Sahm Seeking Suggestions for at Home Activities to Do with My Toddler

There is a magazine called "Family Fun" that I get, and it's loaded with lots of fun things to do! There's also a website at www.familyfun.go.com, and it's a Disney-based website. I have a little boy who is 2 1/2, and he doesn't play well by himself, either, so I literally get *nothing* done! He's going to his grandparents' for 2 weeks, so hopefully I can get my house "back in order" (if only for a few days!) :)

I completely understand the "being bored" part, and I'm having a tough time dealing with it, especially since I have a really hard time getting down on the floor to play with him! (If I do manage to get down on the floor, I'm almost always "stuck" there! YIKES!!!)

Anyway, check out the website...I'm sure you'll find lots of "play" ideas!!

1 mom found this helpful

When my kids were this age, this is what I did:

1. Get some index cards.
2. Get an index card holder.
3. Write activities on there that you guys can do together.
4. When you get bored, pull one out! (I did one a day, and made it a big deal. My kids always looked forward to "the box"!)

Some ideas for the cards...
take a walk in the park
fingerpaint
walk around the mall
go to your local art center & look at monthly exhibits
have an indoor picnic
color 4 pages in coloring book
dance to music
learn abc's
learn to count
learn colors
learn body parts
go for walk in park
etc
etc
etc

Good luck!

1 mom found this helpful

There are lots of craft ideas on the web- but I really liked a book called "The Toddler Busy Book" (can't remember the author) and then there is a "The Preschooler Busy Book". So, the crafts/ projects are age-appropriate. There is always good old Playdoh and fingerpainting.

Sometimes I just needed to get out of the house for a change of scenery. We go to the Sunland Park Mall play area- we try to go early (around 9:30/10am before alot of people get there) and they keep it very clean. Library story times are great too for toddlers!

Also, have you considered joining a mom's group? Sometimes it is nice to have a playgroup to go to- adult conversation for you and playmates for your daughter. There are a couple of options in West El Paso- Mother's & More (www.mothersandmore.org) and a church-based MOPS group (www.mops.org)- I belong to both and have made great friends and always have something to do if I want to!

Good Luck!

1 mom found this helpful

Hey, T.-
I have 2.5 yr old b/g twins, and I know we love playdough, fingerpainting, coloring on the dry erase easel, coloring with washable markers and crayons, we glue lots of pom poms and pipecleaners to things, we find "treasures" outside (rocks, feathers, etc.) and create art out of those, etc. Joanns and Michaels each have a few aisles of crafts geared to all ages that could keep you busy for a long time. Usborne books also makes some great books for cooking together (love the "Fairy Cooking" cookbook - and so easy and yummy with the kiddos) and some great "search for" books where there is a duck hidden on each page or there are multiple things on a page they need to find. I also got my three yr. old niece a "Fairy Princess Activity Kit" that has all the stuff to make great girl stuff, including a tiara. Good luck!

they have some really great craft projects at Joanns and Michaels. There are these things called Nuddles that you get them damp and they stick together they are fun you can make things with them.
Michaels also has classes for preschoolers I dont know the ages for sure.
Librarys have reading times for toddlers.
Some malls have free play areas Ridgmar mall is the best.
Glenview Baptist has a play area that is free on certain Mondays.
I would even look on Family Fun's website they might have some more Ideas.. You could even invite mommy and there daughters to a Tea party!
Ok thats all I have
Have Fun

Hey, I usually don't answer alot of these things, but I liked your naration about yourself, because I know I am just like that as well.
My daughter is two years also, and besides playing at home, outside, in the mall, we also make sure we have friends to go to and to invite. Whatever extra time there is to be bored, I try to make her play by herself, and remind myself that every job has its slow, boring times. Although I try not to look at taking care of my daughter as a job, it really is, so is the house, cooking, cleaning etc. I remind myself life should not all just be fun and games, so it is changing my mental attitude that helps me cope with the boredom or lonelyness, etc. It is good for your daughter as well to learn she can not have fun 24/7, That it is okay to just be.
Anyway, hope this helped a little

T.,

Depending on where you live there may be a Stroller Strides in the area. It is a great way to get out of the house, get a fantastic workout while your daughter has a blast in the stroller. They also have a moms group that meets and offers weekly playgroups and other activities. Knowing that there is somewhere you can go every morning for an hour....or more if you stay and chat/play, definitely breaks up the day! Hope this helps. Their website is www.strollerstrides.com.

