to ask what to do with my three year old for the next few days?

I have a 3 year old and I also
have foot issues so I can completely empathise with you.

Currently, I am not able to put weight on my foot. I am very limited in what we can do and I am in a boot with crutches.

He does recognise that he needs to be more careful with me than he is with Daddy and Grandad (he’s very gentle with Grandma) So make sure you keep reiterating the need to be careful.

He gets his rough and tumble from Daddy, Grandma and Grandad but seems to know that calmer activities are for Mummy.

I have had to come to terms with the fact that there are many things I can’t do with him but there are also lots of fun things I can do!

Things we do:

Baking/Cooking/Chopping

He has a little chef set. So when I am making meals he can help me chop fruit/vegetables. I sit on a chair and he stands on one next to me. Sometimes I just pop some bananas and apples down as he can chop them and also have them for his snack.

We have made cakes/biscuits/crumbles and we have spoken about the recipe and how to weigh ingredients. He will use the measuring spoons/scales and try to weigh the right amount (he obviously needs a lot of help but he gives it a good go!) I will also give him a couple of big mixing bowls and say “i bet you can’t get all that flour from this bowl in to that one!” and he uses the measuring cups and transfers it over. Sometimes there is flour everywhere but he is counting and learning and using his motor skills so a bit of flour to wipe up is ok. He also loves helping to pour things out and press the buttons on the microwave too. Plus a basin full of water and helping to wash up at the end is also fun for them.

Playdoh

We make lots of shapes and wriggly worms and he loves it. Just the rolling out and then using the cutters and moulds. Picking out different colours and shapes.

Making Birthday Cards

I used to always use moonpig for cards. Now we make our own. I look on pinterest for ideas and some are so simple to do.

Wipe Clean Books

This is one of his favourite things he’s recently got very excited about. Lots of different writing/numbers/shapes/animals and mazes and things to discover/copy. We got a lovely set from the Range but B&M and Home Bargains etc do them too.

Colouring

He’s very excited about a colouring set we got that had crayons/colouring pencils/felt tips and paints. It doesn’t have to be a big book just some scribbling on paper will do.

Daytime Baths

I think someone else has said this but a change from routine and having a daytime bath always goes down well. Lots of bubbles and tubs/jugs for pouring into. We also have a magnetic fishing set and he will play with this for ages!

Books

Going through all his books and doing the activities in them. We have been given so many books from friends and familiy and we keep rotating them.

Matching Cards

We have some of the Orchard card games and he's been matching those up and we are trying to teach him how to play snap. Quite good fun.
Hope your recovery goes well and try not to do too much.

Do you know any local teenagers who've finished their GCSEs/college? You could pay one of them for a few days. You'll be there in case they need anything, but they can play more active games with your child.

Do you have any of the Orchard Toys games? My three year old loves them. Pizza, Pizza! is a particular favourite.

Pulling all the cushions off the sofa and arm chairs and adding some blankets to make dens is pretty popular in my house as well.

Honestly I think I'd cave in and buy a telly. I'm sure the big supermarkets could deliver one with the weekly shop.

I wouldn't bother with Netflix or any sort of streaming but a telly would be good

Rubbings are also a good one. Find objects with interesting textures around the house and get her to crayon on a piece of paper on top of them. If you could manage it, you could go for a short hobble and bring back some interesting leaves and other things to do. And then pin them to the fridge - kids always like to see their 'work' displayed 😂.

Make some finger puppets from old rubber or plastic gloves with simple faces drawn on. Then get them all chatting together, you know those strange convoluted conversations little ones love! Maybe slip in some kids jokes too.

If you do online grocery shopping, you can often add in colouring books or magic painting books to your order.

Use leftover wallpaper to make life sized paintings by drawing around the person, then painting in the appropriate clothes and features. It can get a bit messy, so maybe it's something to do in the garden.

Don't forget board games like Snakes & Ladders or Sorry, or card games like Snap. And when all else fails, a lovely game of Sleeping Lions.

Make homemade playdoh....really quick easy and cheap....flour, salt, oil, water,
Cornflour gloop....cornflour and water on a tray....mess just Hoover's up.
Cutting and sticking lots of free printables or any leaflets that come through door.
Draw around hands and let her paint the nails
Get out the pots pans and spoons...let her scoop oats or any dry ingredients like cereal or rice.
Have a tea party

'What's on my butt?' You lie on your front on the sofa. She has to find an object and balance it on your bum, and you have to guess what it is.

Something that worked amazingly well for my 3 year old was cutting a hole in a cardboard box and calling it the post box. She then spent ages ‘writing’ letters to everyone we could think of, we know most of our neighbours so we did actually do pictures for the ones that I knew wouldn’t mind and then put them in envelopes and deliver them, but we also did daddy and various toys which she then delivered around the house to them. If you wanted to do a whole set up you could position various teddies and give them a number then she has to deliver the right number envelopes to them, I didn’t bother but may do that next time.

