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ACTIVITY => Activity Time & Toddler Activity => Topic started by: Caroline-Charlies Mummy on July 31, 2006, 23:50:59 pm
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You know the 'What did your toddler eat today' thread? Well, I'd love one for Activities, as I think I'm struggling, but then again, I'm not sure.
Ds is 15 months, and we do things like reading, playing with his toys, and he loves playing football in the garden. We sometimes go out, but it's usually only to the shops, which can't be very interesting for him. Oh, he likes going on the swings.
Anyone got any ideas? I worry that I'm not 'stimulating' his brain development enough, just b/c I can't think of things to do with him :(
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I'm sure you're stimulating his brain development enough, but I know it's easy to feel like you're not doing enough, especially when you are starting to get bored with the daily activities.
How about walking to different parks to try out different playgrounds or to go for picnics. You could listen to music and dance. I find that if I mix up the activities I do in the backyard with ds it keeps both of us from getting bored. In the backyard you could blow bubbles, write with sidewalk chalk, run through the sprinkler, etc. How about some arts and crafts activities such as colouring, painting, sponge painting, play doh, gluing foam shapes onto paper, etc? Ds loves art...his favourite 'project' these days is sticking stickers onto construction paper (not very creative, but he loves it and it keeps him busy).
:)
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We do the same types of things as already listed....just a walk down the sidewalk can provide TONS of entertaining things to see and explore, if you look at it from a toddler's point of view! ;)
We sit in the grass and touch it - look at ants, worms, etc ;D We go to the park so that he can get some interaction with other kids, although at this stage it's more about "MINE!".
When we're inside, we have a tent we set up (you could make your own with sheets!) and we play restaurant, or hide and seek.
We color with washable crayons or markers. We build blocks, and while building them we name the colors.
We play with cars and trains ALOT. We also do sports activities....we have a mini basketball hoop and we shoot the ball, we play soccer, T-ball, etc...mostly in teh house, but when it's nice enough to be outside we take our sports with us!
I did something last winter, when I was getting kind of stir crazy and knew ds was too...I filled his baby pool up wiht rice in the kitchen and stuck him in there to play!! He had a BLAST!!! You could use packing peanuts, rice, puff popcorn, anything really!!! He played for almost an hour, and to have his attention on one thing for that long was AWESOME!!! I gave him cups and bowls to scoop.
Another thing, when you're outside, tell him about everything you see..."oohhh, pretty flowers!!! Would you like to smell the flower? It's a pink flower! Doesn't that feel nice?". Same for trees, grass, whatever!! It really got ds interested in those types of things, and now he will point out pretty flowers for mommy!! ;D
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Hello Caroline - great idea for a thread.
I am also at a loss as what to do and I feel it is a fine line between letting Mia chill out and letting her get bored or giving lots to do and then overstimulating her. I don;t want her to be the type of child who is only happy when she is doing a structured activity. I love it when I see her flicking through her books, then giving her teddies a cuddle, then having a crawl round - just amusing herself.
She goes to nursery one full day and two half days a week and on top of that we go swimming once or twice a week and I always try and get her out in her buggy for some fresh air.
My main problem is with toys.......I find they are very expensive and she's bored with them as soon as she's mastered them. Does anyone have any good ideas for cheap - or even no cost - toys? I've done the fill an old handbag up with child safe tat but would love to hear some more moms ideas.
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Great topic.
Ben is 18 months and whilst he is very good at entertaining himself and playing with dd I do feel like between the housework, cooking, laundry and BW ( :-[) that he is somewhat neglected. If he weren't such and angel baby he would probably get more of my time.
I would love some new ideas.
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What?? Caroline?? you mean you're not even taking him to the pub for a game of darts or pool?? ;)
pots & pans on the lawn are a good idea, especially now in the good weather. you can fill some up with water.
a watering can is also pretty good - my DD seems to have endless fun with that
I always found that outdoor trips, whether they be at the shops or at the park or with friends always took up lots of time and entertains the young ones, especially if there is at least a half-hour car trip involved there and back.