My son just turned 4 and he has been into arts and crafts stuff lately. We took a walk down the crayola isle of our local target and loaded up on a bunch of stuff, paints, brushes, big pads of paper etc. When he is bored we get out the art supplies and he has a great time.

my two year old loves anything that involves glue sticks! We get old magazines and he picks out pictures and I help him cut them out and he glues them onto a piece of construction paper and is so proud of his creations.
Last year for christmas we got a little tykes plastic cube/slide and decided to set it up in the living room so they would see it in the morning. You would not believe how much fun they(a 6, 3, and 1 year old) had on that thing inside! Especially because it was not 'supposed' to be inside. We ended up leaving it inside for a few weeks and it was a club house, slide, and climber for them. If you have enough room something like that is great for a rainy day or you could keep a small slide in the garage on some foam mats for safe indoor activity.
If the weather is good, my son loves to rake leaves with me.
good luck

I do lots of crafts and have found that my oldest son (age 7) loves to help or to craft "kid" things. Some of our favorites are
1. Take a few old socks that have lost it's mate (face it we all have some lurking around our house) use fabric,fabric paint, yarn, doll hair, buttons, fake eyelashes, felt pieces or any other materials you can come up with, to make sock puppets. Then use a cardboard box to make a puppet stage. You can use pens, pencils, crayons, or markers to draw stage lights and props. You can even go as far as to make a small version of a stage curtain or even add some christmas lights by poking them through small holes cut in the cardboard soa s to hide the wire part in the back so you can't see it. YOu can make cardboard props and furniture and attach pieces of velcro to the box and the "prop" and stick then to the front and sides to make a spacific room. There are tons of things you can add... if you are bored with the old toys use them as props on your stage. If you don't want to make the puppets, you can always use exsisting toys as your puppets. It's pretty funny for an adult to see a ninja Turtle and a barbie Mcdonald's toy have a conversation or even get married LOL. My boys LOVE to play with an empty box.. and this is one activity that can go on forever. We have even watched a movie and then acted the movie out with our "puppets". Other things that can be done with a box or boxes are.. make a resturant, a school, the store, a doctor or hospital, be a teacher, have a car race with sound effects try even wrecking and falling out.. Kids love that. You can do just about anything, and can cater to a childs personal interests. We have also painted and colerd rocks... find flat smooth rocks and use paints or markers to decorate them... or take crayons and color them than put them on a foil lined cookie sheet and bake them long enough for the wax to melt in to the cracks, let them cool and then polish them with tissue or a cloth. These make great gifts for teachers and grandparents. You can also make a chia pet garden in warmer months... take a dozen eggs and the carton... cut the top of the carton and crack just the top portion of the egg, empty the eggs and rinse them out. When dry fill each egg 3 quartes full with potting soil, and add flower or grass seeds of your choice. Draw cute faces with markers or even decorate the eggs face how we discussed for the puppets, the more interesting the items the more interesting the face. You can also add little clothes and decorate the carton. Sit your egg family a sunny place and have your child water them each day. As you family's hair grows you can have the kids cut it into diffrent styles or part it and add little hair clips or string and yarn for hair bows. Again the possibilities are endless. There are tons of these type of activites and just as many websites devoted to them. And you can find things for all ages so devote a little time to finding a good website that gives you ideas that you feel you ae capable of carrying out. NOthing has to be perfect so don't be afraid of messing up or making mistakes.. you kids will think it's great no matter how perfessional it looks. Besides the time you spend together having fun is the real treasure anyway. Wich reminds me you can also hide tings and have a treasue hunt around the house or outside if the weather permits. Make a map or use the cold, warm, warmer, hot, burning hot method of looking.I hope these ideas help and give you lots of fun times with your kids. Good luck, and God Bless! Love, C.

