To wonder what to do with my children on these endless rainy afternoons?

It is difficult, I had three under 4.

I (barely) kept sane by going for walks in the country, having picnics and painting. I used to visit national trust sites and have a good wonder, as well as forests.

I also looked at the local paper and checked if there were any local activities for children (library, local halls and nursery open days), getting us out of the house. There were toddler groups at different villages, cake mornings with children’s toys present. We went to lots of swings (all over the city), all very different equipment. We took the balance bikes out as well as scooters to make walks more exciting.

At home they liked to do craft days, with lots of playdough, drawing and painting. Lots of Lego and building blocks, as well as magnets.

If your 3 year old wants to help with the toddler, get them to ‘read’ together, it is really cute when older children pretend to read books to their siblings. Also fun to get them to ‘help’ with brushing their hair, choosing clothes… etc. I had a few laughs with the outfits they chose.

I agree TV isn’t always best, but a few programmes for your 3 year old can be fun for them.

Good luck OP! Soon your oldest will be at school and it gets a little easier.

cant You get your oldest into nursery in the afternoons and let the baby nap then it breaks up the afternoon and you get a break?
your eldest is entitled to 15 hours funding.

I personally hate all the faff around taking them out to museums, public transport, out in horrible weather etc. I just felt my dd gets tired after an hour and it was an extreme effort to go out for 5 minutes amusement.

We are very happy to do stuff at home and go for walks around the area, and do our baby classes. We did other stuff at the weekend as a family tooZ

Hope the museum and train trip if you do them work out well.

Glad to read that you rule out tv as an option.

Op I spend about an hour once a week planning a few new activities for the week.

So I slot new in between her regular stuff.

As in my previous post, both ages can play with water washing their toys, making bubbles.

Both ages- play doh and your older one flour and water.

Take them on a treasure hunt around the house. Give your older one clues about where stuff is hidden. Baby can follow along.

Make a fort and let them both play.

Get a few containers (take away ones are good) and fill them up with sensory stuff.

Put some toys in ice cube tray and give your older one a toy hammer to set them free. Same with your baby- make it with jelly so it's safe to eat.

A can of whipped cream and some spoons to mess around or hide their toys.

Lots and lots of endless ideas op

Is there at Pets at Home near you? Tack on a visit after going to the supermarket to see their bunnies & guinea pigs.

Can’t you just let them potter around the house and play? I brought my kids up with ‘benign neglect’ and let them just mooch about and play with all their toys, watch tv or we’d read a book, or dressing up or art and crafts. If it was nice they’d just play with buckets and a bit of water in the garden.

I felt the pressure to go to petting farms and museums. They later told me they hated all that - felt sick in the car and got bored. They enjoyed just playing at home.

Can you do things at home? There’s plenty of things to do without the TV being on all the time (although of course some TV time is absolutely fine - I have to limit it with my toddler as we started to have tantrums when it gets turned off).

Things I do on a rainy weekend or if it’s school hols and my son is off preschool:

• baking/or even just “helping” mummy cook lunch or prep tea
• arts and crafts - strip them down, put the splash mat down and get the paints out! Or even just crayons, stickers etc. I got a cheap kids crafts kit from the the pound shop and it keeps him entertained for ages
• their own toys - I set my sons train set up and then he will literally spend hours with it
• Read books/sticker books
• dance - I put a kids playlist on Alexa and am always surprised at the ones my son has learned and picked up at nursery
• Carpet picnics - I take him shopping for the food and then he helps lay it out on a picnic blanket on the living room floor when we get home. His soft toys have to have a plate too

Agree, no need to fill in every waking moment. What's wrong with being at home? There are a million and one things you can do at home. Go on to Pinterest and you will find lots of ideas at home. I have an 18mo and we don't do soft play as I just find all of them grimy and always too busy. I also do not do puddle jumps and stuff because I can't deal with the mess and after 5 minutes they are bored. I have an 18mo and just set up activities at home.
Today we filled her baby tub up, added some bubbles and put it in the living room, and she played for almost and hour washing her dolls and ducks and pouring from cup to cup.

We also did some tv time. There's just countless things to do.
I do classes with her 3x a week, but other than that we do lots at home. It's important for them to be bored a bit and learn to play independently.

@catsandkittensandcats totally get why you wouldn’t feel confident taking them both swimming. My 3yo is quite nervous which is the only reason I can take them, def couldn’t do it if she was running around throwing herself into the water like some of my friends kids!

