Kids finding playing at home boring but not geniuses

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Bad title ok. I have my DD home with me full time, she is 2 and I just feel she is very bored. We do a few classes/ toddler groups and I've changed what we do to try to mix it up. But she just gets so bored and toddler groups are a bit like playing at home with other people there. The same with her brother at the weekend. They aren't advanced beyond their years, so I can't do masses of academic stuff, we do the usual board games and Lego/ Duplo, crafts. We also do walks and play tennis / games in the garden.

What about music classes, my area has some for that age group or sensory classes for toddlers? Does you library offer any reading, music classes for their age? What about soft play once a week, we have ones attached to community gyms that are cheaper than average. Are there say plsy schemes where she could spend a morning or afternoon a few times a week? Is it really a bad thing if she gets bored?

Sometimes it's good for children to be bored so they can entertain themselves. Do you rotate her toys so that she doesn't have to play with the same ones? At that sort of age my DC liked dolls and tea-sets, especially if they involved real water.

Does she like baths? Sometimes I do a play bath, just a small amount of water and lots of bubbles and toys which gives me time to clean Mumsnet.

Why do you think she is bored?

What kind of playing do you do with her?

At that age DD was all about messy play and tactile stuff so we'd do things like:

• fill one of those underbed plastic storage boxes that are wide but not tall with stuff like; sand with little toys buried in it, cheap rice crispies and give her plastic cups and spoons to move it from container to container, bubbly warm water and ice cubes with different food colourings in so they melt and change the water colour.
• bath with bubble bath, foam soap, that mouldable mousse like soap, bath crayons, bath bombs
• pack of digestives and make up several colours of icing and let her decorate them
• those foil emergency blankets you can get from the pound shop or camping stores were always a big hit, shiny and crinkly, great fun, same with bubble wrap.
• water painting - give child a paint brush and a cup of water and let them paint the floor, fence, themselves, the picnic table.....

How do you mean, bored?

I do know what you mean about not knowing what to do to stimulate or interest a child this age. I think it's so awkward because, at two, a child is beginning to be more of a little person with a personality, but for most of us adults, our memories don't go as far back as two, so we have memories of interacting with adults that being at a later developmental stage. You naturally think 'ooh, is my child old enough to do such-and-such that I remember mum/dad doing with me?!' and then you're a bit stumped when they're too young.

Do you cook? I am totally giving you anecdata, but I found baking was really good at this age, and if you have a safe cooker, simple cooking like getting them to stand on a chair and stir scrambled eggs or white sauce (the heat is so low it's low-risk). Or gardening is good - they can get nice and dirty and you can teach a child that age to pat in the soil around a plant, or to plant big seeds like beans? Beans are great actually, it's the right time of year and they grow fast.

When DD was two she loved thinking she was helping, too - if she's not scared of the noise she could use the hoover attachment, or mine loved wiping a counter dry after I'd sprayed it down with cleaning stuff.

I don't know if that's useful; I don't know which end of two your DD is and it makes a big difference. But, FWIW, I think these things are academic in as much as anything for a toddler is academic. They just want to be learning and if it's learning to pair socks, fine!

(FWIW DD has just turned five and, oh my goodness, I so miss the days when she would enjoy helping me with chores. These days we're into the huge tantrums and melodramatic objections!)

What does she do that makes you think she's bored?
I'm only asking as my DP, who leans toward busy-ness and restlessness used to, and occasionally still does, project boredom onto our DC. He'd get it into his head that they ought to be doing something new or that whatever and declare they must be bored. If an activity petered out, he'd find it really hard to allow for that critical stage of "leave it, reflect, rest, what's next?" to develop, always setting the next thing up.
Better let your DD enjoy the best stimulus there is; you! Get her to help with your chores, or set her up with similar utensils and talk-talk-talk with her. As a primary school teacher, I'd say that one of the greatest indicators of academic success is having had parents who talked a lot and engaged a lot with theirDL.

Definitely get them to help you with jobs. Yes it takes longer but it sounds like you have time to spare. Do cooking together, get her to help you with shopping lists

If you feel toddler groups are too much like playing at home is there a swimming pool that you can go to? Doesn’t need to be lessons, just go in for a splash.

Hasn't your toddler got her a levels yet? You must be failing her.

They do have a short attention span at that age, so won’t concentrate on a single activity for long. That’s normal, and not a sign of boredom.

They are also just learning social interaction, so initially they do their own thing at toddler groups, but in time they start to interact with other children, and eventually to start co-operating and playing together. This is a gradual process and fascinating to watch.

Oh yes! Shopping with a toddler that age is brilliant - I always did this when I felt rotten, because generally, if you shop during the day, you'll find there are quite a lot of other mums and/or older people who've retired, and the vibe is quite relaxed. I used to love taking DD shopping as there would always be lovely older people who'd say how nice she was (even if she was being absolutely awful), and because it's rarely busy, you can let a child point at whatever or take ages choosing a cucumber, and they like it.

Honestly, I found this to be like watching paint dry! But I guess we're all different.

I don't particularly rotate toys as when she wants something particular she knows where it is, but we play in different rooms - the lounge, her bedroom, her brothers rooms, garden and we have a tiny playroom.

She does like activities like painting or waterplay, but I feel like we can do everything in one morning and there's the rest of the day / week to go 😬 Maybe it's just the relentless age and one she goes to preschool it will break up the week, but that's not until next year as doesn't get her hours until the summer term after the Easter hols.

The boredom, she sort of rolls about stares at the ceiling. I suppose it could be tiredness, but she doesn't nap now. She is nearly 2 1/2.

Are you staying at home all day? I try to get out once a day every day,. By the time we do the school run, toddler group or library, or softplay or beach, home, lunch, there is only a couple of hours of playing in the house, 30 mins ceebies while I do chores, snack at 2.30 and then off on the school run. Home at 4 and they play together until teatime at 5. At home its jigsaws, reading, pretend play, arts stuff or pottering around the garden.

Its good for kids to be bored! Let her be bored as then her imagination will develop. If you constantly entertain her she won't learn how to play by herself

Talk with her, about everything you're doing, seeing, reading, that's how she'll learn her vocabulary.
Will dig out a paper I read some time ago, that shows how 3year-olds from families who read and talk to their children constantly, have much larger vocabularies than adults from disadvantaged backgrounds. Mother's education level and presence of books in the house were important factors.

We have the school runs yes, which we walk and go to a few things. Grandparents are too far to visit on a weekday. I try to limit Tv in the day I try anyway as my Ds likes to watch some TV after school to unwind so they watch at the same time, they do play together after school. I'll keep an eye out for some different activities to go to like maybe some music.

@picassobride yes we have lots of books. Most of my friends are back at work, so their children are either in day nursery or with grandparents. When we go to groups lots of part time working mums, grannies, Nanny's and childminders. I think being at home full time is tricky, but it suits our circumstances at the moment.