What do you do with your young toddler at the weekend?

[LisaSimpsonsbff]

DS is 15 months. DH and I are both find it really hard work to have a whole day just at home with him - he gets whingey, we get bored. He will play with his toys for a while, and he loves being read to, but neither of those can possibly fill a morning, let alone a whole day! We've tried things like playing with finger paint and he is interested in it for approximately 10% of the time it takes to set them up and clean up afterwards. It's been pissing it down all weekend here - yesterday I took him to the park (in a puddle suit) and it was deserted, and this morning we went to soft play and it was us and two single dads, which obviously is fine but clearly this isn't what 'most' families are doing on a Sunday morning. You also mostly seem to see older toddlers at this stuff, so most people must not feel the need for it to entertain a 'young' (say, under 2) toddler? Are other people having whole days in and we're somehow missing some trick that makes that not awful? Or are they going somewhere we haven't thought of? Should we just let DS get more bored - are we trying too hard to keep him constantly entertained?

I did lots of messy play with dd at that age. Bought a cheap oilcloth tablecloth and had flour/paint/pasta/water etc in plastic bowls and let her go to town. She loved it.

Get a padded puddle suit and go out for muddy walks, find all the puddles to splash in.

Had a floor picnic on a Saturday evening watching Hey Duggee. We still do this at nearly 3, it’s her favourite thing.
Go see family
Go out for lunch/dinner.
See if a local cinema has baby viewings
Go to the library and check out some books

We mostly have lazy weekends now as we’re both knackered from the week!

I think you're me, OP.

My 15 month old was off nursery on Friday with suspected tummy bug (she was fine) so I've had 3 days of trying keep her entertained. I do all the playing, singing etc. But the hours just pass at a snails pace and the day is littered with tantrums (from all of us!).

Today we went to soft play at the garden centre - which was beyond packed and then looked at all the xmas lights in the garden centre. We then went and looked round some shops but she fell asleep in the Pram.

I just don't remember me or my younger brothers having to be taken here, there and everywhere as a child to be kept entertained. Definitely stayed in the house/garden.

Tomorrow we're going to meet her cousin at another soft play but it's in the city so we're taking the bus instead of the car - not sure if she will love it or I'll have made a grave mistake.

A good half of the children you see in toddler groups etc will have older siblings. So my 18-month-old has spent the weekend going to two birthday parties his older sibling was invited to. (Both family friends who explicitly invited him too.)
On other days he's been entertained by children who've come round for playdates, or gone to stuff which is really geared at his older sibling, but which he usually gets in free to, and is happily entertained by following his sister around and watching the older children.
We also have two children's worth of toys in the house, so he has eg an entire Brio railway and box of Duplo to play with - when his sister was his age she had she had a fraction of that stuff. And his sister is endlessly entertaining - which makes my life harder because she'd rather play on her own, but does mean I tend to focus on entertaining her and trust that he'll find whatever she's doing fascinating.
When I just had the one ... My memory is mostly of DH and I taking turns to have some time off (oh, happy far-gone days!) and the other taking her to the park, the shops (DD used to love a supermarket), the library etc. Then food, a nap, a bit of quiet playing, a bit of Peppa, maybe a bath.
Also going to see friends and doing things we wanted to do while she played around. Friends with kids a similar age was a win because they'd have toys, a child-proof house and someone interesting to okay with.
I rarely did soft play on weekends. I saved that for days when I had her on my own and needed something to fill the whole day.

This age is relentless in some ways because their attention span is so short so any activity is only likely to get you 10-15 mins. I think if you expect that it helps (I think of these as mini time blocks) Getting out helps as it’s easy to occupy more blocks-travel there, playground time, cafe, travel home can easily occupy an hour and a half, an hour and a half at home can feel pretty painful. So I would do two blocks outside 3 hrs of the day, swimming 1 hour, 3 meals 1.5 hours , 2 hours napping and play 2 hour (probably split into two sessions) arts and crafts another hour (playdough, cornflour, painting) take it in turns with partner for lie ins at the weekend and both get some rest during nap time.

My DTs are 20 months, and this weekend we’ve visited family, did a small food shop, and they’ve played with their toys and on their bouncy castle which arrived Friday night. Best money I’ve spent, it completely knackers them out, and they SLEEP!

