Things to do to wear out 2 year old

[Chloevalentine]

I need some suggestions on things to do with my 2 year old boy. When i take him to the playground or to the lake or a gym class he isn't very interested and wants to go back to the car! He seems to enjoy more of an exploration play but I'm limited as to where to bring him as most parks in my area are either playground or hiking trails that he just can't manage yet. Any suggestions? He's not getting enough exercise and has been more destructive around the house due to it

[cath~]

Can you take him swimming? That's a good one for tiring out LOs.

Is there any woodland near you that you could go and explore, try to climb some trees, build a den...?

Dancing round trying to catch bubbles whilst listening to music is a good indoor one.

[weaver]

Do you have a garden where he can safely make a mess? Sand and/or water play would be good.

I wouldn't really expect him to 'use' a playground, mine weren't too keen at that age, but they would sit in the sandpit digging for ages, driving their little cars about.

Where you can, I would ask him to help you in the house.  Yes, seriously! Ask him to put laundry in the machine, to carry plastic dishes and cups to the cupboard, put fruit in the fruit bowl.

Can you take him on the hiking trails? In a carrier or a buggy? Even if he's not running the whole way, he will find it stimulating and that will use up some energy.

[Chloevalentine]

Maybe I can try the swimming at the ymca. We do have a sand and water table but he's just not interested these days. The trails are a little advance to be honest and the last time I picked a tick off of him. Ugh

[zeri]

blow bubbles at the park - chances are he'll want to chase them! Also,games of tag, and is he interested in wading pools at all? Treasure hunt at the park might be nice too, if he likes to explore, and maybe you could hide natural things and talk about them about them as he finds them. My DS loves stuff like that and could happily tell you the difference between deciduous and coniferous trees at 3!

[weaver]

We do have a sand and water table

I mean a sand pit he can get in, or a basin of water he can paddle in and sail boats in, float plastic bowls in, bathe any plastic figures you have.  Up on a table would hold no interest here.

[~*Nicole*~]

Do you have any free play style kid centers? We have a small enclosed play area at the local mall, a hands on "please touch" type museum with different areas for free play (farmer's market with play food, ball pit, vet/doctor office, dinosaur dig...), the local library does story times with songs and the local barnes and noble bookstore also has some story times and a train table for free play.

My two enjoyed doing things like this when they were smaller. Or even just visiting family and playing in different backyards. Simple things like sprinklers or sidewalk chalk worked well to keep them actively busy.

And with the water table. Mine didn't bother with ours much. The one year when I set it up and it needed washing, they had more fun washing it with soapy water than they ever did playing with the actual water table LOL

[Lindsay27]

Not sure if you have a splash pad where you are?  DS has loved the one at our park since he could walk   Sprinkler in the yard is also a good suggestion

Chasing bubbles is a great idea, you can get one of those bubble machines for cheap.

This sounds really bad, but if indoors and DS needs to burn off some steam, we sometimes let him jump on the bed in our spare room.  He mostly does this with DH as they are 'wrestling', but he likes to build pillow towers and jump on them.  Of course we are right next to him to make sure he doesn't launch himself off, and he knows he's only allowed to do this in the spare room when mommy and daddy say it's ok (a slippery slope I know, but he's understood this since he was about 2).  But honestly by the time he's done he's sweating and he really burns a lot of energy.

Do you have any outside toy trucks?  I swear the only thing DS does outside these days is push his dump trucks around for hours on end.  I'll garden and fill them with weeds I've pulled and he'll push them all around the yard and dump them then come back for more, and he loves it because he's being a "big helper" for mommy.

[weaver]

we sometimes let him jump on the bed in our spare room.

We have a designated jumping sofa!

[creations]

Do you have a small trike or push along ride on you can take to the park?
Does he like to play rolling ball, kicking, throw and catch?

Can you take a busy bag with you to the park full of all sorts of different objects for him to explore?  Maybe a basket and mat, dump all the objects on the mat and position yourself a little way off, ask him to bring one object (and depending on his interests either ask for a 'red' object or a 'hard/soft' object or 'something you can clean with' etc or just name the object or let him have his pick...and he bring it to you in a little basket or bag, or a little shopping trolley or wheel barrow or trike and cart. Basically exploring objects but getting some movement in there too. Mine loved to put things in his ride on and wheel barrow.

[Chloevalentine]

That's a great idea! No I don't have a wagon or trike. He just got a little tricycle but still just trying it on lol. We don't have city parks here with a walking path and grass no sidewalks either. It's either a playground or secluded hiking trail. I've tried to do a picnic where we've played on grass but he usually spends most of the time escaping and walking back to the parking lot where the car is. I really can't figure out what he would be interested in and it's so frustrating.  Today I took him to swim at an indoor pool he was ok with it but didn't really love it and it's not much exercise for him. He enjoyed more of the socialization of saying hi to people lol. Then he just threw a tantrum in the locker room and ran away while I was trying to dry myself and him off to get changed. Let's just say it was too much work and stress for something he wasn't crazy about.

[Kellyjs]

I would keep with it wrt swimming. My DD hated it for the first few months I took her (albeit it was early at 3mo). Now, she loves it and anything to do with water. We went to the beach today and she spent the whole day on the water!

A paddling pool works wonders here, as does the 6ft trampoline we bought her for her birthday. Honestly, I can't get her off it!

Yk already that we walk miles so I won't suggest that again if he's not up for it, but just walking to see something he's interested in.. For us here, we go and stand on a bridge above the motorway so she can name all the buses, lorries, tractors, caravans etc. We sometimes take toy things like a toy car and she has to turn around, cover her eyes and count and I hide the toy. She'll then spend ages looking for it. We do this in the garden and even on our walks. Forgot to add.. We also swap this around in that she'll hide the toy and I'll have to find it by saying.. Is it by the tree? And she'll answer 'no', is it by the blue flower etc etc. It's a great way of them learning what things are without enforcing it on them. In the garden, she has better hiding places than me! And she'll actually eventually tell me where it is by naming it., ie the ball.. red bin!!!

Hth xx

[michaeljacknnugg]

Roadworks and diggers etc were a great excuse for a walk around here!

[Chloevalentine]

That sounds like fun! We spent an hour outside with the hose today watering flowers washing his cars etc. we don't have sidewalks here so those other suggestions are not possible for us

[deb]

Around 18-24 months, Natalie went thru a period where she wanted to just our water into and out of things. We got clear plastic cups in different sizes and colors, from shot glass size (a lot of grocery stores carry plastic ones in with soft drinks and mixers and other cups!) thru juice glass size up to big water glass size. In the kitchen I was able to set up an area of counter with a waterproof cover (I think we used part of an old shower curtain) and a towel on top and it kept her busy while I was trying to make supper. We could do it outside when the weather was nice, or even in the bathtub since the cups were plastic - she looked like a bartender!

Later one we bought one of those clear plastic storage bins - like the kind you would use to store sweaters or blankets under your bed - and could put her outside with one of those full of water or sand and the cups and even hide some things in the sand for her to find, and sometimes sort out with beach toys between trips to the ocean (once a year maybe! LOL).

If you have the space in your yard, try a small kiddie pool full of ball pit balls if you'd rather not have it full of water; when my kids were little they liked a layer of balls in the tub (with or without water!) as well.