Fun with Toddlers!

[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.

[Olive]

I just thought of some more...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 did this a few weeks back at toddler group for christmas wrapping paper, fantastic idea!

[Snacks]

we listen to ABC playground radio

Ooo, AJP, is that national do you think?

[Olive]

just google it hun! its online!

the song choices change arooung 6 monthly

[Snacks]

LOL! I am sooooo backwards
Still getting the hang of this new-fangled interweb business you young folk are using these days...
Thanks!

[Olive]

dont worry i could email til around 3 yrs ago!

[Liviam]

Well I am feeling like the worst mummy today. Livvy is feeling a little under the weather so all we have done is snuggle on the couch and watch Shrek and read stories.
I love this thread through. Giving me so many ideas of things to do with Livvy.

[christy]

Nah Nurse Dan those are good days too!!

I second the painting with water.... we have a wooden fence at the new house that gets painted daily!!! Then the toys get painted & it doesn't matter... Jovie paints everything & Matilda paints the brick wall. We also got from Ikea that really fat chalk & they do drawings on the cement with it.

I bake with them once a week & its messy but good fun! They love it!

* Hide n' seek
* dolly dress ups (don't know how a boy would go )
* water fun... I fill a baby bath with lukewarm water & add maybe a drop of food colouring to it, I put cups & funnels and bath toys in and let Jovie pour until her heart is content. Often I play tea partys with it. She loves it!
* Picnic time, we set out a rug & have a picnic with morning tea outside together
* wrapping paper painting. We make our wrapping paper every year for Christmas, so I go and get some stickers and some red & green paint. I roll out heaps of butchers paper on the ground & let them paint it all... this year we will probably get some sponges and make stamps for them.
* post things... write letters and post them in boxes.
* dominos... set up a dominos train and let them knock it down... or dominos tower etc....

[MrsFabuloso]

Great thread Mel!

We watch Sunrise for a while the put on Sporticus and In the Night Garden, I either watch with her and we dance around the lounge room singing the stupid songs or I try to do the washing up, I usually end up singing and dancing though, she hates me washing up for some strange reason. Then it's nap time and I do some cleaning and surf the net, or play with my little man. The tv goes off now and I put the radio on or a few cd's in the sterio.
After nap time, we go out and do any errands I need to run, or just go for a walk. Today we did neither and just bummed about at home. We played tickles, chasing, indoor soccer (with a stuffed fuzzy ball), giddee up, building, drawing. Then I put on some christmas songs and tidyed up while she destroyed things behind me, she 'helped' me fold and put her clothes into her drawers and cupboards and we danced and sang all the daggy chrissy carols.
Then it was lunch time, we ate and nanny came over after, then it was nap time again. And here we are...I plan on giving her a bucket of water to sit in while I make dinner later. We might do some painting, we usually have a tea party for afternoon tea.

Other ideas for messy play are goop and slime- either corn flour mixed with cold water, or lux flakes with water. Or if you have some big windows or sliding doors and don't mind the mess they can paint on the doors-on the outside so you can wash it off with the hose, or give them a spray bottle and squeegee to clean it off, make sure you use paint that won't stain you verandah or whatever.
If you use roll on deoderant, keep the bottles, clean them out and make rolly bottles of paint. Shaving cream makes for good, fun messy play too. Fly squatters are good paint brushes (be careful of the paint splatter!).....there's sooooo much you can do!! I can't think of more at the mo, DS is getting demanding. Will try to think of more later.

[Olive]

sophie is currently painting the pavers with water!!

[ShootingStar]

We have our tv on all day too.. i dont see anything wrong with it.. DS and i still to things together while its on.. he actually learnt to count backwards (and does on a regular basis now) from Nick Jr.

Today we were out though, went to the play centre.. he had a great time.

[*Belle*]

Great thread !

We too have the TV on. Julia watches Nick Jr also and has learned counting and the days of the week etc. She loves Dora/Diego and other things on there.

