability to modulate force, and probably haven’t had much of an opportunity to see what happens when you hit an egg to roughly against something else. This would be a good activity to do right before you plan to bake or make scrambled eggs so you have a purpose for any cracked eggs!

Pizza Dough and Sprinkling Cheese

We like to make homemade sourdough pizzas in our house almost every week. After they help with the dough, you could have your child sprinkle cheese onto the pizza. They could also place toppings like pepperoni, sausage, or peppers on the pizza.

Observing Me in the Kitchen

There are times when the tasks I am doing in the kitchen are not very child-friendly. Things like using a hot stove, preparing raw meat, putting things into the oven, or using a stand mixer. For these tasks, I will move the learning tower into the middle of the kitchen allowing them to see and observe what I am doing but they are far enough away that they can’t reach anything I am working with. As they get older they will develop a little more impulse control and be able to wait for me to complete certain steps before getting their help, but for now, this works out well ensuring safety for all!

Mixing a Batter

Preparing a batter like pancakes, cornbread, muffins, an oatmeal bake, or cake is a great opportunity for mixing. Consider using a larger bowl than needed so it is harder for it to spill or splash out of the sides. You may want to do the initial mixing to incorporate some of the ingredients together. Another easy step for a young toddler to do is sprinkle on some additional toppings like nuts or chocolate chips. I always model what I want them to do while their learning tower is pushed away from the counter. Once I have shown them, then I will bring them to the counter for them to try on their own.

Storing the Learning Tower

We have a location in our kitchen, on the other side of a raised part of our counter where we are storing the learning tower when it is not in use. This was important because I needed to have peace of mind knowing that my children don’t have access to the counter whenever they want. We still store certain things like knives and kitchen appliances on the top of our countertops which require supervision. Storing the learning tower in another location, with the steps turned in ensures that they can’t climb up into their tower without my supervision and help to move it out to the main kitchen area.

Limits for Activities in the Learning Tower

I have found that my boys will stay standing on the platform whenever there is something on the counter that is engaging to them. All of these activities that I have listed here have been engaging and purposeful ways for my twins to use their learning tower. Sometimes after we finish one activity and before I have something else ready, they will want to climb up onto the counter.

This is a firm boundary we have in our house, becuase it is so dangerous if they fall off of the counter. I immediately take them off and place them on the floor. They are welcome to climb back into the tower, but if they get onto the counter again, then we will be all done using the learning tower for that time. If thw work we are doing is something I need to finish then I may move the learning tower into the center of the kitchen for them to observe me finishing the task at hand.