What are your weekend routines with a toddler ?

[Picklemuncher123]

Do your routines get a bit more relaxed over the weekend , do you go to nice places, to the park, a day out ? How do you entertain your kids ? Do you give them periods where they play alone ?
Our weekend routine is:
Ds wakes at 6.30
7-8 - breakfast
8-9 reading playing games
9-10 walk or to the park
10-10.30 snack fruit or something
10.30- 11 play time ( I sit down for a cuppa)
11-12 - lunch
12-2 nap time ( I attempt to gets jobs done )
2-5- out somewhere for the afternoon
5-6 dinner time
6-7 bath time story and milk
7-7.30 bedtime

Not going to lie sometimes if I sit down and let ds play by himself I feel guilty. Because I work full time in the week.

I'm just knackered .

Also work FT. And both my kids 7 and 2 have played by themselves. It is very good for them to be independent. I read to them, take them for days out in London, we take them to the park but every day we do expect them to play independently.

If that routine works for you, it's perfect. Children need time to chill, to learn to entertain themselves, to just be. DS needs the relax as much as you do.

Our weekends are different as I'm with the boys all week (work evenings). We chill at home in the mornings. I catch up with dh as we are passing ships in the week. The boys play while we have coffee. Breakfast is normally late as he boys have snacks first thing at the weekend. One of us will lie in until 9.

Sometimes we make the effort to get out but often not. The 18 month old naps after lunch anyway so by the time we get moving time is usually getting on.

I normally take one of the boys swimming on one of the days.

Is your toddler easier at home or out?

Just to clarify, I say different because we're out and about most midweek days to parks, farms, libraries, etc so we tend to do not much on the weekend

Usually aim to be leaving the house by 10am or 9.30 if going somewhere further afield.

Either packed lunch or back for 12.

youngest naps 1-2 (if I'm lucky), TV time for eldest, then free play/garden etc while I sort the house/nap while DH sorts the house (dd2 up at 5.50 every day and DH can't share mornings).
dinner at 5ish
bedtime 6 with bath or 6.30 without

town - library and park
Ikea - mooch and lunch
farm (we have membership) and packed lunch
woods, lake etc - home for lunch.

Definitely easier out, hes really good to take out . I'm just losing ideas on places to take him !

Saturdays
7am; he wakes up and I tell him to play and let me sleep (often put the TV on for some background noise). He'll play with his Lego and cars quite happily. I don't sleep.
8am; drag myself out of bed to make him breakfast, shortly after I'll make myself and DH breakfast
9-11 he plays, DH and I chat (sometimes he'll join us in bed) then we all get dressed. Although right now DS is laying on a sleeping DH and I have his cars on my chest while he uses my body as a parking garage.
11am: we take DS to football
12pm; food
1pm; his swimming lessons
2- onwards; unless we have an event planned, we do FA . Sometimes I get his pens out for some writing practice, but he's mostly left to play on his own. We always read multiple books before bed.

I don't feel guilty at all, my son likes to play so we leave the garden door open if the weather is decent so he has more spread. DH and I are shattered after a long working week, so we relish our free time. Sundays we go to church then town to eat with family, then home and more chilling.

Sounds nice and chilled.
We seem to be wall to wall birthday parties at the moment and have to try to fit house repairs around them, it's not relaxing.

Our weekend routine is very loose. We're all lazing around upstairs and will have breakfast shortly. Swimming lesson for DS at 11.30 then lunch straight after (in the changing room) and a nap afterwards. Afternoons we either all chill out at home or we'll take them out somewhere. Tea is normally around 5.30 and bedtime at 7. DS is 18 months, DD is 4 and whilst we have a routine we've always brought them up to be flexible.

Our toddler does swimming and football classes first thing - one on Saturday and one on Sunday followed by playground. Then lunch, nap, unstructured play and bed.

We find the classes first thing really helpful as he likes a routine and it gets rid of some of his energy early in the day

Don’t feel guilty letting your child play by himself. He needs a balance of guided play and independent play

I didn’t answer your question though.
Toddler-
Up 7ish
He’ll refuse breakfast at 8ish. I then give him a homemade muesli bar to eat while he plays
We have no plans locked in place. It’s easy enough to pack snacks and lunch and eat out.
Nap 1ish
Dinner 4.30
Play at home until 5.30
Bath
Stories
BF
Bed by 7

Sounds good OP - a balance between going out and catching your breath at home.
As for what to do with a toddler, mine liked:

1. children’s farm because there was a good mix of activities. Outdoor, indoor, riding on tractors, feeding animals etc. Might be worth investing in membership to use at weekends.
2. swimming, but only in a toddler friendly pool. They got fed up quickly in a bog standard pool. We ended up joining a posh gym for the toddler years because there was a kids pool with water shoots and little slides. Then the cafe had a soft play area, so perfect for a cuppa at gym before heading home.
3. riding on scooters or balance bikes. Used to pack them into the boot and go to dirt tracks/skate parks early doors before the big kids got up at weekends! Also had a scooter lead to tow them along afterwards when they run out of steam. That was handy to keep them going and out in the fresh air a bit longer.

Apart from swimming on Saturday and Rugby Tots on Sunday, we don't have a routine. The 2 year old and 3 month old get swept up into whatever we are doing.