Our usual day is :

Julia watches TV while I feed Tara or
Pretend play with Teddy - feeding him, burping him, putting him to bed with his blanket etc
We watch 1 ep of Dora then head out in the morning to a shopping centre or play centre or just walk somewhere. When we come home we play and have lunch and then spend arvo playing at home:

We play:

Hide and Seek
Drawings & Stickers
Catch Mummy
Kicking the ball around the house
Building boat out of two chairs and play catch the ferry with tickets and passengers (soft toys)
Find the stars - we bought some hair ties with stars on them she loves them and hide them everywhere then finds them she calls them catching them like on Dora...
Dress ups
Plays with cars
She helps me get nappies for Tara when changing and puts her plate or bowls in the kitchen when finsihed them and cleans up her own mess!

[LucaJack'sMum]

Snacks,

Just did a Google search for ABC playground radoio and it is a web based kids radio! HOW FANTASTIC! we will definately be using this tomorrow!

[krysalyss]

Great thread! Love some of the ideas.

Some of the things we do with our 19 month old:

Classical radio - DS loves it! and no ads.
Make a cubby with some big cardboard boxes - make sure you cut a hole in for a door as that is the best part)
Go for a ride on the bike (we just bought a weeride!)
Midday bath with bath toys (it gets hot here)
Local water park (so cheap - only $2.50 to get in with a toddler)
Playgroup/park
Sandpit
Walk the dog
Books
Pretend play with soft toys

Really want to get into some more crafty things so this thread has inspired me to do a bit more like that. Thanks guys!

[shellbell3]

We have TV on alot of the day if we are home but alot time DD doesn't really watch just background. And like Kell said we have learnt things from it, she's just about learnt days of the week, counting, I do try interact when she does watch show, she has her few faves.

Other than that we have our set activites in the week such as an art class, gymbaroo and mums group.

Other stuff we do is walks, park, play sandpit, run around outside.

Inside we play lots of her toys, drawing, looking after the dollies, lots reading (she loves books) singing, dancing, songs with actions she loves, chasey...
I try play educational that involve things like numbers, letters, colors, shapes..

Since doing the art classes that has made me realise simple craft things to do, just using anything you find in the garden or bits scraps round the house and stick onto paper, get some glitter pens, painting is fun but can me bit messy but I just lay paper on floor and she sits at her little table with her art smock on.

I try to involve her when I can with housework but alot times its more of a hinderance!

[BekZ]

Give yourself a break you've only just had a baby!!!

Here are some of my suggestions.

On a hot day fill up a baby pool with water and balls. Let your toddler have a paddle.
Get out for a walk
Go to the local park
Put on a kids music cd and go for it
Go to a playgroup

My DD1 is a very active child and needs to get out of the house even if it is for 20 mins in the arvo.

[SossiGirl]

What a fantastic thread. I will keep checking back in as there are just so many ideas.

I will be off to the reject shop tomorrow to check out the crafts etc. love the idea of painting the concrete with water, will be doing that.

I worked today so MIL had DS.. tomorrow have playgroup but will put sunrise on till 9 then abc kids not that DS pays attention to tv it but i like to have it on. play with his cars, draw, sleep then playgroup. get home from playgroup, sleep then draw then help with dinner might go to shops later on.

[smiles4u]

My 2.5year old DD loves Playdough, drawing on her chalkboard, colouring in colouring books, drawing with crayons or crayola textas (the ones that wash off clothes about $4 or $5 a pkt in Target), any size building blocks, reading books in her play tent where she has a pillow to sit on & she loves me to join her in there.

We have a little plastic table about $12 from the Spoils shop that she uses to prepare meals on in the kitchen ... like pizzas (putting on the tomato paste, grated cheese, ham, etc ...) and helping mix cake batters (i let her lick the spoon afterward as a treat of course).

She loves to go OP shopping with me & she has maybe $1 or $2 in her purse to choose a toy there.

Dress ups ... she is big into being a ghost with a thin blanket over her or a towel.

We sing songs & dance together. I buy $2 CD's from BigW that have about 25 old fashion songs on them.

She loves to play musical instruments at this age ... we purchased a i think its about 6 pieces of instruments in a box for $15 from Toys R Us just before Xmas.

We also go out into the garden & pick flowers which she arranges into her own little vase with supervision.