At my wits end. Can't afford nursery. No toddler groups.

[lasangoles]

My toddler is nearly two. He's an absolute nutter (words of the childminder, not me!) and doesn't do well without social interaction. Not a chance I could stay at home with him all day regularly and he needs to run about and let off steam. We do have a garden but it's out of action and will be for a while as we have a dangerous tree that's being removed soon then work being done which will take weeks. I'd like to book him in to a day of nursery every week, but can't afford it. It would cost me an extra 250 a month which isn't possible. There are absolutely no available toddler groups near me that a) are running or b) aren't booked up for the term. I booked him in to a baby dance class and it was a disaster. He needs something sensory, that's less structured. On our local council website, there are 40 different groups listed, 35 are closed due to covid, the other 5 are booked up for months.

I'm at the end of my tether. I just want a weekly something I can do with him where he can interact with other kids and benefit from some sensory learning. The only other kids at the cm are older than him.

Any suggestions?

@TheGirlWithAPrince

how expensive are your nurserys :S my sons nursery is £20 a day £80 a month ...

For a full day? Oh my goodness! It's £60 a day here minimum.

What about pre school? They can start aged 2 usually?

Mini athletics have just re-launched all of their classes. I've just signed my daughter up - it's 45 minutes of just running around letting off steam, doing athletic-y things. They are across the country. Another option would be to combine a that with a visit to soft play.

A gymnastics club round here runs a play gym in the mornings for pre school children. I have an 18 month old and it’s been a lifesaver! Not sure how common that is but worth checking out.

A lot of soft plays by me are open with extra precautions. Or swimming. It is really crap at the moment for littler ones, especially as the weathers getting worse...

Mine is a nightmare if he doesn’t burn off enough energy. Park and swimming. Or both. You will have to run around with him a bit, but mine will literally run about for hours if he’s playing tag or chasing a tennis ball. H&M have very cheap waterproof trousers so you can stay outside all winter.

Agree, many people commenting here really have no idea how the restrictions are either making things extremely difficult to do with toddlers, or just not possible at all.

I know! There's nothing indoors open for children where I am. No swimming, no play gym, no gymnastics, no soft play, no mini football.
It's ok just now that the weather is ok but it's going to be a long winter.

How big is your living room? Small indoor toddler slide...We brought ours indoors last winter and it kept DS busy for hours. Both climbing up and going down and rolling his cars and trucks down in. Or small indoor climbing frame?

The swimming is open near us! That’s why I suggested it.... Lessons aren’t open but the family swim session is running every day.

Most of the "paid for" actities are open near me...one morning mini athletics (£7ish?) and another morning mini music (£5ish?) is a lot cheaper than nursery.

Hard to find spaces though as they have all cut the numbers down.

Another vote for forest school type activities if there are any near you. The ones here are running. Youd need to invest in some good waterproofs, boots (snowboots better than wellies) and gloves if you want to go all through the winter though.

I'd recommend Toddler sense class ( it's franchise) or some kind of forest school for younger ones it's usually stay and play.

www.toddlersense.com

Or try toddler gym ( gymnastics) at your local leisure centre if it's back running?

Or yes a preschool, not once at a day nursery they are different. Preschool that is term time only and school hours. Sessions usually 9-12 or 12-3. Ours is £6 per hour and take from 2 years. Some won't take until 2 years 7 mths. You just need to phone around and find out what is what.

I second using tax free childcare to pay a preschool. Ours didn't suggest it and I only found out about it for the last term I had to pay for. Typical !

@TheGirlWithAPrince

how expensive are your nurserys :S my sons nursery is £20 a day £80 a month ...

In our area its £65 a day. South East. And our preschools take from 2.5 years and that's only 2 hours a day, twice a week. Many book up so much in advance its crazy. One play centre just reopened last week up everything - swimming, baby clubs etc has been closed and still is.

Local parks are free. We do them in all weather.

I feel like asking Mumsnet to put this in classics. For some of the meanest posts I've had the displeasure of seeing on here after many years of reading.
@Friendsoftheearth wtf is wrong with you? 😳

@Casschops

Local parks are free. We do them in all weather.

We go to the park in all weather, too, especially at the moment, but don't you find doing it every day as boring as fuck?

Google “forest school” or “wild play” in your area. We have a local one that first sessions for preschool age; low income groups etc. They have been running again for a few months is as they are outside.

We go to the park in all weather, too, especially at the moment, but don't you find doing it every day as boring as fuck?

As opposed to toddler groups which are the most interesting thing ever?

Parks are as boring or interesting as you make them. Autumn is the best season, conkers, acorns, leafs, loads if free toys around! Mind are 3 and 7, and need several hours of exercise daily, autumn is by far the easiest season

Defo defo defo try and find some other local families in a similar position. Even with rule of 6 you can meet up with one other person with 2-3 kids with them, or if you find 2x mums with 1 child each that makes 6 as well.

Good ways to meet local mums -

Ask your childminder to send your number round to her other clients who may know people/have classmates of their kids etc with younger children similar age to yours, just add a friendly message and a "Text me?"

Local FB groups, playdate type ones, meet up type ones.

(Whispers) Netmums - they have a much better "local" network section. You can also try Mumsnet Local but it never really got off the ground.

Contact NCT - they run smaller "coffee morning" groups which generally meet in people's houses and may be able to put you in touch with one still meeting, via text/email/whatsapp.

And get on waiting lists, for everything. If it gets to the point you're at the top and you don't want the space, don't worry, someone else will be glad of it.

Toddler groups are better than the park by yourself. I don't mind park if I'm meeting up with somebody though.

I am extraverted, unusually for MN it seems :o Meeting other adults is the measure of whether something is fun for me or not.

Hi OP, am a bit late to this thread, but there seems to be some great ideas already. Not sure where you are based but you could check if your local nursery does just mornings which may cut the cost of a full day. Otherwise, I'll add another vote for swimming on one of the days. You could just turn up to the pool or perhaps schedule a lesson one morning a week. Alternatively you could check out what else is running at your local leisure centre as quite often they have toddler gymnastics, trampolining, soft play etc, which will might give a bit of structure to the mornings and then maybe do the park, farm, etc during the afternoons. Wishing you all the best 😊

I have a 2 year old and we've been able to pay for a nursery 3 days. But where we are (in London) there's quite a lot on offer where we are, we have a big list of things we want to do on her non-nursery days. We're exploring lots of parks (different one each time so it doesn't get boring), music groups can be done as a one-off, we pay for Gymboree (quite expensive though), toddler classes, dance classes, museums, galleries, soft play, swimming, trampolining, city farm. We have to travel to get to some of them so it may be worth looking outside your local area. FB has been the best way to find out what's going on, e.g. all the local soft plays are closed but there's one which is just a 20 min train ride away.

I'd also contact the toddler groups that are fully booked and get yourself on their email list so that if a space comes up you can take it, or get on the list ready for the next term's booking.

Waves. I had a nutter first child - he turned out to be hyperactive adhder. I found he did better with older children who could tolerate him more. He loves swimming, cycling (balance bikes are awesome at this age - check out local bmx track so he cn go round and round).

DS goes to swimming lessons once a week at our local pool (not aqua tots etc stupidly expensive and the children don't seem to actually learn to swim), we're in the South east and nursery is £73 a day, but swimming is £28 a month which includes a weekly lesson, plus DS and a supervising adult can use the pool for free at any other time (restricted to slot booking at the moment). DS loves it, it's with other children, we have an 11am lesson so have to leave the house at ten thirty, then the lesson then change, home by about 12/12:15 lunch then a very long nap, it absolutely exhausts him.