Good luck :-*
N.B. One very good hint I got from my sister was to allow the children to get bored - don't 'feel' that you need to entertain them constantly otherwise they'll always depend on your input. Of course 15mths is still pretty young, but I always tried to start off a game with DD and then observe and sometimes disappear for a little while too
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Mine are older than yours but anyway here goes:
Outside:
they LOVE cleaning - fill a bowl with washing up water, give them scourers and mops and they'll clean their toys, the patio, the garden furniture, anything!!
we try and eat outside as much as poss at the moment - have a picnic rug, pack sandwiches and it can turn into a great adventure in your back garden
digging in sand and dirt
looking for ants/snails/worms
Places to go
Garden Centres are fantastic places for young kids - they've got animals, water features, plants, books and usually a restaurant - and they're free! We go loads and they never get bored of it!
Leisure Centres often have great activities laid on - go and check it out. Mine has a great indoor play session every week with a giant bouncy castle, races, singing and games and loads of free play - good place to make friends too
Supermarkets are fascinating for kids - my eldest went through a phase when she was probably just a bit older than Charlie of begging to go!!!! And it's so educational - her knowledge of veg is second to none!
Our days are usually filled with an activity/outing either morning or afternoon and then playing at home/outside during the other half - now mine are that bit older I'd have them climbing the walls if they didn't get out and do something every day
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At Christmas and Easter and Birthdays we always make our own cards. Nathan is so proud (even now) when he gives a home made card.
Cooking is also a favourite and they had so many easter eggs this year that I melted down the chocolate and made cornflake cakes and we handed them to all the kids in the street (I was not popular as all the mums were already moaning about all the junk they had got for Easter and then I added to it but at least mine didn't mind sharing theirs)
Cooking is a great way to learn about numbers, colours etc and also can encourage healthy eating, they are more likely to eat something if they have had an input in the creation and who knows, maybe you will help to create a Master chef and they will repay you in the future by cooking you a fantastic meal.
I do agree though that the great outdoors is the place for stimulation, there is so much to see when you go for a walk and I often do this in anticipation of tiring them out ready for a restful night. (some hope!!)
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I'm going to keep an eye on this thread because I have days too where I feel like I haven't done anything with DD or that she's just been bored all day. I feel like a terrible mother some days. :(
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{{{{{{hugs}}}}}} Rach - repeat after me "I am not a terrible mother, I am not a terrible mother". Tbh, I think you've got enough on your plate at the moment, don't you? Charlotte seems like such a happy little soul, and as my mother says "a bit of boredom is good for the soul".
Thanks for all the great replies! Keep them coming - they're great :)
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Caroline, THANKYOU :-* I get so worried to that Shay is getting bored so this will be a life saver. I'm going to start doing some of these things. Do you find that you forget they have got older and can now do more things or is it just me?
Faye :-*
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Nathan went to the museum with his Grandma today and I thought 'I bet he will be bored' but no, he had a fantastic time, they had treasure hunts and competitions and they were there for 5 hours. They are usually free and they do all sorts over the holidays. Might check out another one close by for the older kids myself.
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DD is now 16mths and I can see the line blurring between her and DS who is 3 & 3mths - they do a lot of the same things (just different skill levels... ;)). DD doesn't walk, but she does fine with all these things anyway.
- Throw/roll the ball
- A big potplant pot (without the plant since mummy forgot to water it) with dirt out on the patio - they transfer the dirt into smaller pots, make a mess and I sweep it up every day.
- Water play - a large tub of water with some toys out on the deck
- Playground - swings and slides are a hit at the moment
- Walking with the trolley - transferring toys in and out
- Shape type toys - we talk about the shapes and colours
- Stacking rings - same thing, we talk about colours and she's figuring out which order they all go in
- Stacking blocks
- Train track
- I hang up the washing and name who's items are who's and what they are and the colours
- Ditto with the dishwasher
- She will flip through her books on her own for a good 1/2 hr at a time
- Loves me reading books to her
- All the couch cushions on the floor, made into huts, blankets over the top - I make a ramp and she'll go up and down, up and down...
