To ask those of you with toddlers…

[AisforApplePie]

What a typical day or weeks looks like? I’m struggling to entertain my two year old. Single parent, no nursery and no one around to take DC off me, so it’s me from 6am till bedtime with a nap in between, 7 days a week. Also DC has a very short attention span.

what activities do you do during the day and on weekends? Obviously there’s parks and taking the bike out etc, but I’m thinking more in the home? I got out the drawing pens today and after 2 minutes DC was done. I’ve a lot of time to fill!

if you and your toddler are together all day, what do you get up to?

DD (2.5yo) goes to nursery 2 days a week but when at home we usually do crafty bits, bake, take her to the park, paint. If i am having a 'sod it, lets be a fun parent and deal with the rest after' type of day, then we'll get the bedding out and make dens or take all of the couch cushions off and construct a sort of climbing frame/assualt course with them, oh and she'd happily spend a good half an hour jumping on my bed!

We do have nursery 2 days a week but when we don't...

Once you take meals and naptime out of the day there's really 2x 2/3 hour slots to fill for us. 9am to 11.30am, then 2.30 to 5.30pm. I get out of the house in one of these "slots" - park, cafe, friend's house, city farm, museum - and then the other one is filled with a mixture of "helping" me with housework (he's actually quite helpful with sorting washing and gardening, and his help does make it more fun!), reading, playing with his toys and one actual planned activity.

"Playing with his toys" - his two best ones are play kitchen which he'll often use while I'm cooking, and his rug that has a map of a pretend town on it which he'll happily move toy cars and people around for ages and make up little stories about them.

Actual planned activity doesn't have to be anything fancy. Sometimes we do really simple baking (he basically mixes and pours), occasionally watch a film or part of a film, or maybe some colouring or playdough. Five minute mum and becky's treasure baskets on Instagram have some good ideas although some too old for toddlers.

My current best tip, though, is scrapbooking. Blank scrapbooks are a couple of quid from craft stores. We just cut up whatever junk mail we get and stick it in, as well as stuff like tickets or leaflets if we go somewhere nice. Sometimes I'll draw (bad) pictures of things we've seen that day and DS will colour them in. I'll write the words next to the stuff and DS will trace the letters. He is 2.8 now and can use safety scissors and pritt stick by himself. It's by far his favourite craft type activity, is really cheap and relatively non-messy.

I'm home with our 2yo three days per week. I'm a creative person who loves being home and thinking of different activities but it's still no joke when you're doing it all the time. I sometimes wake up and feel the whole day looming ahead like this enormous empty space to be filled!

I find her mood and attention span is better in the morning so we usually stay in before lunch and might:

• have breakfast on FaceTime with someone in the family
• draw/paint/stickers/colour in
• read stories cuddled up on the couch
• change the bedsheets/load machine/hang up
• dance/listen to music/play musical statues
• play Orchard Game/jigsaw at the table
• bake/cook
• do Cosmic Kids yoga
• play in the garden/wash the windows/ weed/water flowers/plant seeds

- clean (she has a mini spray bottle filled with water and a dry cloth to wipe surfaces)

• pretend play coffee shops/set up a play shop with tins and jars/play with toy kitchen
• set up a simple activity of buttons to post/ribbons to untangle/coloured water to mix

One day a week we do a paid activity for an hour in the afternoon. On a home day, after lunch is nap and usually when she wakes up, she is less content so I try to get us out and we might:

• go to the park (I usually pop one earphone in to enjoy an audiobook while we play and take a coffee in my flask to make this more pleasant on a cold day) Also nice to drive to a new park every now and then to switch it up.
• go "exploring" (let her choose which way we walk, when to turn corners etc and chat about what we see)
• occasionally go to a coffee shop for a cuppa and a cake
• playdate
• meet up with a friend of mine (bonus points if you are invited there and gold star if they have a friendly pet!)
• pack a small snack picnic to have in the garden/park/in the car on a cold day
• walk to the library to choose books for the week/colour in
• pop to the shops to pick up a few things (sometimes draw her a visual list to check off)
• have the online shopping delivered (she loves helping to carry the items in from the door and put them away)

Normally that takes us to teatime when DH gets home. He will catch up with her/play while I make dinner. After dinner our routine is to watch 2 programmes on CBeebies, then bedtime routine begins.

