Fun with Toddlers!

[Arimeh]

Ok I'm starting this thread to get ideas on what to do with DS during the day - I'm guilty of using the TV too much (ie its on ALL day) even though he isn't watching it all the time. I admit that I have been slack because of having a newborn, but since she is almost 4 months old - that excuse just isn't cutting it anymore

So.. this thread is for people to share their ideas, experiences etc with setting up activities for toddlers.

So far today - other than watching tv - we have:-

* had a draw with crayons and textas. He made me draw cars, and balls and I did a lovely sunset with crayons for him
* had a tickle/throwing session on the couch that left me exhausted - its hard work hauling nearly 13 kg....
* playing with his cars on the couch at the moment.

Ok so thats pretty slack mothering on my behalf.

I do plan to take him to the park before his nap this morning while DH stays at home with DD (he is on sick leave atm) and take him shopping as well cos I have to pick up a pressie for someone.

Anyone else care to share? Don't be embarrassed if you are guilty of using the tv - we are here to support one another to change the behaviour that we are guilty of doing.

I've taken the big step admitting it - who's next?

[No.5]

We've only been up an hour and all we've done is build a cubby house out of blankets with the table and play in there... weather sucks so we won't be able to go outside and play at all..

[Captain]

*Raises Hand* Yep I am guilty of using the TV to much. So we are making a big effort here too.

The other day I went down to the $2 shop and bought heaps of craft stuff and we do 1 craft activity a day. Yesterday it was a plaster cast that you make then paint. Bit messy but heaps of fun. Pictures with glitter glue or just plain painting. DD1 also loves helping with the vegie garden because she loves being able to pick stuff that she can eat.

Looking forward to hearing more ideas.

[Rouge]

Oh hon that is not slack!

Life skills is important too! Its all about interacting with your child not necessarily having 20 activities per day.

Today we've played outside, he helped me make breakfast, helped me move some washing from the laundry to be folded. Talked to me whilst I was in the shower. Played with his cars and atm he's playing with his Tonka truck. We're about to go have some fun with the Wii Fit, then we'll probably make some lunch together, read some books and then it will be naptime, go get his sister and then the two of them will play.

BUT the TV was on this morning whilst they ate breaky, and it'll be on this afternoon I'm sure And thats all good

Other things we tend to do is:

Play dinner parties (he's the chef) and I'm the guest. Make trophies (I don't know how this started) with Duplo, then someone will have to do something cool to win the trophy (Cool tricks Cool tricks!). Play rocketships in his fold up couch (he puts it on its side and pretends its a rocket ship!). Dance on the coffee table (everyone needs a podium especially when you've got your rock moves ). Ride his bike on the deck, play in the sand pit or on the swings.

But most of the time he's happy to help me do my daily chores and play on his own with his toys (which is important for development too!), or play with his sister.

[Lulu]

Today after the kids help me tidy up and fold washing we will do some cutting and pasting. I bought some wrapping paper sheets from the Reject Shop and will cut out the pictures and glue them on stuff.

[Snacks]

I'm at work today, but I just wanted to drop in and say, YAY! What a fantastic thread, Mel.
We watch Night Garden and Playschool in the mornings when I'm home - but I'm not likely to change that little habit just yet as it gives me a chance to get some washing up done or washing pegged out etc (because Natty's very impatient when I'm doing those things.)
We often go out in the mornings because I hate being at home. Just for a wander around the shops, or to playgroup or to a park if it's fine. Then home for lunch and bed.
In the afternoons we read stories, colour in and often she likes to unpack the tupperware cupboard or one of my kitchen drawers and build towers with the containers. If she's getting cross, a CD of kids songs is great fun for a little while, as long as I sing along too
The cubby house sounds like a brilliant idea! Natty loves it when I'm folding sheets or wraps - she loves running underneath the fabric - gasps with excitement, LOL! I think I'll have to try the cubby one day soon!

[sangie]

Nothing wrong with a bit of TV time Mel!
Some things that we love doing:

- putting on music and singing/dancing
- drawing
- dress-ups
- DD loves to play with my tupperware while I cook, even more fun with some water!
- blowing bubbles from those bubble containers (best used outside!) Get them cheap from $2 shop
- the park
- like Cai said doing chores. DD loves to help do the washing, hang up clothes etc
- jump on my bed lol, she loves it and guaranteed to get us both tired!
- likes to have a dinner party with her teddies. Lines them up, feeds them then tucks them in for a sleep!

Other ideas: finger painting, playdough, crafty things like glitter etc, help to bake muffins/cookies?

[Nai]

I have a lot of craft stuff from the $2 shop as well. I also keep egg cartons, margarine containers and toilet rolls etc to use. Often we will watch Playschool and then make the things that they make on the show. DD loves doing that. Egg carton caterpillers are a favourite!

