2 Year Old in Lockdown

[pooeylouie]

Hi all
I’ve completely run out of ideas on how to entertain my toddler (26 months) in lockdown and am turning increasingly to paw patrol. Not happy about this. His nursery opened on June 1st and am considering sending him back just to give him something to do! (albeit would make mine and DPs working lives much easier also- both WFH)

Things I’ve tried-
Bought IKEA Flisat table to set up various sensory activities for him each day. Usually plays nicely for 5 mins usually before overturning the buckets and pouring the sand/water/rice / pasta / whatever it happens to be all over the floor
Montessori style matching activities- just chucks the cards and figurines after a couple of mins
Cooked play doh and set up various different kits relating to his interests for him re peppa pig set/ dinosaur/cars/diggers set - again plays nicely for a few mins before chucking the play doh and all the bits and bobs all over the floor
Drawing- draws nicely for 3 mins then takes the pens to the tables/walls/ sofas/ anything that shouldn’t be drawn on
Created various sticky walls for colour/shape matching. Again... good for a couple of mins before chucking the Pom poms/paper clips or whatever it is all over the floor
On the plus side he does enjoy reading for a short while with me or dad

He loves cars and diggers etc so spends the majority of his free play time playing with them which is great but this is the only stuff that keeps him properly occupied for a period of time . He gets out for a daily walk/run around outside (we don’t have a garden unfortunately hence we’re aiming to have moved house by end of year in order to fix this)

As we speak I’ve popped him in front of kids Netflix again as I’m just completely out of ideas of how to entertain him as spend ages setting up things for him to just trash or lose interest within a couple of mins! Anyone in a similar situation?

Thanks!

It’s difficult. I started lockdown full of ideas to entertain my four year old but like you have given up because they hold his attention for a nanosecond. Two year old must be even worse!

Does he like physical games, e.g. hide and seek, chase, pretending to be ghosts/monsters? Mine loves all that but they’re tiring while holding a small baby

What was your reason for not having him return to nursery when it opened? I have a DD who is younger than your son (she's 1 in a couple of weeks) and she went back to nursery as soon as they opened so that DH and I could properly wfh.

Hi OP. Honestly I'd send him back to nursery if you can...!

Have you heard of five minute mum? She has a book, blog and Instagram. Lots of good ideas which only take 5 mins to set up and tidy up, so not loads of time wasted if they're not interested.

Peachesandpie- yes I actually bought her book and it’s great but found the activities/games etc are ideal for kids just a tad older than mine, ie 3+ but yes shall be digging it back out when he’s a little older!

Re nursery I just personally felt it was a bit early for us and that I wanted to be confident that there wasn’t going to be another Covid spike before sending him back. Having said that.. I do feel like he would benefit from having the social aspect again - it can’t be fun stuck with literally just me and dad all day everyday! So I think we’ll be sending him back sooner rather than later the way things are going.

OP my ds is 28 months, so I get what you're experiencing! Things I've found keep him occupied are:

Frozen 'eggs', yogurt pots with a small toy inside, filled with water and frozen, and then turned out onto a tray, they can defrost them with some warm water and see what emerges from the ice.

Similar principle putting small toys in jelly.

DS really loves a tray I did, hiding toys in some stale porridge oats we had knocking about, that was messy, but hoovered up pretty easily.

Getting him to come along with me doing household tasks, he likes hoovering and doing the laundry.

He's got a lot of little wooden trains and tracks that he will happily play with for a little while if I help him set up a track.
If I put on the bubble machine and the fan, it makes bubbles fly all round the room, that's fun for a while.

I quite often go online and print off new colouring sheets for him to do which keep him occupied for a minute or five. And he can sit and colour himself in for ages.

But to be honest, he's spent far far too much time in front of netflix the past few weeks, especially since I have a 7 month old as well. The thing that has held his attention longest of everything in lockdown, other than the tv, is a very large cardboard box we had a delivery in. That thing is brilliant. Other than that I find most things do only hold his attention for about 20 minutes max, and some for only a few minutes. Fortunately pinterest has loads of good ideas to try and keep things varied.

If none of you is in a vulnerable category I’d send him back to nursery!