I think having mum friends from my ante natal and post natal groups, and other baby classes was what got me through the toddler years. If you don't have very many mum friends with similar age kids, maybe you could try your local NCT group or one of the "mum" apps to meet people?

I also found having a basic daily/weekly routine helped. You don't have to stick to it but it's good to have a default plan if you are too tired to come up with something to do 😂

Someone also gave me a book of 365 things to do with toddlers! I think there are lots of similar books. I think it might have been this one (as PFB was born the year it was published):

www.amazon.co.uk/Toddlers-Busy-Book-Books/dp/0671317741

Firstly you are amazing! I would really struggle.

Towards the end of my mat leave/when I have time off with DC, I stick to a loose routine - play in his room til 8 ish, breakfast, out by 9. Go to meet a friend for coffee/play group (there’s an outdoor one near us run by the council for £1)/park/feed the ducks/museum etc. Home for lunch and nap. Then he wakes around 2.30 so we have 3 hrs to fill, which I sort of take in 30 min chunks - so a bit of playtime in sitting room, then “helping” with some chores (eg I do laundry while he sweeps the already clean floor), snack time, maybe a short craft or baking activity, 30 mins screen time, maybe some books or singing - then it’s tea time, then bath then bed!

Only have 8 month old DD with me at home now as DS is at pre-school 9-3. But when he was at home and now with DD our days look like this
Morning- playgroup or baby group or swimming. there's loads on round ours most are 0-5 and last about 1hr 30. We walk there and back to kill time too!
Home for lunch, tv and toys
1pm- park, walk in the woods,play dates, a different play group or we stay at home, chill and play with toys, make play dough, paint.
Now with DD it's a bit different as we go home for naps and lunch and by that time it's time for pick up from school!
In the evening I try to get DS involved in the cooking or just leave them to their own devices while I make dinner.
For at home stuff. Making play dough is so easy and cheap, or cloud dough! We also made an alphabet handprint book (google it) sensory trays are good fun too. 5 minute mum on Instagram does loads of ideas for home games, plus she does loads of stuff on texting independent play and stuff, so you actually get a break!

In the morning he plays with whatever he wants while I get ready. Do the pots, washing (he "helps" with the washing) pack a bag. Then we walk up the park or drive to a different park and I just kinda follow him around. Then nap time. Then we sometimes go to softplay. But ussually we'll just nip to the shops then I'll make dinner while he plays. If we're in the house I just let him play with whatever he wants and I tidy up and play with him when he wants. He doesn't really like drawing or messy play for more than a minute. He has a scuttle bug that he plays on alot.

Thank you to everyone who has responded - some amazing suggestions. I have just had a browse but when DC goes to bed I’ll read through properly (after the mountain of ironing is done)

To those asking, I don’t get any benefits because DH who buggered off abroad still gives me some money every month so when I that entitled to website it said we don’t get anything, even though we’re scraping by (although I imagine most people are). So I wouldn’t get free childcare till DC is 3.

My advice is one outside trip a day, 1hr of sitting and playing with them, 30mins of them playing alone (safely), 30mins of CBeebies quiet time- around naps and food and bath.

@OnlyFoolsnMothers how does that add up to a whole day? 🤔

Both my boys happily played with trains for hours, so I joined in.
We also made dens using chairs and blankets.
We always went out somewhere, even if just to the park, or into town to the library on the bus.
A favourite game was me sitting one of them on my knees and pretending to take them for a motorbike ride, lifting my legs up and down and moving them to go round corners and bumpy roads. Tiring but they loved it.
We had a toy tent and played in that.
We had snacks on plates and made them into faces.
We played hide and seek.
If I had a big cardboard box that would entertain the kids for days!

We had to get out of the house, every single morning without fail.

Park. Supermarket. Library. Different park. Swimming pool. Garden centre. Duck pond. Woodlands. Church hall toddler group.

At home, the best things were:

• brio train track
• duplo
• "helping" me do things - laundry, hoovering (toy hoover = good purchase), gardening, baking
• crafts - playdo, crayons, stickers, cutting up old magazines, beads etc
• reading stories
• we got a swing/slide set in the garden which was brilliant

Winter was always so much harder because its not much fun going to a park in shit weather. I strongly recommend investing in warm stuff & waterproofs and a thermos. Sometimes in winter i used to put a huge bath towel on kitchen floor, and put a washing up bowl with warm water on it and get DC to wash anything plastic with toothbrushes or nailbrushes etc. This was very popular.