- Posting pegs through the fireguard (while I name them - I'm usually hanging washing up on drying racks infront of the fire) - I then get them all out again and she does it again...
I must admit though, for the majority of the day she's happy to potter around doing most of those things on her own and I just talk to her or name things that she's doing etc, if I see her pick up her shape toy, then I will sit with her, if she brings me a book I stop what I'm doing and read to her. Most days we go out for playdates or to the park or the shops - they're all entertainment. You don't need to feel that everything that happens that you need to be teaching things - they pick up a lot on their own.
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Great idea for a post as we are also running out of ideas to do things with DD getting older.
She is getting a little bored with her toys and their are some great ideas here. It make it so hard with it being winter and it is often windy where we life and i hate going out in the wind. I am hoping she will get some great new toys for her birthday.
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There is a little stream that runs past a playpark where we live and DS had a happy half hour throwing pebbles in the water. He also loves the beach, especially if they have rockpools and I bring a small ball.
He loves being outside and when we come back from nursery I let him go freerange wherever he wants (mind you, we live in a cul-de-sac with grounds around the corner), often dragging a brush behind him and with the family cat in tow (the neighbours are used to the sight :))
We also do some gardening and potter with compost and a watering can. I've hung mobiles and shells on the garden walls for him and he has a collection of shells and smooth stones for playing in the water with
The best toys and games are those that we all make up. DH picked up a card board box, cut holes for eyes and mouth and now it's a mask. We play toddler basket ball with balls and a bucket
He also loves physical play, particularly bouncing on the bed or pouncing on Daddy
I remember that there is a whole list of activities for 1-2 YOs and 2-3 YOs on this board that's excellent but I haven't got the time to try and locate it now
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Hi Caroline!
I can TOTALLY relate to your post!!!! I feel this way almost every day, sadly! ::) We go to the library about once a week. They have story time 4X a week but we don't go a lot due to still transitioning to 1 nap a day. We have gone once and it was so neat. They sang songs, did fingerplays and read a story. They even have free story times at a lot of the bookstores here in the US. Don't know about the UK but that might be something to check out. We also have a little baby pool that I fill up (the thing DS likes most is putting his hand in the water coming out of the hose!) and we play in there for as long as he wants. He likes to dig in dirt like PP have said. I also collected some shells from our beach trip and he likes looking at those and taking them out/putting them in a bucket.
Yesterday we went to a play area that was really amazing! It cost $10 for both of us but was worth it. They had a kitchen area, grocery area, castle, boat, firetruck, "movement" area, play hospital area, art area, water play area and it was so cool! It costs $95 a year to join and you can go as often as you like which I may consider because right now, in the US, it's horribly hot and too hot to even play outside. And it would be good for wintertime, too. Since it's been so hot here, that's made things worse as far as finding things to do! We also have gone to the local pool and that was fun. They have a baby pool area and it's not expensive at all.
Will definitely be looking for more ideas as I am desperate, too!
Suzanne
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William born 3/23/05
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Holly loves painting the fence with water at the moment, she's got a tub of water by the fence and a paintbruch (use a child's one or a decorating one) and she stay there for ages, let it dry then start again!!!
She's really into role play so we do a lot of that, she's got that from watching the tv - she pretends to be sportacus! )I'm Robbie and Daddy is Ziggy) or she pretends to be Dora. She's just got a dolls house and loves playing with that.
She loves books and playing on the computer too.
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Holly loves painting the fence with water at the moment, she's got a tub of water by the fence and a paintbruch (use a child's one or a decorating one) and she stay there for ages, let it dry then start again!!!
I LOVE that idea!!
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Hide and Seek. You might have to adapt it depending on age.
DS loves to chase me around the house, I will hide behind a corner or closet and jump out at him. He goes into hysterics.
Gets him nice and tired too!!! :) :) :)
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Suzanne, what play area do you go to? I'd like to find one in my area, but I don't know what to search for.
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Hello Caroline - great idea for a thread.
