Stay at home toddler mums, what does your week look like?

[lovehearts88]

I'm a SAHM to my 16 month old. When he was younger I hardly did any baby groups apart from the occasional free bounce and rhyme session at the library, because he mostly slept through them and I'm not the most sociable person so I wasn't interested in making friends.

But since he started walking he gets bored/frustrated at home after awhile, I found I was putting the TV on to entertain him and that is not something I want to do. So I've been sampling some different toddler groups/classes recently and now we have a bit of a weekly routine going on which is nice.

Everyday we get up around 6/7am and have breakfast, nappy change and get dressed. I drink my coffee whilst he plays independently with toys and then I take him upstairs to play in his room whilst I get washed and dressed.

Monday we go swimming
Tuesday is a toddler playgroup
Wednesday is a different toddler playgroup
Thursday we do soft play and a sensory glow in the dark class.
Friday we go to an outdoor nature play class

All those things are in the morning, so then we come home for lunch and nap.

Afternoons are less structured so usually a long pram walk with a stop off at the park if the weathers good, garden time or library/role play centre or another soft play if the weathers bad. Also take him to do a food shop every friday afternoon.
Sometimes we will have a bath in the middle of the afternoon as he loves water and it will keep him busy.

From about 4pm we are home and he will play with his toys untill my husband finishes work and is home around 5pm. We will then all eat together and most evenings he will have a bath. I usually let him watch 30 mins of tv before bed as it calms him down whilst he drinks his milk.

I'd love to know what other toddler stay at home mums are doing during the week! Maybe get some new ideas. I've tried playdough, colouring, crafts but hes just too young for this, and just tries to eat everything.

How much time do you spend actually playing with him? At home I mean, not outside. It's a long time ago, but I seem to remember doing that quite a lot.

Oh I didn't think of staying home and actually playing with him. Thanks for the great idea. 🙄

14 month old.

We wake up at 4:30.
Stories, cuddles, puzzles, some independent play first thing.
I go for a run with pushchair.
Breakfast
Bath time, get dressed
Most days I take her for a walk without the pushchair around the block, it takes about an hour or so because we stop at the park. She takes a pull along toy or a ball. Practice walking up and down steps, walk on wall, inspect ladybirds that sort of thing.

After that I split the day into two halves. Most mornings we do a group.
Monday is messy play
Tuesday day out eg. City farm or somewhere a bit further afield
Wednesday is interactive story time
Thursday french group
Friday mum and toddler dance
Saturday music class
Sunday-no plans

We then do lunch and nap.

After she wakes up it's weather dependent. Either sandpit, park meet up with one of her little friends, football, water play, that kind of thing.

Otherwise a museum (eg young v&a), Library, or discover children's story centre for her to run around and climb and get tired!

In evening, we do dinner, stories and then I take her for a walk in pushchair

She enjoys going to the shop without the pushchair eg. We walk to corner shop, buy a banana, she taps my card, carries said banana home and eats it. Good way to kill 40 mins!

Other than that she just fits around me, joins me on errands etc.' Helps'with cleaning, putting the washing out etc. Shes pretty good with the washing now

At home we do things like painting, playing with toys, pretend play, peekaboo (a lot of peekaboo). She also loves train spotting! So we often stop to watch the DLR and Elisabeth line and wave to the passengers. ..

I'm starting swimming in September and that will be an afternoon thing

That's not what I meant, sorry if there's a misunderstanding. What I meant was that my dd was hopeless at playing by herself and always wanted me to play with her all the time. Hours of it - dull as ditchwater, and while you're doing it, of course you're not getting stuff done.

I work part time, but on my home days we do much the same as you. Additional things we do or have done (I have an older child too): annual pass to farm park with playground, soft play and animals. To lake to feed ducks; you can buy big packets of garden bird seed to feed them with from garden centres. Toddler gymnastics class. Playdates with mums we meet at the toddler groups.
Home play, yes still quite tricky at 16m. My 16mo loves water play, so I fill a big shallow tray and she washes her toys. Games like I throw all the pom poms and she collects them into a little bag. Sounds like you have a garden? If so, a swing is great, my DD can spend hours in it!

You sound like you’ve got it covered, you can make edible play dough I’m sure of it

https://therestfulhome.com/edible-playdough-recipes/

Thats great, thank you!

Yes my baby loves to play with me too, he loves to read together so we do that everyday and we play with his toys throughout the day. But like you I find it quite dull after awhile so I find we both benefit from a change of scenery!

Thank you! Your week sounds great. I've never done painting at home maybe I should give it a go! and the mum and toddler dance class sounds great, my boy has recently started doing a little dance to music 😂

Pretty much that op, church hall type play groups and other activities, with DC 2 I had more money so I brought the local farm pass to switch things up, paddle pool summer and winter long day baths.