Absolutely recommend Toddler Play it is a guide to playing with toddlers by month age. It so helped me. I got it at half price along with Baby Play when I was pregnant but I am sure you could get it from someone or amazon. It is one of my favorite books as it is pretty easy to read and flip through for ideas. Also the stuff in it pretty much is lying around your house like blowing bubbles, hide a toy under a coffee cup or plastic cup and try to get your kid to find it. So much fun and inexpensive. -J.

My son (3) and daughter (almost 2) love to color. I have to watch my daughter, but they can color for a while. They also love to play with play dough. You might also look into a mom and tot program.

a friend of mine who is a preschool teacher told me about a company that you can subscribe to their service for $10 a month, and they send you everything you need for a craft project every day. she said it's simple, easy, fun stuff, and you're not stuck with a huge bag of popsicle sticks at the end of the month. I'll try to find the name of it. has anyone else heard of this?

My toddler loves doing chores with me. it takes much longer, but it keeps him busy. he gets to dump the soap in the washing machine and throw clothes in, unload the dishwasher with me, i put him on a step stool in front of the sink with a dish brush and a pan to wash, and he'll swish around for quite a while. we like to make the bed together (and jump on it after) and he LOVES to spray bottles, so he gets to spray and wipe the table and countertops (and anything else I'll let him) with me.

you could make homemade playdough together- very easy and fun to measure, dump and stir- and then let her play with it. try to get her started on an activity, and then slowly move to your own activity so she learns to play on her own. it is important that she learn to use her imagination and not be entertained all the time.

between 2 and 3 is when they start to pretend. once my son started pretending, he entertained himself a lot better. he'll be 3 in a month. i think 3 is way easier than 2. they change a lot in a year.

sometimes i'll set the timer and tell him i can play after my work is done. i'll get him set with an activity, and then do 15 min. work and then 15 min. play. then repeat. after he believed me that he really would get his play time, he liked this.

do you have anyone you can do playdates with? it gives you adult conversation and you get a break from being the primary playmate. can you get out of the house? he loves going, going, going. most errands can be made fun if you involve them. instead of driving through the post office, go inside and let her hand the letter to the mailman. that kind of thing.

a lot of my friends use mother's day out at our church one morning a week. i'll bet she's not too young for something like that.

good luck. you sound like a wonderful mom!

Before I started having my own babies I worked for a daycare and I took care of several 2-3 year old children. There are books you can buy that have all sorts of ideas, but the ones that I liked the best were kind of messy. For instance, we would all sit down at the table and (while wearing plastic aprons) we would play with shaving cream. The kids loved being able to make their own shapes with it. You can also add different colors with food coloring and it makes it fun for them. Also, I would mix together cornstarch and water. The properties of this combination makes for tons of fun. If you keep it moving (like rubbing it in a ball in your hands) it stays solid, but as soon as you let it go it's a liquid again. It's so neat!
There are all sorts of science experiments that can help her learn and explore and expand her imagination, but are still just a lot of fun for the two of you to do together.

I only have the summers free- but the first thing on my daily schedule was always the playground. I would take them to different ones nearby to make it more fun. Also, there are always things going on at local libraries for children. The McKenna Childrens Museum is really nice and I know you can join for a year if you want to go often. The Oriental Trading Company also has many easy crafts to work on for a reasonable price.

Have you ever heard of MOPS. I attend a MOPS group at Cielo Vista Church on the Eastside. MOPS is mothers of preschoolers. It is two days a month for about 2 to 3 hrs. Kiddos go into the nursery and moms hang out with other moms we have breakfast a speaker, group time and a craft. The nursery workers keep the kiddos busy!!! and then you can hang out with other moms!!!!

