Toddler Entertainment

NAR

Our GS is 2 years and 4 months and he loves playing with stacking cups and lego. Excellent way of getting him to count, he could count to ten at two years of age. He can sing every word of Twinkle twinkle little star and can name all the animals is his farmyard animal book and make the sounds of the animals.

clw1

Are there any local toddler groups ? ask your childminder if they know of any so you can get out and meet other mums.

If your LO loves picnics then you could spend some time making the picnic together and have it on a rug in the lounge instead of the park.

If he likes colouring / crafty things then print pictures of his favourite things out for colouring (google "free colouring pictures of xxx") or look on the cbeebies / mr maker website for craft ideas.

My LO also loved reading stories, playing with lego / megablocks, playdough and his aquadoodle. He also really liked going to charity shops and buying a new toy for c£2 then coming home and playing with it.

One other good one for a wet stay home day is having a long daytime bath - use old bottles etc to play pouring water in / out etc.

Finally my LO loves doing dancing (pop a CD on and he'll leap around for 15mins) or doing running races to burn off some energy (eg run to the kitchen, dun to the door, run to the garden etc - I stand in the hall saying where to go and he dashes round me !)

Hope that helps. x

Dark_Star

This is quite good:

The Toddler's Busy Book [Paperback]
Trish Kuffner




It has lots of stuff that you may not think of doing but have around the house. Probably get it cheaper off ebay or borrow from the library (best check it suits you first). Reviews are varied but the activities are do-able & not everyone has a 1001 ideas stored up to do.....:p

Audio story cd's - if they don't like TV or Sesame street clips on you tube ?

Church toddler groups? If not much in the village then the churches often do one...

Pooh sticks...

You have my sympathy

teacherandmum

today, me and my 2y 1m girl have:
* had a shower together
*taken big sister to school
*been to the village shop for milk via the river to throw in stones then past the park (a roundabout and a slide!) on the way home
*cleaned out the cleaning cupboard in the kitchen - she loves using wipes!
*cleaned out the cupboard under the stairs - she tried on all the shoes while i tidied it
*made jam sandwiches for dinner
*played train sets in the living room
*watched 2 episodes of peppa pig
*went up and down the road on her ride on and talked to all the old people who were out and about
*went to get big sis from school
*played in the garden with a doll and buggy

Our village has around 200 people - mostly old couples. we have a toddler group once a week and there's only ever 4 of us:(
im lucky i drive, so we can get further afield, its very rural tho so no baby/toddler yoga/music/swimming/signing etc here tho!!!

kingfisherblue

What about junk models? Collect cereal packets, toilet roll tubes, etc and stick together with PVA glue.

Make people out of toilet roll tubes and play with them. Use funny voices and your toddler will soon be copying (or squealing with laughter)

Cut out pictures from the Argos catalogue or from magazines for him and let him stick them on a piece of paper to make a picture. You could get him a pair of scissors made for children, but it might be a while before he masters them.

Use a foam ball to play football.

Make a dice from a box. If he throws six, clap six times (or jump up and down, wave arms in the air, etc). Have an action for each number or he will get bored.

Attach a duvet cover over the dining room chairs and put a blanket and cushions underneath. Have a picnic.

Close all the curtains to make it fairly dark. Get a torch and flick it on and off. You can get some children's torches that show a picture.

Get a pack of very cheap toilet paper. Tear into strips and add soapflakes. Then add a cup of water. Knead it all together and you get 'clean mud'. You can use food colouring to make different colours. Most kids just love playing with it, but I have known some who build walls with it.

Get a balloon and bouce it round the room.

Blow bubbles. To make your own, add a spoon of glycerine to warm water and washing up liquid.

Make musical instruments - band an upside down pan with a wooden spoon, or loop elastic bands over a shoe box

Cut out big footsteps and go on an adventure

Use empty bottles to make skittles. Weigh them down a bit with sand or soil. Use a tennis ball to bowl.

Get a bat and ball set and play 'tennis' with him.

chanie

I have a toddler (2.5 years) and a 2 week old, so I need to find ways to entertain my toddler.

Ideas I have so far:

sand/water play (I bought big storage boxes from IKEA and DS loves to pour water from one container to the other).

Making cakes/biscuits or helping with dinner

Making up a batch of jelly for him to play with

Playing with a bubble machine

LIstening to a nursery rhyme CD

mrcow

Do you make play dough? It keeps for a long time and you can have a lot of creative play with it, making play cakes etc.

Also, you can make your own puppets and put on a show together doing the voices and record it. eg. make pig finger puppets (out of paper and cellotape if need be) and do the 3 little pigs

You can plant stuff out the garden or in pots on your window ledge

If you've got cuddly toys, get some pillows and create a teddy hospital, or a teddy party, we used to play teddy pass the parcel, or teddy picnic.

Clay is good to model and paint. And tnen varnish.

Make boats out of paper and play ships in the bath (you don't have to get in)

Buy a roll of £5 lining paper, roll out over the floor and do feet painting.

fawd1

I got mine into treasure hunting. Best thing ever frankly. They are currently very into pirates which probably helps, but they are 2 & 3 so I can sympathise. What I do is draw a map with the first clue (obviously in picture form eg, big teddy, shark, woody toy etc), they then have to look for that toy. By that is the next picture clue and on and on and on. This can also be taken outside with a bucket and spade (very gleefully for little pirates) At each clue, I'd just drop some costume jewellery, or a sweet, or something they would like. I also made a trasure chest pretty easily from an old box of cornflakes and some foil. Makes it extra special for them.

The best thing with this game is, once you've done it once, they are more than happy to do it again and again and again by themselves. You just need to spend 15 minutes drawing maps and placing toys with bits, and Bobs your uncle, they'll be occupied for hours!

nikki&asha

My soon to be 2 year old ( and most of 46 I have at work) love

• gloop/shaving foam/crazy soap/jelly play - at home the tidiest way (and funnest way imo) is to stick them in the bath with it naked.
• Dancing - tidy away the toys, put on some music (any music will do) and have a mad ten minute dance. I have Justin Fletchers latest cd and Ds loves to do the hokey cokey with me.
• Learn some action songs to do with them - ring a roses, walkicng through the jungle, zoom zoom zoom we're going to the moon - a quick google should give you lots of word/action choices and most have one of about 4 basic tunes so easy to learn.
• Box play - save up food boxes, tubes, cartons , loo roll tube and use them as building blocks (or like my Ds they may get eaten.,..) Big boxes they can get inside always go down well.. with some sheets, a voile/old net curtain to peep through.
• Tidy out all the toys - gets the job done and reminds them what they have - I reorganise the toys at home every other week as a game.
• Blackberry/fruit picking (or eating lol)
• swimming (my son is mad) in puddles or just splashing with wellies, squelching in the mud and poking sticks in it.
• Bucket of water and a paintbrush outside on the walls/shed - fascinating and clean.
• digging in mud - even a pot of compost and a spoon will do.

erm thats all I've got for now HTH xx

MarilynMonroe_2

Go on 'hunts' bear ones, cat ones etc (more chance of actually seeing a cat than a bear!) ... gets their imagination going. We do this on the way to the shops, daughter loves it. We have to run cos they are going to get us!!!
Stickers have always been a hit here, make binnoculars with 2 toilet rolls and cover in stickers... infact even sticking stickers all over yourselves is a hit.
I spy, but instead of letters, say I spy something yellow or whatever