[Rouge]

Another few things Seth loves to do, get some paint brushes and some water and let them paint the concrete or the deck or anything that the water will soak into. My kids LOVE painting the deck

And if you go through the cupboard to turf out old clothes or shoes keep them for kids for dressups, alternatively go to the salvo's and buy old shoes or clothes. This is not only fun but helps them to learn how to dress themselves

[LuluHB]

We have the tv on here in the mornings too but once Play School is finished its turned off.

We don't do planned activities as such - except going to the park - but just do whatever DD#1 wants to do. She has a basket of toys and other stuff left around the family room so we'll play with blocks, read books, play with Night Garden stuff (yep, she's got just about everything there is thanks to her Grandma). Playing chasey is also a hugely fun game - I carry DD#2 and we chase DD#1. We also spend a lot of time outside in the garden when its a nice day. She also plays really well on her own and is starting to do a lot of the stuff Sangie was saying - feeding bears/dolls and tucking them in.

Just wait for another couple of months though - if your kids are anything like mine they'll start playing together and you'll struggle to get into the game sometimes!!

[Jus]

Playschool inspiration. We cut crepe paper streams today and waved them around.
Then took them outside - it's windy here. watched what the wind did to them.

Thanks for all the great ideas.

[Gigi]

routines

every time we come home, bilby's routine is to hop down from the carseat, push down the button (to lock the car door), then she gets out and just HAS to check the letter box for mail, then she HAS to pick two mariold flowers.

i'm coping better with "arsenic hour" (cooking tea) now. I put on a music cd for her and she dances around our very tiny lounge area, brings me dressups to put on her (e.g fairy wings or a raffia skirt). Instead of giving her snacks, she is now old enough (at 2yrs, 7 months) to cope with the "we'll have tea when dh gets home".

I used to have the tv on, her throwing tantrums, and me giving her snacks, losing my cool etc - it was not good. We are both much happier now, i think less tv is helping us.

i still haven't achieved my goal, of having a sandpit for bilby to play in, so far i have selected a spot, weeded it, laid down underfelt (coconut husk stuff that went under carpet in the old days). I need a clamshell now, and sand. Have toys to use in it and got her a wooden bulldozer last weekend.

the last two months, i've found it pretty stressful, any gardening i do with bilby (mainly me trying to get ontop of the weeding - we have no mulch right now). we have this tiny front patch of dirt. i've planted seeds and i walk AROUND them (the baby seedlings), taking care not to trample them. This is too much to ask of a 2 yr old, so i've decided to wait until the plants are BIGGER, before doing any more gardening with her. Doing it in the front patch is stressful enough, so close to the pavement and road (we get speeding hoons too). no fence.

in Autumn, the place we go once a week (community centre), has an outdoor pergola (we sit and eat our lunch there), i've made a point of playing with her using the Autumn leaves, so lovely to hear her chuckling.

the kmart bongo drums i gave a friend's child for his birthday, were so good, all the kids loved them (incl bilby), think i might get her a pair too. I really like to get musical instruments that actually work, do not rely on batteries. i notice bilby going into a kind of trance with the battery operated ones - she just zones out and gets more and more frantic, pushing buttons randomly, not even interested in what sound is produced. but with instruments that are real, she plays thoughtfully, enjoys herself, and looks around to other kids and me, to share the sounds.

i got my fussy eater, some knitted vegies/fruit from Covered in Cloth, and she is enjoying playing with those. Especially feeding banana to her plush monkeys (her ooh ahhs, she can't say the word "monkey").

i know i can't buy her a wooden dollhouse, and tonight i was imagining, how i might construct her a four room dollhouse, by taping four sturdy cardboard boxes together, painting the outside. putting carpet offcuts, or fabric on the pretend bedroom floors. It would be hard to do this without her seeing, (live in tiny unit) but at least i could give her a dollhouse then. i saw a lovely one for $300, which gave me the idea. it was very simple, only four rooms, really funky modern wooden furniture went in it, e.g a wooden "flatscreen telly" LOL. It was big and chunky, perfect for toddler hands.

all she gets to do, creatively, at home, is playdough and steiner crayons. i really must buy her paints. it's the doing it in a confined space thing that has put me off so far. i think of painting as very messy, and needing space to do it in. i'm also very mindful of living in rental accom, don't want to mess up the unit.

[Rach75]

gigi on better homes last night they made a four room dollhouse out of cardboard with cardboard furniture it should be in this months issue

[Gigi]

i was obviously watching the wrong channel last night, i didn't even realise Homes and Gardens was on, on teh weekend.

thanks so much Rachel, i will check out the mag - what a co-incidence, my first thought was to search google for ideas (re making a cardboard dollhouse) but now i'll hunt down the magazine - thanks so much for the tip! much appreciated hon.