Help her make her own bank. Colored paper, ric rac, glitter or anything else you can scrounge up around the house can be glued (glue stick( to pringles cans, empty oatmeal container etc. When she's through, you can used a solution of 1/2 glue 1/2 water to paint over her artwork to enhance stability and make a slit in the top for her money. This idea will also work on shoeboxes for her to store her "treasures" in. You can also make a piggy bank out of an empty milk jug that has been washed. Corks available at any craft store serve as the feet, pipe cleaner tail and felt decorations will complete everything except the slit that you make for her.
You can also make cookie dough ornaments together for Christmas. I don't have the recipe (look online for it) for the dough but I still have the ornaments that my kids (15, 20, 30 & 35) made as youngsters.

Another mom gave me this idea and it was great--we got a big tub of corn meal and I "hid" seashells in it. You can vary this with rice. It can be messy so I put a sheet under it and when the girls were done, I'd shake it outside. My girls were 2 and 5 when we did this and they not only found seashells, but it was great for measuring cups etc. Have fun.

You can go to Barnes And Nobles and pick up a Pre-school Activity book in the children's book section. I bought mine one when he was this young. It has lots of stuff in it for them to do. You can also go to walmart and pick up some arts and crafts supplies and have some fun creating new things. You can take puff balls and add googly eyes(my son's favorite thing) and add feathers to make birds. Take a red cup and glue a syrofome ball on the top. Draw eyes, mouth and glue on some cotton for a beard. Santa. You can also do this with a white one for Frosty. For a neat gift for someone, glue 2 cups together and fill it with candy and decorate it accordingly. Take paper plates and decorate them to look like animals. You can make a bunny (cut one paper plate in half and glue on top for ears), panda, puppy, kitty. You can cut out eye holes to make them masks too. Since Thanksgiving is coming up, you can have her make a great center peice for the table. Get a large syrofome ball. Cut off a small part of the bottom so it can sit on the table. Have her glue feathers to it and get some brown and orange construction paper construction paper to make the head and beak. Googly eyes too LOL. Have fun doesn't have to be perfect, just has to be made with love.

You're welcome to check out our playgroup - we have lots of activities for moms and toddlers :)

http://sahp.meetup.com/53/boards/

Have you tried joining a playgroup? Or getting her enrolled at a local music and movement program for the winter? Like Kindermusik?

Both my kids are envolved in Kindermusik and they absolutely love it!!!! Indoors and already loving music...

We used to cook. She loved to help stir and pour. Granted....it gets messy for mom but it creates get time together.

My "baby" is 12 now. She loves to cook and we have traditional things we do at different times of the year. From the time she was a baby, we made these special Easter egg candies. Right now, we have people start asking us when the Easter candy will be done about 4 weeks before Easter every year. Last year, it was fun but it has turned into a job because we made 300 hand made little eggs, all dipped in chocolate and individually wrapped. This time of year is when we make a lot of Chex mix and our home made cranberry sauce.

Also, my daughter loves making playdough. It was fun, stayed nice and fresh for a long time in a ziploc. We made all kinds of colors and used cookie cutters to play with it.

I think the Pillsbury Flour bag, not positive, but one of the flour bags, has an offer on the back for a first cookbook. I bought about 10 of those (Only $2 or so each) and the children loved them!

Susan

Hi! You may have heard some of these ideas before, but they usually work for me. On rainy days, the pet store is usually a big hit. It is free and there is a lot to look at. Also, when my son can't get outside to run around, we push aside the furniture in the living room and bat a balloon around. Even if he doesn't hit it much he gets excited watching silly mommy jump around to keep it in the air. I get a good workout too! Is there a good mall near by with a play area? We also go there on rainy days. There is almost always one other child to play with. Sometimes I even take a magazine. We also enjoy going to the shops that have great Christmas displays. My son loves to look at the pretty lights. We also "cook" together. He helps add the ingredients and helps stir and plays with the measuring cups and spoons. Just don't expect anything to turn out perfectly! Hope these ideas help!

