Please help: ideas for self-isolating with a 2-year-old

[tyrannosaurustrip]

We got through lockdown kicking a ball around a park, going on adventures in our scooter and visiting playgrounds once they re-opened but have just found out we are close contacts of a confirmed Covid case and am facing into two weeks of trying to balance work and a just-2 year old who is into climbing everything and being in the playground and will only have access to our not huge house and a v small (3m x 4 m-ish) garden.

I'm obviously not the first who has been here but feeling overwhelmed so would love advise in particular on what kind of outdoor activities I can do in a small space and dodgy weather. We have a sand and water table and a baby slide but both feel like they've been outgrown a bit, I am happy to throw some money at things I can have delivered like a sand pit but I would love some extra ideas because I am completely drawing a blank.

Sorry to hear this, self isolation is hard at the best of times, especially for children. When mine was little she liked body painting, big bit of paper outside, loads of paint and making arm prints, leg prints, paint with tummy etc. Obstacle courses went down well, especially if they involved water - slide into paddling pool, hula hoops etc. Giant chalks were good and we spent hours colouring in fences and drawing hopscotches. Sensory trails - blind fold and then different textures to walk on or feel, same with guess the taste (blindfold and chocolate, fruit, veg etc) Do you have a trampette? At 7 we still have fun with a bucket of water on the trampette and bounce until it's empty. Hope the weather holds for you.

Second the trampette, great way to burn off energy. We have a small garden and a sandpit and a bubble blower were our favourites. The also loved the small slide at my mum's.

Oh and painting with water. All you need is a little bucket of water and a decorating brush. They used to "paint" the wall of the house.

Thanks for these- can I ask does anyone have a recommendation for a trampette? I think she'd love one but googling didn't get me any suitable for under 3s and I wasn't sure what the issue was in terms of safety- I ignore some of those safety warnings for certain toys I know she'd be ok with but I wasn't sure with this. Most I found were for over 6s.

Goal is a great idea, we do quite a bit of painting with water and she seems a bit over it- she prefers to hand me the brush, call put animals she wants me to draw them criticise my efforts!

If you are getting a sand pit anyway some small plastic animals or dinosaurs could be a good idea my DS used to spend hours making homes for his dinosaurs using sand and twigs.

Magnetic fishing sets- in the bath
Bath crayons
Play doh
Chalk the patio if you have one
Reusable sticker books
Dare I say it... very early morning run/scooter around the block

Oh god I feel for you; it’s shite and I’m dreading the inevitable as well

Maybe get a water table or mud kitchen, old pans and plastic cups to play with. Build a little shop using stuff from your cupboards. Do simple repetitive make believe games also how about some dancing and play band. Enjoy this time and if the neighbours object then tell them to stuff off!

I really feel for you. I have a very physical two year old (and a four year old) and I’m dreading this. I also have a minuscule garden (though know I’m lucky to have any outdoor space at all).

I think if I was throwing money at it, I’d get some home soft play equipment and the biggest climbing frame my garden would take.

I also recommend a bug hotel and/or a compost heap with worms. Might be a bit late to start the latter but my two year old spent aaaaaaages digging up worms in lockdown.

Here’s a wormery you can buy, and there are some DIY ideas online www.hobbycraft.co.uk/my-living-world-worm-kit/583064-1000?glCountry=GB&gclid=CjwKCAjwkoz7BRBPEiwAeKw3qyhbzFqZaGAhuEWVdn2BZS0TmAnusaatmVgKo9gszmI6mvBGGMkOKhoCcYIQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

Do you have an Alexa? The Cbeebies app is great for games and dancing and stories. It also does musical chairs and musical bumps.

Buy a disco light from ebay, theyre very cheap and have a mini disco. Playdough is great for this too a lot of preschools do dough disco to strenghten finger muscles.

Cosmic Kids on You Tube is great for yoga, i know shes little but if you do it she might run around and bend and stretch with you.

There's a really good trick on Instagram somewhere where someone did a piece of string and a toy and it made a glider - kid went up qnd down stairs to send Elsa down the rope slide.

With your water table try using cheap shaving or shower foam and food colouring to make an mix different colours. Making crispy cakes together, lots of fun eating and squishing the mix. Try and schedule (in your mind at least) regular high energy games for 20 mins or so, such as hide and seek, dancing to baby yoga on the tv, action songs together etc. Reading stories, Mark making, Aqua doodle sets are good as no mess. Collecting leave/petals/sticks in the garden and stick them to paper to make a picture or let them just use for sensory play. Empty all the kitchen cupboards and refill!

wooden spoon, dry pasta and a saucepan
on the floor is also great fun when youre cooking dinner.

Also a water spray bottle and clean sponge and ask them to clean windows or teddies etc.

Outdoor waterproofs so they can go in garden even on a day after rain.

Mud kitchen, playhouse, slide, sandpit

New bath toys to have indoors after cold garden play and extend bath time to waste time

Dd is same age and we got trampoline with safety net and padded edge and then sunk it. Dh did that bit but other than an awkward fall, she cannot either fall out it or fall onto anything hard. M

Mud kitchen type thing also played with a great deal. That's just old stuff I wasn't using pans, tools etc and a pile of mud and a pallet that it sits on.

In answer to your question about a trampette, I bought my dd one for her 2nd birthday from argos, I think it was about £35 and it has a handle on the front. She absolutely loves it. its an inside one but i chuck it out in the garden on nice days

Oh and we also like making a den using a double duvet cover and a fan lol

Place marking as I’m worried we’ll be in the same situation soon. Some great ideas on here!