What is your toddler activity routine ?

[Khyan & Sahria's mum]

I am wondering how your day goes with a toddler - what do you do each day ? do you have set times for activities ? what are these activities ? How is your day mapped out or do you wing it every day ? and if you do how on earth do you come up with an activity to do on the spot to keep an active toddler busy ?

I am trying to keep a really active/spiritied 3 yo busy during the day - it is alittle difficult with a 6mth old but I need to get something sorted as I think is just bored 

Any advice welcome

[Erin M]

We tend not to have a whole lot of structure to our day, but Katie just turned 2.  When she gets up, she plays upstairs for a bit - she has a whole lot of Little People up there which she loves -- we go downstairs, she has breakfast and plays with her toys downstairs.  We watch Sesame Street together at 9 AM -- she usually plays during that, sometimes we'll read some books together.  I try to hang out with her during that time -- also at some point during SS, her sister (4 months) needs to nap, so at that point I bring the baby upstairs to put her down -- Katie either stays downstairs or follows me up.  She makes a lot of noise, but the baby seems to be used to it by now.  Once Allie is asleep, I lock Katie in our room with me and take a shower (bathroom connects to the bedroom) -- she's got toys in there and I usually leave the tv on.  I let her decide what to do then -- I'll often suggest some sort of art/craft activity (trust me, nothing fancy, just coloring in a coloring book usually).

Allie wakes at some point before lunch and I feed her and we have lunch -- read some books, play with toys and then it's time for Katie's nap and Allie's second nap -- if all goes well, they nap at the same time.  When Katie wakes, we usually go outside or run errands as long as Allie is awake as well.  That way I feel like when I'm making dinner she hasn't been in for awhile and will (hopefully) let me make some dinner in relative peace.  She'll watch TV at this time too.  After dinner, she plays with her dad while I put Allie to bed.

Katie loves her Little People, also her trains, Legos, books, dolls....generally keeps her busy.  I try to throw some more structured activities in along with her just playing with her toys and having fun. 

HTH!

[Lindy Loo]

Hi Micheala

We don't have a fixed structure but my semi-routine is ...
weekdays DS plays upstairs (usually terrorising the cats) or watches some cartoons on my bed while I get ready for work.  We then do breakfast and get ready for Childminder to collect him.
He does all sorts with her .. most mornings they go to toddlers group, afternoons they do park or picnics or going to feed a neighbors horse etc.  When I collect we tend to go to shops for essentials and then go home and play with a ball (obsessed with football, rugby and golf and he's not even two yet !!)
Weekends I try to get outdoors for walks if I can, he has a little sit in car and trike which he loves.  In grotty weather or if he is grumpy we always seem to end up at the airport.  There is a car park kind of parrallel to the runway so he sits in the front and we watch the planes land and take off whilst fiddling with the car.  Rather naughtily I do also let him sit on my lap and steer the car around the carpark when it is empty which he loves )
When in the house we tend to "kick football" or do jigsaws or he likes to stand on a little stepladder next to the sink doing the washing up.

Lin

[maggie2]

Lin - my ds is totally obsessed with golf right now as well!!!  It seems like all he wants to do is play golf around the house all day long (yes, we let him ).  He even takes his plastic golf club in the bath with him and tucks it next to him in his chair when he eats!!!  And he's only 19 months!  That's so funny that your ds is the same way - we also love football (the American kind ) and soccer too!

I would like to get more structure in our days - like maybe have a certain time during the day that I sit down with him and do some sort of activity or something.  right now, we just sort of go with the flow as it relates to playtime.  We do a play group on Monday mornings and then onTuesday mornings, we get together with some of my friends in the neighborhood, so he plays with those children as well.  If the weather is nice, we'll go to the park in the afternoon, but haven't been able to do that much for the past couple of months as it's been COLD!!!

Anyway, I'm just going to lurk around here to get some ideas from you lovely ladies as to how we can improve our activity time during the day!!!

   Maggie

[Izzy-B's mommy]

Hi Michaela;   We use to have a set routine for all of Isabella's activities, but somewhere alone the way, it got tossed out the window    
Here are some activities that keeps Isabella busy..

I have a big bin that I keep all her artsy stuff in and she LOVES going through this bin. sometimes she just loves to go through it without actually 'doing' any of the crafts (and I'm okay with that )   There's paints in their (obviously I don't let her play with these without me)  there's beads to make necklaces & bracelts, wooden things to color or paint, the list really does go on.    We go to the $$$store together and she helps me pick out things for 'her' bin when it's getting low.  This bin is usually my savour.

Another thing that can keep her busy for at least 45mins to an hr on good days is letting her play in the water.  I either set her up in the kitchen and she plays in the water, or I set her up in the living room with her toddler table and I put a big thick towel down and I give her her play tea pot with water and let her pour and repour, and somedays she wants her barbie pool and her barbie or little people go for swims & baths.  (she knows if she starts throwing water around, then water time is over, and she LOVES her water time)

I also just enrolled her in toddler gymnastics (today was her first day actually) and what a great way for active kids to let off some steam...

When it's closer to bedtime we tend to do puzzels together.  We also play wonderpets and go around the house 'pretending' to rescue animals...

If I think of anything else I'll be sure to post, and I'll be checking in to see if there are anymore good ideas.