I spend a lot of time on the chaulk board teaching letters. How to write our name, numbers, colors. We do flash cards with pictures and sounds. State capitals, birds and flowers. Presidents. Any learning. The Cha Cha Slide dance that teaches right and left, Reverse. How to measure making cookies together. What boiling is and browning and how much is a cup or teaspoon. They are sponges. They learn by doing and saying the same things over and over. I have a stuborn boy who it has taken 2 months to lean colors and his name. But it is learning. Even says he does not want to. Now with other kids doing it becomes more of a challenge. Pass balls to right, left stop left, right. Any activity that will keep their attention. My nephew taught himself to read at 2. The parents thought he was just telling what the pictures were doing but found out he was actually reading. Good luck G. W

Since you have a computer it might be fun for you to go onto the Disney website and use the computer together. They have games that are free and a variety of free things to download such as coloring pages etc. Another super neat site for holiday related activities and some on-line activities you can do with your child is www.Northpole.com Check it out. They have everything from storybooks and activity pages you can print to holiday reciepes, to on-line games. You can even compose an email to santa there. It's a really neat site.

Since we are moving into the holiday season, doing some Thanksgiving and/or Christmas oriented crafts could be fun too. Maybe even a hand made count-down calendar she could hand where you cross off the days until Thanksgiving or Christmas might be fun to create together. It could give her some practice using colored paper, scisscors, glue, sparkles, colors (or anything else fun) to make a neat creation for the holiday season.

If its a change of scenary you are looking for, check into the local bookstores and/or librarys for days and times when they hold story time for kids. Maybe look into enrolling in a Gymboree, Little Gym, or KinderMusik class? Try playdates with a local mom's group. There are some places that offer indoor swimming lessons if you are looking for something non-typical for the winter season that might be a fun experience for you both. You might also consider a good mothers day out program if you would like to get a mini-mom-break and give her a change of scenary and a chance to have some social interactions with kids close to her age/stage.

Best of luck to you!

Let her help you around the house. I always let my little ones pick up the dirty clothes, they help me fold them. It may of not been perfect, but they did it and put their own up and made them feel big. Give her a chair and let her help you in the kitchen. like give you the spoons to cook with, let her help empty the dishwasher, I even taught mine to dust. Being mommy's helper is fun if you make a game with it and she will be a great house keeper when she grows up.
Make cookies together, popcorn, easy dinners let her help. This gives her a lot of time with you and you will be surprise how much she will learn.
Enjoy her now and do things all the time together for they grow up to fast...
A. T.
A little about me. A mother of 4 and grandmother of 5 so far. I enjoyed each of my children, but my grandchildren do all of this also just as much as my children did and we enjoyed doing the things together.
On pretty days we go on picnics. Just take a blanket, and some food from the house, with drinks and go to somewhere where they could run and play... This was a great joy to do. Now they do it with their children.

My youngest is 3 and we love doing "homework" together during the day since his older brother gets to do that when he's home from school. He's been doing crafts and preschool things, but for a two year old you can just have coloring books and crayons. If you are interested, there's a neat site that teaches the alphabet at www.starfall.com. He loved to go though that site at 2 (and still does). For crafts, there are a ton of sites out there. One that hasn't been listed is enchantedlearning.com. You can also try to google "coloring sheets to print." Have her do those on her own (get her started then step away) and then show off her work on the fridge.

Hi T.,

I agree with the other 2 posters....art supplies are awesome! You could buy a book from a teacher store to help you with some fun things you could create, or just go to WalMart or Target and go down the Crayola aisle and buy some good art supplies. Also, my daughter LOVES playdough. They have some really cool stuff you can do with that too.

I'm not sure where you live or if you already do this, but we go to toddler time at the library every week for something interesting to do. It's free and the kids listen to stories, sing songs and do a craft. That gets us out of the house and she has a great time. Then, we check out some books and new music CDs and take them home so that she has something new to read. Just another suggestion if you need some tips on getting out of the house too. Just check with your local library to see if/when they offer something similar.

Best of luck!

What about Story Hour at your local library? Also, is there a gymnastics club in your area? If so, call about parent and tot classes.