Water is always good. Get her in the bath with some different toys she doesn’t usually have in there - give her dollies or dinosaurs or whatever it is a bath, use bath crayons, stick tea set in there, coloured bath bombs or crazy soap or a tin of shaving foam to mess with then just shower her off. A bath in the middle of the day feels a bit extra and exciting - for my DD anyway. Or you could just let her stand at the sink and ‘wash up’.

Chuck all the cushions on the floor for indoor soft play. If you have a pop up tent or anything you can make a tent/ den out of she can go ‘camping’ - get her to pack stuff for her ‘trip’, and let her have a picnic in there for lunch.

Freeze some toys in ice the night before, put a sheet or towel down and the ice in a tray/ washing up bowl and give her some coloured water, salt and spoons/ other tools and get her to try and rescue the toys.

Pack of post it notes and let her make ‘labels’ for stuff around the house either drawing or just mark making then let her stick them wherever - or you could do some and send her off to go find them - when she’s got them all you could make it so they spell a message or do numbers to 10 or give a clue to some other prize or activity she might like (e.g. draw really simple pictures of fruit you have in and then when she’s found them all she can help to make fruit kebabs or fruit salad or a smoothie or whatever with those ingredients).

Check out five minute mum on instagram for ideas too - scroll back to when her kids were younger for stuff that may interest your daughter.

You can also introduce an element of randomness into the activities by writing them on pieces of paper and putting them into a jar and getting her to pull one out. If you plan ahead then you can colour code the paper so that say red is a really easy no prep activity, blue is cooking which might involve some sorting out and tidying up. You can then get her to pull out say a red activity and whatever is on that activity you do next. They get excited about what might be on the paper before they even do the activity.

Make your own stickers?

Sheet of greaseproof paper - cover with sellotape.

Normal paper - draw sticker ideas and colour them in.

Sellotape the normal paper on top of the sellotaped greaseproof paper.

Cut out.

Peel off stickers from greaseproof paper and stick wherever you like 😂👍🏻

When it’s dry, get her to paint your fence / garden wall / side of the house. Bucket of water, paint brush - mine used to be happy for ages doing this. You watch from a chair with your foot up saying “wow, good job!” every so often.

Play “libraries”? Cut up slips of paper, take it in turns to be the librarian. One of you chooses some books to borrow, the other one stamps/colours/signs the slip and puts in the book. Then go off and “read” it, and bring it back and you get to stamp the slip again. And you can perhaps revisit some old favourites hiding at the back of the shelves.

Oh, and playing keepy uppy with a balloon. Great wet day game. Or “floor is lava” but only for the balloon. You sit on sofa with leg up and bat the balloon out over the floor space. Small has to race about making sure the balloon doesn’t touch the lava and melt.

Mine loved a long bath, especially with lots of bubbles or other stuff to make potions. They could spend an hour plus in there. Admittedly not the comfiest place for you to sit.

It's a bit messy but cornflour and water makes a weird mix that is not quite solid or liquid and quite fascinating.

Daytime bath!

It's like a normal bath but in the daytime and therefore it's exciting! Also you can take in normal toys (obviously if it won't damage them) so, Barbie becomes mermaid Barbie, dinosaurs become swamp dinosaurs

Bubble bath or a bath bomb or bath crayons just make it take longer

When we're done it's hot chocolate and watch something after (it's a staple for poorly but not really poorly days) and that takes up more time 😂

Bubbles, or balloons, if you have them.

If she has a play kitchen, give her a washing up bowl of soapy water to wash and dry all her pans/plates/the food and any other toy that looks like it needs a good scrub.

If she’s happy to play in the garden while you watch from inside, I’d stick waterproofs on her and let her go out and get muddy. Then follow it with a bath to warm her back up and occupy some more time.

The other thing you could do is put a small cardboard box over your foot and let her colour it in and stick stickers onto it. You get to rest and protect your foot, she gets to decorate and be near you - win, win.

sitters.co.uk. If you can afford it, get someone in to take her out for a few hours in the morning (playground/shops etc) while you rest up, and then do quiet at home activities in the afternoon.

Big box in the middle of the living-room.

Mound of sofa cushions and soft toys.

Kiddie dance/yoga videos on youtube.

Potato stamps are fun, find a good cookie cutter and shove it into the potato and trim the edge.

Oh poor you. Do you have a small tub or large dish? Fill it with water and bubble bath and let her wash her dolls, give them a bath, dry them off and some lotion. My LO loves doing that with her dollies. If you don't want too much of a mess, leave out the bubbles.

Papier mache? Flour and water paste and strips of newspaper onto a balloon. Can make it one day, let dry overnight and paint it the next day. (have to admit I haven't actually tried this myself but am reliably informed it works!)

Have a look at some of the old lockdown threads for inspiration! When we had COVID I ordered one of those mega craft boxes with all sorts in it, which kept DD quiet for an hour or so a day lol.

Get all the toys out, like Duplo or happy land or whatever you have. Ditto playdoh or kinetic sand. Let them dress up in your clothes or their fancy dress stuff. Let them watch too much TV.