Fun with Toddlers!

[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!!

[Lulu]

How come you're allowed to sing Snacks?! I get thuddup mummy.....

Big chalk is good to, for drawing outside.

[Ozziehoffy]

Mel, you're a good mummy!!!

Ok...today, we've read books whilst eating brekky...ahhhhh try to get him to sit still...lol.
Played row row row your boat
Mummy does silly dances
Walked around the garden
Rebuilt the cubby house
Played outside with toys

Our tv is on when at home, mainly for noise really. Sometimes I turn the radio on but find that gets annoying when I hear the same songs it feels like GROUNDHOG day...lol. Ever noticed they play them around the same time every day?

Cai...love the painting with water outside idea!!! We have plenty of concrete for that to work!

[Enchanted]

We do a lot of the ideas above but one I love is that the other day I bought Oscar a Bubble Wand! So we head outside most afternoons now and make bubbles! He loves running around trying to catch them!

[Snacks]

How come you're allowed to sing Snacks?! I get thuddup mummy.....

LOL! Classic!
I have to ham it up, otherwise she gets bored too quickly. But perhaps in another few months I will no longer be funny, just embarrassing
OMG, I'm loving these ideas, girls! I'm going to go and buy some paintbrushes on Friday!

[Snowy Love]

I've been lazy Mummy today.

He woke at 4:45 - I so want daylight saving up here, it is so bright in his room as soon as the sun rises.

He played with his cars while I lay on the couch & did the washing up. Watched 2 episodes to Thomas. Did some drawing - he asked me to draw Daddy's car and I did an OK approximation of a ute if I do say so myself.

He played with his leggo while I surfed the net and then he hopped on my lap and hung upside down trying to grab the blocks, while I desperately grasped his feet.

We played ring a rosie, and I spun him around. He played drums, and then we went grocery shopping and he fell asleep on the way home and I'm guessing (hoping) he'll sleep for a while seeing he got up so early.

This afternoon we'll be playing on the verandah with paint brushes and water and he'll ride his bike. He'll watch Night Garden (I record it) while I cook dinner.

It didn't seem like much before I started typing.

[Olive]

today we had toddler group at kindy so did lots of christmas craft stuff-painting, colouring, making decorations, played outside, read a book, sung songs etc....was great fun!!

our tv also goes off at 10am after playschool
we listen to ABC playground radio
draw
playdough
play outside
cook
read

[Rouge]

I just thought of some more...

Ice fossils! My kids love this. You get tiny plastic dinosaurs and freeze them in either ice cubes (they can stick out a bit) or either in a big ice cream tub. Then pop them in another container (we normally just float them in an ice cream container) and they try and see which ones melt the quickest. For the older kids you can buy plaster of paris and fill an ice cream tub and put the dinosaurs in and then using a small hammer (you can get little ones at craft stores) they can tap away at the plaster of paris (and using a paint brush) pretend to be archaeologists. Paris loves this too!

Don't forget marble painting too, where you get a shoe box and put a piece of paper inside. Get some marbles and a few squirts of paint and roll the marbles around the bottom of the box to make prints (save the pictures for wrapping paper!).

We also do fruit cut outs with watermelon. I give them cookie cutters and some big slices and they can cut out shapes (you can use cleaned playdough cutters for little fingers). This also works with sandwhiches too.