Hi, i'm not sure wether the aqua doodle will grab his attention as he is still young, but it is a great investment for the future.
You could play with him on the aqua mat by wetting his hands and feet to make hand ond foot prints or even finger prints.
My nephew has a very short attention span and cannot play with anything. However he did like my sons aqua doodle but that could be because it was my sons and he wants everyhting my son has, But he didn't walk away from this once he'd had it. He is 2.5yrs old and a bit older than your lo.
Good luck, hope someone knows of something to stimilate your lo enough for playtime.