A few other things I didn't see that you listed are painting, play-do, making necklaces/bracelets, and moon sand. Melissa and Doug has a good bead and string set that my daughter loves to play with. Also, as for the moon sand, I really don't like how messy it is, but if I put her at the table or on the floor (we have wood floors), I just set it out for her knowing I will have to vacuum a lot of it up when she's done. And she really likes it.

One other thing that I have found helpful is to make sure that she has some alone time to play. I set a timer for her, at first it was just a few minutes, and now I set it for about 45 minutes, and she plays in our playroom by herself. When I first started it, she resisted it, but now she loves it....it is so amazing to hear how creative she can be, playing pretend with her dolls or pretend school or building things, and she never would make the effort to be so creative like that when I was there to entertain her and play with her 24/7...and she is so proud when she comes to tell me she built something or colored something all by herself. As much as they need time with us, I also think it is very good for kids to have time alone, to learn to entertain themselves sometimes.

Hope that helps.

Try the web site "familyfun.com. They have lots of different activities, craft projects, fun food, printable games and coloring pages. There is a wealth of fun stuff to do from home. You might try a library story time, or Radi-Jazz in Austin. It is an indoor playscape, great for rainy, cold days.
Good luck.

You should be able to find an activity book out there somewhere. One that instructs on how to make cut outs using plates, cups, construction paper and glueing them together to make things. The book I have was bought while I lived in London, so I don't know for sure if you can find something like that, but I would think so. My daughter and I also make cookies together. She really likes to use the cookie cutters to make shapes. It can be messy, but it takes up a good hour or two. Sometimes I take her to Target and let her play with things on the toy isle. This can be diffacult when you leave, so You'll need to create a distraction or "mommy needs to go potty" excuse.

There is a store called Lakeshore which has all kinds of learning supplies, books, toys, etc. I think its probably used by a lot of teachers. Not sure if its in your town though.

My daughter is 3 and she plays by herself really well. I helped her with imaginative play by naming all her stuffed animals and dolls when they are given to her. Then I'd say, "let's have Brown Bear watch you go potty so he can learn how too". Or "I think Betsy is sleepy, she needs a nap". For a while she was almost obsessive with taking them around with her. Now its a little more normal, but she's always back there playing and talking to them. Its definitely beneficial to them (and you), that they can entertain themselves too. Good luck, T.

Hi T., Its always glad to hear and see someone being a good mom. I'm sure you have a schedule for when you clean and when you are doing activities and you have some great ideas from everyone but I wanted to share this. When I had babies and toddlers I made one of the cabinets their cabinet so when I was busy in the kitchen the baby or toddler would be in their cabinet with all their safe dishes like tupperware, wood spoons anything that made noise but not too much noise. The cabinet that I had was pretty big I had also put books in there. My kids would sit inside the cabinet and look at books and rattle their dishes. Made them feel so important that they had their own cabinet. I made one of the end tables their's to so when I was cleaning the den they'd play in that one too. Also don't stress to much about staying busy the best thing you can teach your child is to be content with reality of life that we have our solemn time also. Children are like us they need some down time to. To get excercise we went for a stroll or a bike ride when weather permitted and we'd work on learning activities in the morn. Your very wise not to put to much tv in the day.

Don't feel stupid... you are not alone...

You could read a book.... or make your own book with her coloring a picture and you writing down what she tells you it means... finger painting or chalk on the driveway outside is fun. Grocery shopping or just window shopping at the mall. Dancing to music from the radio or kids music cds...

These are activities my daughter and I do...

J.

Don't feel stupid asking such things...and don't expect a two year old to have much of an attention span. Her attention probably lasts longer when she's playing with you than it does when she is by herself. Does your local library have any story hours or anything like that for the kids? I have been taking my kids to the library for activities or just to hang out since they were newborn babies. They are now twelve and eight years old, and love to go to the library all the time. I bet there, you can find some nice activity books in the children's section that will jog your imagination. Also, you probably are very tired. I always say that motherhood is not for wienies.

Have a Great Day!
L. Santiago