Is there ^anything^ at all a 2.5 and 4yo can do

[Coldhandscoldheart]

That will occupy them for a bit without making a metric fuckton of mess, or screaming and that isn’t a screen?
They paint sometimes, actually 4yo can do it for a while, but then will start painting each other or the furniture.
Or am I just expecting too much?

My 4 year old is obsessed with dot to dots, he will do them for ages along with cutting and sticking activities. An old magazine and a blank piece of paper. Have them cut out anything they like and stick it in their scrapbook or on the paper

An old cleaning spray bottle filled with water and get them to wash the windows, outside. They mainly spray and don’t really wipe but love it and keeps them busy.

Baths. Dump all the Duplo in with cloths and tell them to clean it.

Chalk outside.

Audio books? My 4 year old enjoys them and it gives me peace. Even if I have to lie on the sofa with them whilst the story is read I can tune out and rest.

If you have a odd sock bag like mine (ie all socks go into after laundry ) we play odd sock pairs , winner is the person with the most balled up pairs in the end . Works really well ages 2.5 to 6 , now I have a 8 year old i pay 5p a pair todays total £3.60 worth every penny for the hour peace and quiet

Large piece jigsaws?

It's been a long while since mine were little, but my god you have my sympathy. If I could magic you up some quiet and a large gin, I would.

@sittingonacornflake - Nah - scoop the corners up and take it outside, tip bits in the bin, hang the shower curtain on the line so any paint/scribble/whatever dried before we used it again. Occasionally turn the hose on it first.

Do you have a garden? Being outside seems to dilute my two a bit (same ages as yours).
We’ve done ‘washing’ outside where I gave them a load of old baby clothes, pegs, the washing line strung low and a tub full of soapy water. It devolved into water play which was fine, as all the mess was outside.

My best inspiration yet was timing them running/biking/hopping etc up and down the garden. I just sat on my arse with my phone timer and shouted things like “wow 23 seconds you’re so fast! Now do it backwards!”. Probably lasted 20 mins and wore them out for bedtime nicely.

Dancing to Justin fletcher songs - there’s only so much of this I can take though.

Cosmic Kids yoga on YouTube - yes it’s a screen but technically exercise!

Train track/marble run/duplo?

It’s hard hard hard!

Glad to see it's not just me where those craft/activity ideas only really provide 5 minutes of play but about 2 hours of cleaning up. I thought I must be doing it wrong.

if you have a garden and a lawn like mine ask them to pick dandelion flowers (doesn't get rid of the dandelions but stops them spreading seeds) give them a penny for each one they pick,let them buy sweets with their earnings on your next daily exercise

It’s just different things that entertain different kids. Dd can play with bowls of stuff for an hour easily (while I mn and lay on the sofa!) other kids can’t. It’s not a shit suggestion.

Dd won’t draw anything without me helping, and I have to pretend to be a rabbit/dog/cow for 90% of the day

@TellerTuesday4EVA genius

We had a colour hunt last week that went down well. I set the timer on my phone for 2 mins and shouted out a colour and they had to find as many things as possible in that colour. Repeated for about 6 colours and then - this is the clever part, allocated them 2 piles of thing each (I have 3 dcs) and offered a prize to the one who put theirs away first. All mess tidied up in minutes and I didn't leave my chair!

They also like the game where I set the alarm on my phone and hide it. When the alarms goes off they have to listen and try and find it.

Thank you all for making me feel a bit less shit. It’s just been one of those days really.

Cleaning kitchen floor, mine love it

Mine are almost 1 and 4 they require constant attention/joining in hour after relentless hour my advice is embrace the mess stop putting stuff away every 5mins there's just no point and it barely takes any more time to tidy it up once/twice a week to throw the vac around. You'll be a lot less stressed and don't forget wine o'clock

I feel you. I have a 3 year old with a 3 minute attention span and as stubborn as her father. (adorable, but stubborn)

Add to that every time we get her in the bath I swear the second I sit down /breathe she'll poo in the bath

Have you got any old jewellery that you don't care for? My mum gave me a little jewellery box full of old bits of costume jewellery, all of mine love playing with it all now and then, even the boys age 6+7! Usually passes an hour.

My dd will still happily play the sock matching game, and did so this afternoon. I gave her the carrier bag of socks out of the airing cupboard and it kept her amused for ages.

She's 21

I have 2 these ages buy they have a bigger sibling too. However, often the two little ones go off together and play. Mostly role play -
Shops/ cafes/ school/ doctors/ library/ hairdressers
Dolls
Small world stuff (happyland/dolls house...)
Building duplo or blocks
Pavement chalk
Running around in the garden, watering plants (they fill watering cans from a baby bath)
Cosmic yoga/ barefoot books/ sticky kids
Playdough
Dressing up

The biggest hit here has been some spray bottles that I put water in. Bought a four pack off eBay for £6 and started them off with spraying chalk off the wall in the garden. But they then spent hours just spraying EVERYTHING in the garden (including each other a bit) but it was great.

Those paint with water books - only give about ten minutes peace though.

Alphablocks app?

Failing that - Blippi on YouTube.