They also like to splash in puddles (this will keep them busy for a good hour), or we’ll go for a walk, or play on their swings in the garden, or the park. They will sit and play by themselves for a while, sometimes with each other. I’m currently working on them ‘playing’ laundry or unloading the dishwasher which they seem to enjoy!

We used to use our National Trust membership for places to potter. Feed ducks by a local lake. Visit family. Had a favourite play cafe. Garden centres were always a hit. Our local library is open on a Friday morning. Just small outings to break the day up.

National trust and a very good set of rain clothes. We have spotty otter which have paid for themselves with my sanity. National trust closes in the winter but rspb open all year. We are all happier outside.

We have different kinds of toys in different toy boxes for days in, his trucks we have thought him to play "ttaffic" he has mega bloks and wooden building blocks, colouring, painting, dizzy dinosaurs, dance party (just music on the telly and silly dancing), trip to the shops, check for any other soft play area, we have one is always packed and one not so much. Visit some ducks, picnic inside, indoor football, turn off lights and do shadows on the wall with your hand and a torch. I hope some of these have helped.

Saturday is,
9.30 until 10.30 football coaching
10.30 until 12, soft play (comes as part of football)
Lunch and nap until 1.30.
Food shopping
Then home about 4 and he plays.

Sunday is swimming, park or lazy day at home. Saturday is our only sort of structured day

Puddle jumping. Walk, park. Sometimes down to b&q to look at mowers. I would never stay in all day.

My daughter is 16 months and hates being stuck inside, she will get my keys and stand by the door if we're still home at 11am! I get bored at home too, always have done so that's probably where she gets it.

I usually go on the Hoop app or Facebook events to find things going on locally, a month ago there was a children's fun day at a local brewery!

We go to the park and walk the dog in all weather, feeding the ducks, go to local play cafés, swimming class, a little bit of shopping (she loves standing in the trolley!), visiting museums and art galleries- they normally have some great interactive bits and play areas for the little ones. We have different family who visit around once a month too.

Do any of your friends have little kids, OP? Moving your evening socialising to lunchtime works quite well. You invite some friends over for lunch, then the little kids play with their toys in the living room, and you sit around drinking coffee/wine.
15 months is a good age for this, as they aren't so possessive of their toys. Two is a fucking nightmare as they spend the whole time shouting "Mine!" and "I want it!" and crying and you spend your lovely afternoon breaking up fights.
Persevere though and they hit three and something magical happens and they consider each other friends, disappear upstairs to your DS' bedroom, and you get to open a bottle of wine and spend a lovely couple of hours chatting with your friends downstairs.

Had another baby in an attempt to give them someone to play with!

We do a mixture of-
Park
Soft play
Trampolining (too young really but there is a cheap toddler area and they liked trying to walk on it and stacking the foam pits)
Walk somewhere with a park at the end
Swim
See friends with similar age children, suddenly they want to play with their toys again when another child is trying to touch them!
Run errands. When its raining and you're stuck inside we will pop out to get their feet measured and get a coffee / babyccino somewhere kid friendly
Beach (our city had a fake one in the summer)
We did a toddler session at a climbing wall for a while
Have a long bath with bath crayons and loads of toys
Facetime family or show them videos of themselves on the phone
When we're really bored inside I tend to let them do things they're not normally allowed to do - go through the spice box and open and smell everything, pile up all the cushions and jump off the sofa onto them, bring in the little plastic slide from the garden, make dens out of blankets and furniture

I think its easier when they're a bit older as there is art, crafts, tv, parties, various clubs and lessons, baking etc. I have a four year old and there never seems enough time in the day to fit in all the stuff she wants to do

Thanks all - there's some really good and useful suggestions here (the lists are fab, thanks!). I do think some of it is still a bit beyond him, but those things can go on a 'for the future' list.

We don't really have any friends with children - none of our preexisting friends do, and the 'baby friends' I met on mat leave all meet during the week and don't want to do anything at the weekend (so they must have found something to do!). I do have a nephew who's only a little older than DS, which is great, but they don't live close enough to see all that often.