[~Kim~]

was just trawling through some odler threads and saw this. Funnily enough in recent months i have been compiling a list of things for DH to look at if he runs out of ideas when he is in charge, so thought I'd add DH's list edited to remove all the stuff already suggested:


-Craft box
-Picnic on the grass.
-Cooking
-Tent
-water play
-Playing Shops
-Going to the library
-Photo hunt/walk
-Soap Paint (I came across this recipe for cream made from shampoo, it smells better and is so much cheaper then shaving cream. Mix 3 teaspoons Shampoo with a small amount of water in a mixing bowl. Whip with an electric mixer until it becomes like shaving cream. Add food coloring if desired. We made beautiful blue and purple cream and the strawberry smell was much nicer then shaving cream!)
-Rubbings of different textures
-Draw on paper with white crayons/candle and paint over
-Throw rolled up socks into washing basket 1-5m away
-Play simple card games like snap
-Look at a magazine and look for all the boys/girls/pets/letter "S"'s etc
-Mix bi-carb and vinegar together... we do it everyday but it amazes little people
-Do some papier-mache (newspaper and glue)
-Bathing dolls
-Storytelling without a book- your favourite fairy tales or true stories
-Cardboard tubes/toilet rolls make good trumpets/telescopes etc
-Pretend you are the child and your child is the parent
-Miniature gardens. The foil trays that pies and prepared foods arrive in make lovely containers for miniature gardens. The children can enjoy hunting around the park or garden for twigs to make trees, moss for a lawn, stones to arrange as a rockery or a waterfall. Keep twigs or stones where you want them with a little blue tack or plasticine. Add toy people or animals and maybe a little water if the container is watertight. This can be a very creative and enjoyable exercise if you have children of very different age groups to entertain. A variation is to use play sand (not builder's sand - it stains everything yellow) to make a beach scene, maybe adding shells, stones and a blue paper sea.
-Paper puppets. A picture of anything - colourful bird, clown's face, animal or cartoon character, carefully cut out by an adult and stuck to the top of a strip of card about five inches long and one and a half inches wide becomes a very easily made puppet. These give such pleasure and are so easy to make that you will probably end up with dozens of them. Magazine pictures can be stuck on to folded card to make theatre set background and wings.
-Potato prints. After cutting a potato in half, draw on a simple shape. A triangle, circle or star perhaps. Cut away the rest of the potato, leaving a shape to dip into paint and print on to paper.
-Skittles. Skittles can be improvised from large plastic cola or lemonade bottles. A little sand or water in the bottom makes them more stable. A good game for learning to count.
-Stilts. You need to do a little drilling for this one. Take two strong tins, coffee or clean paint tins are ideal, and drill a hole about one inch from the top on opposite sides of the tin. Insert a length of string and knot securely. Check that the handle is at a comfortable length for the child before knotting the other side. These are always very popular, but never leave young children alone with them especially near stairs or steps.
-Igloos with marshmallows, frosting and half an apple
-Obstacle course
-hopscotch
-making magnet pictures on her white board (we have a stack of those magnetic dolls that you can dress up and make pictures)
-trampoline in backyard

[chody47]

I'm starting this thread partly for myself and partly because I'm sure there are others out there who find themselves doing the same things day in, day out. New ideas are always good!!!

I do lots of different things with DD1, but now that the days are getting colder I'm finding that we are both getting a bit bored at home. Add to that the fact than she has started to drop her day nap and I'm finding it hard to fill her days with entertaining and, where possible, educational activities. I am finding the tv being turned on a little too often for my liking recently.

So, my question is, what activities do you do with your baby/toddler? Please include their age so that people looking for new ideas have a reference.

Here's what I do.

DD1 (29 months old)
Painting
Play dough
Cooking
Visit parks (when the weather allows)
Read books
Story time at the library (occasionally)
Playgroup once a week (occasionally)
Play with toys
Play with the iPad (I try to limit this)
Watch tv (I try to limit this)
Go for walks (when the weather allows)
Feed the ducks
Play outside
Colour in
Sing songs
Puzzles
Crafts

DD2 (almost 5 months)
Read books
Practice holding/shaking toys
Tummy time
Talk to each other
Sing songs
Go for walks

(I know there are more, but I've come to a blank)

[Babyluv]

For cold day activities I love Pinterest. There are so many clever ideas on there.
We do activities for the seasons so for Autumn we collected leaves and did printing we also made an artwork with a twig from a tree and buttons for the branches and lots of different textured materials like hessian. Bub got to play with leaves while 2.5yo dd and I did art.
We do colouring in, build with blocks, play instruments, dance, dress up, put on puppet shows, build a tent using a blanket over the table, play hide and seek, playdo, play in her kitchen, fill the sink with soapy water and she washes her Tupperware, read books, bake at least once a week, fill containers with different pastas and lentils etc and scoop them and pour them into a funnel etc, lacing boards, watch dvd's. I'm sure there's heaps more. Bub 6 months old joins in with everything in his own way

[chody47]

Some new ideas already. Thanks Babyluv