There’s also a 24 hour peppa pig YouTube channel if you really want to ruin your lockdown!

TV, iPad, kindle, whatever it is you have. Give them snacks and let them go square-eyed for a bit. If it makes you feel less guilty then put educational shows/apps on. There's one on YouTube that DS2 loves called The Fixies about pixies that fix stuff and they explain how things work while they're doing it. I like to kid myself that he's learning while he watches it.

Playdoh although it will need supervising unless you enjoy scraping it out of the carpet or finding bright blue shit in the youngest's next nappy or having to go to the walk-in centre to get it removed from an ear canal.

A pop up tent either in the living room or the garden.

Large empty box, crayons, sit them in the box so they can colour it in. Or alternatively, Hobbycraft do cardboard playhouses that can be coloured in.

Mine liked party games and nursery rhymes at that age. Things like musical bumps or statues, sleeping bunnies, dingle dangle scarecrow, etc. You don't even have to do it yourself, YouTube has party videos with presenters to talk them through it and Alexa can play some of the songs too.

A slide for the garden.

Toy kitchen, car track, doll house, or parking garage.

Some easy games that can be played with or without rules like Pop-up Pirate, Buckaroo, or Flushin' Frenzy.

Bubble machine.

Colour Wonder books and pens. Crayola make them and the coloured pens only work on the books, you can scribble all over everything else and it won't leave a mark.

Mine are 2.5 and just 5 - I've given up avoiding mess - I just try (try being the operative word) to get one tip tidied before the next one happens. The things that keep them both occupied for any period of time are - duplo / Lego, Big box of cars and ramps etc, stickers, treasure hunts. I also have a couple of boxes of loads of random small toys that in themselves are a bit crap but because they don't come out much and there's enough to rummage through it keeps them occupied.

Two things that work well for us at the mo: if you can lay your hands on Melissa and Doug reusable vinyl stickers, both mine can go with those for a good while and they're big and easy for the 2 yo. We also do "the colour game" - stick sheets of different coloured paper around the house and ask random questions like "what colour is a tomato" and they have to leg it to the red paper etc - requires a bit of effort from you but tires them out and feels vaguely wholesome.

But otherwise, I don't think you can avoid mess or the fact they mostly have the attention span of a gnat.

I’m all seriousness, the things that have worked well for us that hasn’t already been mentioned are:

Huntung for the perfect stick to make a stick man, then you can put goggly eyes on when you get home.

I gave them all a camera (old digital to 4 year old, kids camera to 1 year old and phone to 3 year old) and went on a photography walk in a wood. They loved that and bonus, we even have a few pics with me in them. When we got home I showed the older one how to edit the pics which he loved.

I’ve set up a play shop and given them real cans of food, pasta and empty shampoo bottles, a bag for life and real money, the two little ones play for hours with that filling and refilling - not all the same time but they do go back to it.

I made a water wall from half an old cot and drain pipes and jugs and funnels, they liked that and it was limited participation from me.

One total winner was this play foam, you just put an egg cup full hot water and fairy liquid into a blender and it foams up and is messy but clean mess. I put it on a tray each for them. That lasted 15 mins.

Cornflower isn’t nearly as bad as you think it will be and cleans up quite easily. They loved that for 10-15 mins when I gave them utensils.

Today I put mine in waterproofs and took them to an area that I know floods and let them go for it in the puddles. They loved that. I took spare clothes and a plastic bag and changed their clothes one by one before they went in the car. That one is messy though.

You can get giant bubble wands and they love those. That requires your input though but they will run round the garden trying to pop those for half an hour and they look magical.

I got some water colour paints from Poundland, not nearly as messy as real paint.

Our older one really enjoyed bark rubbing, you might be able to get both of them doing that depending on what your 2.5 year old is like. You can do that inside with leaves you e collected, coins etc.

We spent half an hour sitting outside the front of the back as opposed to the back. They actually really enjoyed the change of scene.

In nicer weather all mine enjoyed washing the car- again requires supervision.

This isn’t an activity, but when we can, sometimes my husband and I just take it in turns to have them for an hour and lie in a different room and look at our phones. That means over 4 hours, you would only need to think of stuff for 2.

Honestly, this is hardcore if you have toddlers. I feel like I’m cleaning and tidying all the time. Good luck, we can do it!

*We spent half an hour sitting outside the front of the HOUSE as opposed to the back in the garden. They actually really enjoyed the change of scene.

We sometimes freeze shit in water and they have to excavate it. By shit I don’t mean turds but random plastic tat you have. I equipped my 3 year old with a paint brush and some water. Took her ages!
The other thing for the smaller one is something really precious that’s mummy’s. On really special occasions mine is allowed to play with mummy’s button jar or my ribbon box (I’m a sewer). This is very special and grown up.
My eldest was the same with my jewellery drawer. It was very special. You can’t do special every day but when you need an emergency fix.
How are they with Skype etc? I have employed the grandparents to look after mine for up to an hour when I’ve been doing home learning/pissing away on the internet. They will lap up an hour undivided attention even though the other person is not in the room.

Mainly though, screen time.

I am also dreaming of a minute when a child is not touching me.

Kx