To find it expensive keeping preschoolers fed & entertained?

[pirateblue]

I mean, it is, isn’t it? Or am I doing it wrong …?

I think it also depends on how much YOU enjoy the activities to keep them occupied at home.
As a single, non driving mum when my son was small I did not have spare money to do soft play (very few around then).
I was a volunteer leader at our toddlers group despite being a teenager, much younger than the other mums.
At home we'd bake, make dens in Front room and eat our meals in there, role play doctors , schools etc, play bands with kitchen stuff, all sorts of messy play/water play, craft etc. Nature hunts in garden or on walks, even in the rain, they loved it!
We'd also occasionally get the bus into the local city and go to the museums especially the free ones (we have some great ones and still do, interactive ones).
Admittedly I normally only had 1 child but occasionally would have DNiece for the day who was 2yrs younger.
I loved all that but when I've had to go to soft play since with our foster children I'd much rather be ANYWHERE else.

This is true. I hate imaginary play with a passion. I can cope with maybe an hour of it in a day so the rest of the time we're outdoors as I'm happier stomping about in the woods with him or going on on the bikes.

But I still think toddlers aren't expensive out of the house. We go to the woods, the park, the beach etc. No need for petrol if you bring toddler along on a bike seat. We pack our own lunch and snacks. If it's raining we go to the library, playgroup or play dates or visit family, or just wrap up and go to the woods anyway. A lot of that depends on where you live.

I'd rather set up a picnic blanket on the beach and bring a little bag of diggers and trucks for him to play with in the sand all day than be at home doing imaginary play.

@neverwakeasleepingbaby the point is you can't take two under 3s into any of our local authority pools without a second adult swimming.

I had eldest hyperactive. I walked a lot and he biked or scooted - we did miles every day. We'd take snacks and waterbotte or pack lunch.

They don’t eat that much (no obligation to buy the over-priced specially market toddler snacks). You don’t need to do expensive activities to keep up with the “all for social media” brigade. Trips to the park, duck pond, library (just going to read books rather than organised sessions), running errands, playing at home/in the garden (rotate toys from charity shops) are all free. Playgroups are cheap. It doesn’t have to be expensive to entertain a toddler at all.

Oh right sorry. Very sleep deprived. In the trenches!!
In any case, I wouldn't risk taking my 3 year old and 7 month old swimming alone. Just feels too much for one person.

Being in the trenches currently also makes me think some people are looking back at the toddler years with rose tinted specs thinking that a 3 year old has an attention span of more than 5 seconds. I'd rather pay £8 for an activity guaranteed to entertain them (and somewhere safe and fenced off) rather than a trip somewhere they'll be bored with very quickly and then requires quick thinking to avoid a tantrum

She eats lots of veg, yes. Because they should only really be having 1-2 portions of fruit a day.

Yes, she'd eat an entire punnet of strawberries, and 3 bananas a day -but I don't let her. She has 1 piece of fruit most days, sometimes 2 - depending on what we've got in etc. She has cucumber, celery, carrot sticks, peppers, broccoli etc instead of expensive fruit.

@WittiestUsernameEver

Yes, she'd eat an entire punnet of strawberries, and 3 bananas a day -but I don't let her.

Mine isn't eating that either.

Example-

Mon: sliced banana on toast, half punnet of strawberries through the day (a punnet is only about 10-12 strawberries at most)

Tue: banana with porridge, half a punnet of strawberries through the day

Wed: half punnet of blueberries in porridge which we all eat, banana for snack

Thurs: same again

Fri: banana with weetabix, watermelon and apple snack

Sat: sliced banana and strawberries on pancakes, apple and peanut butter snack

Sun: banana, strawberry, flaxseed smoothie, satsuma snack.

Some dried apricots and raisins here and there.

They don't need to inhale a whole punnet every day to get through a decent amount of fruit before even starting on veg.

I don't think toddlers are expensive to entertain at all so I don't mind buying the nicest, priciest fruit and see him enjoy it.

It's interesting. I'd consider 10-12 strawberries too many for a little one. More like 4-6 would be ample really.

But it doesn't matter really what you or my child eats. It's just about OP and how kids can be as expensive or as cheap as you make it :)

@WittiestUsernameEver

Half a punnet of 12 strawberries is 6 strawberries.

Excluding any childcare pre schoolers are cheap, easy to entertain and feed. What are you doing that costs so much.... I went park of playground either 50p, £1 or free for tro hours. Food cheese, cucumber and other snacks. Visited other preschoolers and their mums at home in the afternoon. Less than a couple of £1's. We all did that. If we want to the park we took snacks.

No child ever needs to go to soft play. They’ll be fine in rain and mud. Toys and books from charity shops are cheap enough to replenish often. They’ll enjoy doing things with you (even housework!) much more than anything you spend money on. Use your imagination and get them to use theirs.

Totally agree. I love the beach with the kids and would be as entertained as the kids!! We'd also take a picnic on most days out.
A trip to the beach would be a difficult trip without a car where we live. We also go inland to places with streams , woods etc ( still love plodging in a river!)