What do you do with your babies when it's wet outside?

[gingerninja]

My 9 month old is very clingy, wants to be held or entertained all the time. I'm rapidly running out of inspiration for how to keep her happy. She doesn't crawl yet so is mega frustrated and after the usual rounds of walker, floor bouncer I don't know what to do to keep us both entertained. I'd normally take her out for a walk but it's tipping down. Any inspiration?

[SoupDragon]

Bowl of foamy water, kitchen floor, toys/cups etc.

[Enid]

put her to bed

[munz]

singing, reading, dancing. we do those things quite a bit.

[munz]

oh yes water! lol. or if you're really brave a tray of flour on a towel and watch them witht he fingers!

[SoupDragon]

Deep tray of rice, kitchen floor.
Deep tray of pasta, kitchen floor
Deep tray of dessicated coconut, kitchen floor...

Can you see a theme? They're reasonable easy to clear uptoo.

[mytwopenceworth]

give her a wooden spoon, dishcloth, pan, empty plastic bottle, feather duster etc, lots of ordinary round the house stuff. or something that you normally wouldnt think to let her touch. she'll be happy for hours. or use this as an opportunity to begin to teach her how to be ok to entertain herself for a few minutes. or get on your waterproofs and your wellies and get walking!

[SoupDragon]

oats, lentils... all wok well. Shove in some plastic animals. Rice is oddly therapeutic if you let it run through your fingers

[nattyp]

get a whicker basket and find various items around the house, like a leather wallet, a cashmere jumper, items basically that you can encourage her touch and smell and feel senses, toys sometimes are boring, my children at that age used to love a basket full of things that were mum and dads, like keys etc, and i'd go through them and they would lick the wallet, they loved the leather, it waould be a great thing to do, it takes time for them to go through each object, and your belongings are always attractive...trust me it works

[PutThatInYourPipeandSmokeIt]

plonk her down infront of a whole pineapple....!

[SoupDragon]

You need one of Franny's "wnakey baskets". You get a decent sized basket your chld can reach into and put things like M2pworth suggests in it. Things tha aren't toys. Different textures etc. I thin kthey're actually called "treasure baskets" and if yousearch the MN archives (fot treasure baskets or wnakey baskets - it's a Cod-ism) you'll find some stuff about it.

[Enid]

heuristic play they call it at dd3s nursery

was her fave thing (she is now walkign so falling over is her new fav thing )

[PutThatInYourPipeandSmokeIt]

That's the stuff - DDs fav current fav is an egg whisk and a ruler. I still swear by the pineapple. Avacados are quite good too - lovely to roll around.

[gingerninja]

Ha Ha, thanks for the replies, especially the bed one Enid, if only...

I particularly love the flour, water, pinapple ideas. Have done all the obvious empty the cupboards, singing, dancing, looking in mirror (!) stuff but honestly, there are only so many times you can sing row row row your bloody boat and roll a ball backwards and forwards.

I think she's teething at the mo so is particulary unhappy about entertaining herself especially with her 'staff' just faffing about doing the housework. Thanks for the suggestions we'll try some later.

[katelyle]

Nattyp - we had a "treasure basket" too. It was wonderful - and it was fun hunting for new things to put in it. Other ideas for a basket - a new pan scourer, a set of measuting spoons and short legnth of hose, scraps of different textured fabric (especially velvet) a scrubbing brush and a very soft makeup brush (for contrast) some bubble wrap, a piece of foil, an empty squeezy bottle, a rubber glove... the list goes on. I promise it'll keep you both busy for ages!

[nattyp]

glad it worked for you too. My girls are two now and they still love things around the house especially pots and pans and wooden spoons, i dont spend an awful lot on toys anymore i find they are a waste of money

[katelyle]

mine are 6 and 11 but I still find myself thinking "Hmm - that looks interesting" when I see one of those market stalls covered with tools and gadgets! Oh, I forgot - a set of allen keys, a keyring with keys on it, a bath plug on a chain, something really heavy, something really light...