I am also at a loss as what to do and I feel it is a fine line between letting Mia chill out and letting her get bored or giving lots to do and then overstimulating her. I don;t want her to be the type of child who is only happy when she is doing a structured activity. I love it when I see her flicking through her books, then giving her teddies a cuddle, then having a crawl round - just amusing herself.
She goes to nursery one full day and two half days a week and on top of that we go swimming once or twice a week and I always try and get her out in her buggy for some fresh air.
My main problem is with toys.......I find they are very expensive and she's bored with them as soon as she's mastered them. Does anyone have any good ideas for cheap - or even no cost - toys? I've done the fill an old handbag up with child safe tat but would love to hear some more moms ideas.
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Hello Caroline - great idea for a thread.
I am also at a loss as what to do and I feel it is a fine line between letting Mia chill out and letting her get bored or giving lots to do and then overstimulating her. I don;t want her to be the type of child who is only happy when she is doing a structured activity. I love it when I see her flicking through her books, then giving her teddies a cuddle, then having a crawl round - just amusing herself.
She goes to nursery one full day and two half days a week and on top of that we go swimming once or twice a week and I always try and get her out in her buggy for some fresh air.
My main problem is with toys.......I find they are very expensive and she's bored with them as soon as she's mastered them. Does anyone have any good ideas for cheap - or even no cost - toys? I've done the fill an old handbag up with child safe tat but would love to hear some more moms ideas.
Do you have a toy library in your area. We childminders use them quite a lot. Where are you and I will ask my local toy library if you have one too. (sorry, forgot to check to see if you were UK)
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There are some great ideas here, thanks guys, keep up coming :)
We went to a garden centre yesterday, and ds loved it - saw some fish, some rabbits, birds, 'ucks' (ducks ;)), and had a ball dancing in the shop to some 60s music with the assistant :D. Thanks for the tip.
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I remembered after reading through this thread :-\, that i've got a book about activities to do with children up to the age of 3!!!
I'm looking through it at the moment and will post some ideas for activities soon. They give variations depending on the age of your child.
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Ryan loves painting the fence too ! Also loves being Sportacus just watching him trying to do press ups is entertaining
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DD is older but here are the things we do while housebound due to heat at the moment,
Morning, while I cook lunch and prepare for the day dd goes to her cupboard and pulls out all the tupperware, wooden spoons and dry pasta and cooks, now we have included the "girls" in this game 5 of her dollies, we get up to an hour out of this.
Reading, have all her books in a box and she opens the box and goes through them all.
Colouring-doesnt last longer than 10 mins so might have to try something more adventurous soon.
Tea parties- she makes me cups of tea with lots of adding of sugar and stirring while I check on here.
Dancing- she particularly likes Kylie and Max Pezzali.
Small toy car which if you pull back goes by itself and beach ball, another good time killer:-)
Box of blocks, she has just gotten into doing this by herself.
"Here she comes" I lie on her soft toy cat which is seat shaped and she walks around me and then jumps on me, could get hours out of that! Also when I am making the bed she gets under the sheet and can spend half an hour fixing it over me and herself tucking us in.
Pillows on the floor, she thinks she is climbing :P
Bringing her dolls for a walk in their buggy around the house, got lots of time out of this one too.
Housework, she is great for laundry, likes to load the basket, then the washing machine, empty the machine and push the basket to the dryer to hang it up.
and if all else fails which it does frequently and she asks me for tv ( she watches 2 week after she got addicted in less than a week) I give her a bath in the morning and let her stay for ages.
We have now started to do a bit of baking the odd time in the afternoon, she helps by counting how much flour how many eggs I need etc
Reading back it seems like we have loads to do but we still go through the what am I going to do today phase and from 10.30 to 11.30 seems to be the longest hour before lunch. We also go out in the afternoon, late around 5pm despite the heat.
Fiona
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Hi Kim,
The play area we went to is a nonprofit organization and it is called Playspace Museum. The web address is http://www.playspacemuseum.com just to give you an idea of what it is like.