We’re west mids so not overly sure of suggestions for your way but I’ve got the train into Birmingham with mine before and done the sealife centre. Think tank is also good as is the space centre in Leicester. Appreciate these are not every day suggestions though!

Have you got a National trust membership? Sometimes we just go for a walk around the houses if it’s wet.

Some trampoline parks have toddler areas or bits where baby can crawl around while the older one bounces.

Sometimes I drive to a big supermarket in the next town to kill some time 😂 and buy a packet of cake mix or biscuit mix to do when we get home. My 3yo quite likes a trip to a cafe to get a cookie as well or a sit in greggs for a sausage roll.

Going for a ride on the train to the next town is a good shout. I’ve always found people are really helpful with the pushchair or you could have baby in a baby carrier? Could just go into the next town to a cafe and then back.

garden centres
ikea
ride a bus
ride a train
museums
art galleries
rhyme time at libraries
national trust
baby / toddler cinema
pottery painting

Or even normal cafes. DH was out at the weekend seeing a friend so I killed some time taking the boys for ice cream, both were very happy and we were inside shielded from the rain :)

My youngest is 16 months and I was willing him to walk so we could put puddle suits and wellies on and go out to the garden/park/walk anyway. He walked at 13 months and I was much happier as it just got easier to get out the house.
So you have my sympathy! Shopping centres? Walking about, having a coffee/pastry with 3 year old whilst 11 month old watches the world go by? Any play cafes where you can have a coffee and let the kids wander off? (Obviously following the 11 month old might not be ideal but still, it's a change of scenery).

Also at age 4 sign eldest up for a swim class so you can swim with the baby while eldest is in lesson.

Does eldest not go to preschool at all?

It sounds extreme but I would really strongly recommend swapping your days off so that you are at home at the same time as your friends.

Oh and this, if you can. Another adult keeps you sane.

If you can get into Derby try the Museum of Making - it's free and has quite a bit of hands on and button pressing stuff. And I think the lego exhibit is still on the top floor, along with loads of big and small lego for kids to play with.

Ok so rotate through short stations but you have to leave the house.

1 - do not shop online. Go to the supermarket, chat about the food etc. I used to kill an hour in sainsburys once every week.

1. Library. Look for ones that have free/cheap rhyme time type sessions.
2. Accept getting wet sometimes. You just have get out. Take a thermos.
3. Garden centre with a pet section - i know pet shops are unfashionable but we used to go look at the fish & bunnies regularly.
4. Cheap cafes - i know it means spending but if you stretch to it a fiver a week for a mug of tea and a treat to share works well

At home:
Each morning plan at least 6 activities and try to get the eldest to stick at it for 30 mins, with something that gives you a break in between (tv, an audio book, a nap etc).
Best things imho:

• playdo or plasticine (plasticine to make water tubes/cups/bowls etc is fun)
• duplo
• wooden train track
• build a den in the clothes airer with torch etc
• have a snack tea party with stuff like raisins, mini rice cakes and breadsticks, then give them a washing bowl on floor on a towel & have them wash up all the things.
• set up a shop selling them things
• games - orchard toys ones are great.
• puzzles

National space centre Near East Midlands - we went with primary aged kids was very good. Coventry transport museum used to be free - and that was good with younger kids - but the local museums we've lived near have been useful - sometimes they have activities on and sometimes it just a walk/journey and somewhere else to be.

Stupid comment!

We have a similar problem with a 3 year old and 1 year old here. 3 year old is an angel out of the house and a nightmare in it, so we try to go out a lot.

Current staples are - go to the beach and go on all the rides on the pier - its indoors and rides are about £1 each so you can go on quite a few for not loads of money, plus all the 2p machines etc. Realise this doesn't help unless you live near something similar!

We have an annual pass to the local zoo - quite a lot of it is under cover so we dash from roof to roof if it's pouring, or at least don't have to be in the rain the whole time.

We also drive to places quite far away, a hour or so. This gives me a relaxing 2 hours in total where the 1 year old sleeps and the 3 year old watches their tablet 😆

They don't need to be able to read and digest the labels on the exhibits to enjoy a museum - at this point it's a large free public space where small children are welcome to (within reason) run around, with different things to look at! The local museum here has some fossil dinosaurs, gems and interesting stones, dodgy taxidermy, a roman bit, a small egyptian section with a sarcophagus and stuff, some exhibits about wildlife and ecology with a few buttons to press - friends 7 and 4yos just like pushing the buttons to make little LEDs light up on a map, they don't really care what it's about but they enjoy it.