Yy to dens/tents/cardboard boxes!!!

DS is 2.5 and his favourite toys are Duplo, train sets (Duplo, wooden and toot toot), cars and car mat, Playmobil 123 house, playdoh, aquadoodle mat and colouring (especially the crayola mess free sets - I quite enjoy playing with those too!)

He also likes to "help" load/unload the washing machine and bake, although I do the latter rarely as he makes a big mess. I've just got him a plastic step thing from IKEA so he can do washing up, i.e. plastic plates and cutlery in lukewarm water with soap and a sponge.. keeps him entertained for ages. Sometimes he'll have a "fun" bath if I'm really stuck where he takes his plastic toys in to clean.

When mine where toddlers I’d take them out for a walk everyday even if it was raining, we did an outing everyday something like visit the library, local craft toddler group, swimming or soft play had lunch and a nap then maybe watch a bit of TV for quiet time and did some ‘ school’ work like look at numbers or phonics, they would have free play whilst I made the evening meal and then a board game before bath, stories and bed.

Baths kill a lot of time. Reading books. Rolling around on the bed. Bear school. Any kind of messy play. Give him a bowl with flour and water and he can mix it. Water play, stand him at the sink, put some towels down, add bubbles and he'll play for ages.

Is there a playgroup or mum and toddler group near you that's free or very low cost?
Or any kind of mum and toddler classes?

For me I always had to have one activity am and one pm most days that's out the house. Doesn't have to be a major thing but some "thing". Then 3 meals a day takes up a lot of time. Then you've just got to fill in the gaps around all that with play time, and a bit of tv.

And ps stop ironing! 😀😀 x

I could have written this post, except my DD gets up a bit later and doesn't nap!

We potter about upstairs before breakfast and she loves helping with chores. I do set up activities but 5 minutes and she's done. I let her have as much time in the garden as she likes in ALL weathers, and we go on an animal spotting walks. She loves finding cats and saying hello to dogs and birds.

We go to 2 different groups, swimming and music, but like others have suggested church groups or the library storytimes are free.

Have a look at Eventbrite. Ive found quite a few free or low cost activities on there.

We have a National Trust membership which is £6 a month for the 2 of us, and for her birthday we got bought a zoo membership. Apart from fuel it can be a free day out as many times as you like.

Pinterest is also a great resource for free or cheap crafts and activities

Finally, well done. I know how hard it is doing it all solo. i feel so guilty when i have to spend time cleaning and not playing with her.

Past that stage.

But break the day down into half hour chunks. Stories, drawing, toys, play dough etc.

Then one morning activity out, toddler group, walk and coffee and playground, swimming, supermarket, local pond etc.

Back for lunch.

Nap/quiet time in bed.

Four or five half hour activities. Including snack time

Dinner

Bath

Bed

My toddler (aged 2.5) must be different to everyone else’s, as the chances of him engaging in an activity such as Playdoh for half an hour are practically zero.

Also - I can’t believe barely anyone has mentioned TV!

I've given up trying to put a theme or set routine to our week because of weather/toddler tolerance (hers, not mine) so roughly, when there's housework to be done she gets a cloth and helps "polish", we spend time in the garden fixing her fairy garden, we bake, we do stories, her sensory mat, she helps me sort cupboards, sort laundry, we go to the zoo, the farm, parks, out on her trike, and in a few weeks I'll buy an indoor climbing frame type thing with a slide for when the weather gets bad and we can't get out.

Also: Ms Rachel & Songs for Littles is a lifesaver. First time ever my toddler has actually been ok in her playpen alone for a few minutes. She listens to the songs, does the actions, laughs... It's great.

Water play. My daughter loves a tub of water at the kitchen sink or sometimes a daytime bath so she can play when not really tired.

Boredom is the mother of invention. You don't have to entertain your child constantly. Get some big Lego or other toys and say he will be playing on his own while you get some chores done. Obviously you have to keep him in sight, and those chores can be making yourself a cup of tea and reading a magazine. After a half hour or so do something a bit more interactive, then another break.
And an hour of TV before bed may save your sanity, it certainly did mine!

Just place marking for now!

So many great ideas on this thread. I'm going to borrow loads.
I definitely find getting out with my almost 2 year old helps as well. Particularly find getting him in wellies and waterproofs and allowing him to splash to his heart's content in puddles helps to break up particularly stir crazy days.

Some great tips!