Suzanne
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William born 3/23/05
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Another variation on hide and seek is hiding their toys. DH keeps holly amused for over an hour by hiding her bath ducks in funny places in a room! She finds it hilarious. You can do it whilst doing otherthings too cos it takes them ages to find! She goes in a nother room whilst we hide them and says "no peeking" then we say "ready, come an find them".
Such a giggle!
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She loves books and playing on the computer too.
Do you have a separate computer for her or do you let her use yours? What does she do on it? What software does she use?
DD (16 mos) loves to reach for my mouse (it glows blue on the bottom), and she likes to bang on the laptop keyboard (which concerns me because she's really banging over the hard drive area :-\ ). I was thinking of setting up a separate older laptop that is laying around, just for her to play with. Of course, she'll need supervision while using it because I'm afraid the keys can pop off and although she probably won't put it in her mouth, it is still a choking hazard.
What I'm wondering is ... what kind of games do they have for very young toddlers? When I look at kid software at the store, they seem to be for the older preschooler and up.
Anyways, I'm not sure my LO is ready to actually "do" something on the computer, she's only just starting to grasp simple cause & effect ... like pressing buttons on the tv remote makes something happen on the tv.
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We play on our main computer, I go on cbeebies mostly, Nick Jnr and Disney. Cbeebies is the only one to have any relevant games.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/
http://nickjr.co.uk/shows/dora/index.aspx
http://www.disney.co.uk/DisneyChannel/playhouse/
Holly loves this game, you just have to hit the space bar to get something to happen
http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/teletubbies/funandgames/sucky_slurpy/index.shtml
How about just getting her a separate keyboard so she can bang away but not costing too much money?
We also have a little touch leappad - the baby version, she does it with me and is great for cause and effect and learning about computers.
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Marisa's Mom:
DH has come up with an idea to help DS with his word power: he goes into Yahoo/Images and pick up images that DS may recognise/words that he can say. They can have a stimulating 20 minutes together and DS seems to enjoy the practice
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Thanks for all the links. I've bookmarked them so I can look at them closer later.
I'll have to see if we have an old keyboard lying around. DH might have one. Now it's just a matter of finding room.
DH's main computer is a desktop so he has a regular keyboard. I'm hesitant about letting DD play on DH's computer though, cuz he uses it for work and I wouldn't want to mess up anything. I have a laptop, which is a bit more delicate.
I saw the Leappad in the stores and couldn't decide whether I wanted to get it or not. It's something I'd have to play around with to get a better feel for it. They don't have working demos in the stores, and I don't know anyone who has one. For some things I'm more of a touchy/feely kind of shopper. Is she learning how to press buttons or do you have to do it for her?
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How do you get to Yahoo Images? I only see a search feature for images? Or is that what you meant ... search for images and then look through them together...
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Marisa's mom: DH has just said that he searches for images. Have fun !
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Well half of me thinks if anyone actually posts on this thread we aren't doing anything we say we are.....because we're posting on here ;D
HAHA...alright....(yes me included)....
It's a little trickier when I have my nephews here....BUT when I don't (like this week) I spend some times at the outdoor spray park (but of course it had to be closed this week >:(), go on walks up to the mall....I take Brooklyn to a local pet store and we play with the kittens in the adoption room (so cute) and to another local pet store to see the puppies, fish, and rabbits. We play outside in the sprinkler...she loves playing in the gravel pit (old parking spot from previous owners) in our backyard. I am going to start taking her to the library to check out books and such....I am also registering her (free) in a library "class" for two year olds in the fall. I just today registered her for swimming lessons for the fall (wahoo) and am also planning on gymnastics. It kinda sounds like overload, but if you consider the days of the week and the hours in each day - and each class is about 1/2 hour in length....I just might feel like I want to put her in more kwim???
She loves to help me do the laundry and prepare things in the kitchen (she LOVES washing and spinning the lettuce). And sometimes we just hang out and do puzzles and read books.....And more often than I would like she'll watch some tv..... :-\
We also have a playdate here at our house two mornings a week which we all love!!! someone brings an activity and someone else brings a small snack (watermelon, other fruit, etc....last time I juiced some watermelon and made some watermelon popsicles...BIG hit!!!)....sooo much fun!!!
