Indoor Activities for Toddler?

Hi A.!

The best thing I ever discovered when some of my kids were that age was an appliance box...

First one came with a new fridge...and we made a 'cut out' for a puppet theatre...(decorated the box complete with curtains...made ALL kinds of puppets...)

over the years...new boxes replaced it...it became a toll booth...bank...(you get the idea)

I was also able to fold box down at end of the day to store it...

Kids (many grown) still talk of it!

Gerette

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I like the website www.productiveparenting.com for ideas. With my son we have races around the house which he loves and his new thing is to play dancing boy. We turn on the music and jam out. He likes to help bake things too. We also set up in a corner a little area with a slide/tunnel/fort/small climber toy.

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Dry beans in a plastic container and a big bowl with different size scoops- my children love to scoop and my 2nd son who is the running, jumping, never sleeping, never stopping child will sit for an eternity to scoop- he started with rice (doesn't get stuck in noses or ears and can be vacuumed up and then we moved on to beans and pasta- cheap and fun! I also bought him a little broom and dustpan in the dollar spot at Target so that he could help clean up when he was finished- that led to washing the floor with a washcolth and water and anything else he could/would clean with washcloth and a squirt bottle of water (water bottle also a dollar)

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I enjoyed the Jumps n Jiggles ball play area and indoor carousel at the Elk Grove Park District - in the Pavilion building on Biesterfield road in Elk Grove - just east of the expressway - get off at 53 & Biesterfield. Also, the Elk Grove library - right across the street has a great indoors kids play area with puzzles, playhouse, puppets and more. Great place for moms and little ones to hang out. you can check out materials as long as you have a library card at a library in the area.

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When my son needed to burn off energy in our small apartment I used to take either the mattress off the bed or all the pillows/cushions off the couch and let him jump on those.

Currently my kids favorite game is when we are changing the bed and all our pillows are on the floor. They jump from pillow to pillow like lily pads.

It would require money but we played Hullabaloo from Cranium at a playgroup this week and it was great. They kids were moving all over the place and since the games talks to them most of the kids could play on their own.

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Play Doh? Pot and Pan Drum set with wooden spoons for sticks? Stacking blocks? Mega Blocks, crawl through tunnel, tents with chairs and blankets? Easel chalkboard? Poster paints and huge paper? Crayons and paper? Musical instruments? Dancing to music?

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This my sound too simple to help, but I have a 3 year old boy who has TONS of energy and always has. I don't know how large your home is or if you have a good hallway, but when he's getting really hyper, I tell him it's time to take some laps. I have him either race the straightaway from the front to back door running as fast as he can as many times as he can (always trying to beat his last number) or I have him do "laps" through the living room, dining room, kitchen and hallway. We play "trackstar" and I cheer him on. It usually ends with his tongue hanging out and him declaring that he's way too tired to run any more! This works for running stairs too -just make sure your toddler has a really good command of stair climbing.

Also -this can require a monetary investment -games like Nintendo Wii have a number of games for small children that involve their balance boards or dance mats. Some of their basic sports games are not hard for little ones to get either. We love Wii tennis, bowling and boxing! Although it's sedentary -Wii "I Spy" is fun too.

You probably already have this, but get tons of construction paper, safety scissors, glue sticks, stickers,glitter, crayons and markers -as well as play doh, clay, pipe cleaners etc. All of that is really cheap, and you can spend hours making art projects, paper bag puppets, etc.

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There is a book by gymboree play and music with activities to do at home. They have it at the library. I think it is called baby play or toddler play.

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I lived in Houston, Tx with a toddler - which means no outside in the peak fo summer. Here are some things we did...

Pick up an air mattress from like Walmart for $20.00. Blow it up, let her jump/tumble/etc. on it til it pops. It’s great exercise and pretty affordable :)

Blowing bubbles in the bath tub is always a fun exercise-They sit and reach while you blow bubbles (no potential falling issues then). Since they are in the tub (you can put them in swimsuit if more comfortable) and you don’t have sticky/slippery soap anywhere but in the shower.

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Water play in the tub with different sized bowls & funnels. My daughter is 4 and still loves to just play in the tub! You don't have to have a lot of fancy bath toys either. My mom got her a set of 4 different sized funnels from an auto store haha She loves them! She also tends to take her play kitchen toys into the tub--all those little cups, bowls, pans, spoons, etc.

She also loves for me to find her coloring pages online and print them out. I just go to Google images and search. She'll come up and tell me she wants to color Scooby Doo, so I search 'scooby doo coloring page' and voila! lol

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maybe you can check the craft store for fun things her age? she could also "help" you cook/bake. there is always turning up the music and dancing ;)

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Balloons, preferably big ones are our favorites. For active play I also turn on music and we dance (dressing up with butterfly wings encouraged...).
I cannot wait for winter to be over....

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bubbles, dancing, coloring, painting, put on a swimsuit and fill the tub then let her splash to her heart's content with the curtain closed- the swim suit is the key so you can tell her that is the only time she can splash in the tub like that, tents, tunnels, clean up a slide and bring it inside, bring in ride on toys, set up an area that she can roll or throw balls, if you look on my website http://www.freewebs.com/tarastoyland you can see how I turn baby gates into a ball pit

I have 4 kids that age in my daycare right now and they are busy all the time!

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