Hi, my daughter has just turned 3, so a little bit older, but some of these might work (not going to pretend that they are easy to combine with working):

• Does he have a balance bike or scooter? A ride to somewhere with some green space and then back can occupy a chunk of the day. In the absence of playgrounds we have been frequenting the local churchyard (I think DD is destined to be a goth).
• Emergency rescue: hide soft toys around the house and get him to rescue them. I normally pretend to phone in the emergency and she has to 'answer' the phone and then I tell her what it is, but adapt it to his communication level.
• Duplo - when she's in the mood this can occupy her for a good 30 mins with minimal input. Your son's mileage may vary but worth a go.
• pretend tea party or picnic with toys and toy food
• If you get any big items delivered, keep the cardboard box and call it a pirate ship (you can decorate it if you really want but actually kids easily accept that a box is a boat/car/whatever). Then occupy the child by telling him to get his crew together (soft toys) and then inventing scenarios for him (toy overboard in a storm needs rescue, etc).
• In a similar vein - build den/tent out of sofa cushions or A-frame laundry hanger with a blanket over it. Then have him collect everything he needs for his 'camping' trip.

Honestly, those Instagrammable activities tend to be a complete bust here too. I initially tried with them but frankly the effort/reward ratio was unsustainable. Treat lockdown like a 24 hour flight with him - do what you need to to survive.

I have a 20 month old (and 5 and 7 yr old). Send him back to nursery!! Mine will be going back as soon as ours opens (they didn’t have enough take up spaces to open last week). I am in the same position he doesn’t want to play with anything for more than 2 minutes so spends the whole day climbing on the furniture or trying to find new and exciting ways to injure himself. It’s too much now I am beyond stressed (although trying to home school older kids on top of this - I can’t imagine working from home at all! Thank god i am furloughed!).

... yep...

Honestly, mine can watch what he wants right now. It’s helping his speech anyway, and my sanity. If I weren’t pregnant I would send him back to nursery as soon as it opened (ours has just delayed opening until July with a phased return anyway). My boy is 2.5 but can’t pay attention to any one thing for more than a couple of minutes, and rarely can play by himself. Always wants something new and hates all his toys. Even the five minute crafts take far longer to setup and clear up than the thirty seconds he spends playing (read: throwing, banging, screeching), and then he throws a strop if you dare to do something his toddler brain has decided you shouldn’t. So yeah, I sympathise.

(He’s not quite as bad as I make out, it’s all normal toddler behaviour)

Nursery was a lifesaver when DS1 was 2 and I was heavily pregnant and pretty immobile with SPD for months. Admittedly baby ended up getting chicken pox at 9 weeks old, but nurseries never have been 100% safe from any infection.

Other than that it was loads of Fireman Sam/ Thomas looping, toy cars and train tracks and trips to Morrisons Cafe to spare me from the sight of my own house.

Why aren't you sending him back to nursery? Best place for him, with his friends.

My nephew is 3 - was totally deteriorating mentally during lockdown - within three days of nursery, back to his old self. Kids are resilient but they need their friends !

It sounds like you're doing a great job. I get the worries about sending him back, but do think about it.

I agonised about sending my nearly three year old back, and felt riddled with guilt, but we are now on the second week and everyone is so much happier. I have time to work properly, it's far easier to homeschool his eight year old brother and most importantly he is absolutely loving being back at nursery. He's been baking, done far more crafts (than I could bear to do in the last ten weeks) and is so happy after a day there.

It’s funny isn’t it how come they eat everything and happily partake in crafts at nursery but if mum sets it up.... nope!!!

To be honest another reason I’ve held off a little sending him back is he seems so so happy being at home! Don’t get me wrong he always enjoyed nursery but I’ve felt like he’s been even more happy - noticeably, compared to before when me and DP were working in office and he was at nursery 3 days a week. I get that he loves the security of being at home and being around his parents all the time but I am concerned about the boredom per above, the lack of social interaction etc. If we send him back we would reduce him down to 2 days until he turns 3 so hopefully that would be a nice balance between home and nursery since he would still have 5 days a week at home with us. Oh and my mum has been mum shaming me for even considering sending him back!!