Anyways.....haven't read all the posts.....hope you find some things to take up the time.
oh, Brooklyn also loves playing with stickers, colouring, and playing with her flannel board.
Ciao!
Hailey
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The leappad is stories that have interctive buttons to press on the stories. Holly had it for her 1st birthday, by the time we took it away with us on holiday at 18 months she was doing it by herself, she has to have help putting the cartridge and book in but she can work the rest by herself, but is also happy for me to do it with her.
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Hve you tried your little ones using the computer? Cbeebies website is excellent and that's how I introduced my son to computers (he's 5 now and very good with it) I personally love the links to teletubbies and tweenies, Alex loves it, we just listen to stories and songs and I point to what key she needs to press and she does it. Yesterday we made playdough and they played with it on the patio, before that we made cakes and had a picnic on the patio. I love this weather, my house stays a little tidier!!
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You made your own playdough? How do you do that? And how do you get them to play with it without putting it into their mouths?
We're still working on the drawing thing. I got her some of the Crayola Color Wonder mess free stuff. So I give her a marker and a blank piece of Color Wonder page. I try to hold the paper in place while showing her how to draw lines. She prefers to stab at the paper with the marker, touch the tip with her other hand, and try to put the marker in her mouth. ::)
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I haven't made playdough for dd yet, but certainly am going to try now that it's been mentioned. It's a fun "do with mommy" activity.....
Here's my recipe. I prefer it to the regular recipes because it smells so nice (thanks to kool-aid)
1 Cup of Flour
1/2 Cup Salt
2 Tsp. Cream of Tartar
1 Tbsp Oil
1 Cup water
1 package of Kool-Aid (you pick.....or better yet, let the lo pick :))
Combine all ingredients and cook on stove in pot stirring constantly until it forms a ball!
Enjoy!!!!
Hailey :-*
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A quicker way to also try with making your own playdough is the no cooking method. Just pour boiling water straight from the kettle into the flour mix and keep stirring until it balls up (can take up to 5mins to get the right texture).
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Oh, and as far as eating it - I don't really worry about it. The store brought playdoh has a 2+ symbol on them, but my 16mth old has been playign with ds's since she was about 12mths old (we make our own). She bites into it and spits it out (it's really salty). It's only made out of the kitchen ingredients anyway, so I'm not too concerned, if I try to discourage it, but it actually makes them think it's more of a game and do it more. ::) :)
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Am curious, how long does this homemade playdough keep before it goes bad? I'm thinking in terms of it ending up in DD's mouth...
And where do I find Cream of Tartar? Sorry, it's something I've never bought before...
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Alex always eats the playdough, that's why I make my own, at least I know what's in it.
1 cup flour, 1 tablespoon salt, drop oil, half cup of water. (add slowly, bit by bit) and some food colouring. messy but who cares on the patio.
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there is also a cute bit of games on fisher-price.com. they have sort of a peek-a-boo type game set up that changes the pic when your toddler touches certain parts of the keyboard.
jenni
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Jenni,
I just got on the Fisher-Price website and tried some of the games. They are great! Can't wait for DS to wake from his nap so we can play instead of him just pounding on the keyboard with the mouse! :-\ :-\ :-\
Thanks! :)
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Hi,
We frequent the Ontario early years centres. They run free programs for children ages 0-6 yrs. They also have open play time as well. We go to the park a lot.
Some one asked about inexpensive toys. I go to the dollar store a lot and buy things. Stickers, stamps, toys etc. I buy pom poms, cereal and other stuff that I put in bins and let my dd and ds use for sensory play.
Put some music on and give your lo a scarf or a streamer and let them dance around.
Go to the pet store to look at the animals.
We have a park near us that has a barn with animals, my dd loves going there as well.
Heidi
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Alex loved the Fisher Price games, but has now done something to the computer and it's all rotated to the left!! It's on Nathan's setting, mine are ok, but DH will have to look at it when he gets home. It won't stop me playing on the computer with the kids though, we can get a new laptop, we can't get these early years again!!