How to stimulate a ' clever ' 2 and a half year old that seems to act up when bored

[damdams]

What kind of things can I / nursery do to stimulate a bored child more ?

I don't really want to do academic stuff yet.

I prefer the idea of building things or puzzles.

Open to other (non academic ) ideas

Of course you don’t need to teach her those things and I agree she has plenty of time. But if you genuinely think she’s acting up because she’s bored, then challenge her! If she’s not interested then drop it.

Surely it depends on what the nursery is currently doing? Do they really have NOTHING to interest her? Most nurseries have a range of activities set up and children can flit from one thing to another when they are bored. And if they don't like the activities they usually like playing with the other children or talking with the adults.

What does she enjoy doing? Painting? Drawing? Music? Writing? Lego? Train tracks? Building blocks? Outdoor play? Stories? Playing in the home corner/dressing up box?

Would she want to sit and work through some maths questions or handwriting practice rather than playing? (this isn't a goady question - my youngest loves working through pages and pages of sums! My eldest used to love doing this too, but now much prefers bouncing off the walls)

@Calliopespa well the nursery are saying they think she doesn't have many kids do ' talk to ' as the kids in her class aren't as chatty is maybe causing boredom and also apparently she seeks out adults a lot.

Is seeking out adults a lot another sign of something more problematic, like you're implying ?

Can she not make up games? I'm not sure how you can encourage her imagination, do you have a lot of screen time?

The thing is, 2 is too early to diagnose ADHD but it’s something that is there from birth. I knew my second born had ADHD by toddlerhood, his brain works so quickly it’s actually more debilitating that his ASD. Like someone has put in a NASA grade processor in a windows 95 shell. He is incredible at processing information that interests him, but for all toddlers (ND or not) it’s absolutely about finding that niche that suits them. It’s not too early to start phonics or numbers if that’s what stimulates and therefore regulates a child. It’s not about being clever, it’s about their motivation - the OP’s daughter reads like she enjoys physical and sensory interaction, I’d personally build around that.

Give her some paper and glue and get her to construct a life size model of Stonehenge. Coral boxes useful here

Cereal

Could she move up a room at nursery? Mine found the 2-3 room the worst stage. Some 2 year old are very articulate and cam concentrate for a long time while others are still in the very early stagea of learning to talk and take long naps. Although I also think at age 2.5 poor behaviour needs to be tackled fairly directly too, but perhaps the boredom thing is just one aspect in trying to improve the situation.

There has been talk of moving to the older kids room, yes.

We had to move my DD's nursery at 2.5 as they started to split the children by academic year group and she would never have been in with older children again. I had parents in the age group above asking me why their child had moved, but she hadn't, as her language was noticeably more advanced.

She was much better suited to her next nursery as she wasn't the oldest and could just join in with the older children.

She was a bit of a challenge in her last year there. She was the oldest in the year and was ready for school the year before she was allowed to go. The nursery asked the school for ideas for her next steps. She did have friends, but spent a lot of time talking to the staff as she could have more interesting conversations with them than with the children.

Me and DD get bored really easily, and you guessed it, we both have ADHD! 🤣 DD's obsession since she was a toddler has been gymnastics and she spends hours training, even now at 13 years old she's still going strong!

I’m not sure it’s about things being “problematic.” It’s about understanding what’s going on so you can find the right solution.

Jigsaw puzzles. Mine at that age did 'huge' jigsaws... wouldn't touch them now mind!

Another direction would be more physical stuff- not so easy at nursery but swimming, or toddler martial arts or dance type stuff but in an organised way not just a nursery disco to tire her physically calms the brain a bit. Both of mine are now 'fish' because of all the swimming they did as toddlers.

Another idea is to find something she's interested in and run with it. A friend of dds was dinosaur mad. She knew everything. 'Read' every book, drew pictures, play acted and as she got older knew their names and used that to know her alphabet etc. I wonder what her interests are now (she'dll be almost 16!)

An adhd 2 year old wouldn't look bored tho - a teenager yes, but a 2 year old would typically be into everything or hyperfocusing which can look a bit dazed but they're likely to be fully occupied, not bored - that comes later!

Start teaching her letters/phonics. Then if she’s bright enough she can learn to read. Mine read young, it is a great occupier!

All of you saying Algebra and astronomy might enjoy this offering from a nursery we visited when looking for places for our DC. (this is a translation because the original was in a different language, but the sense is pretty clear). We did have a giggle about the 3 year olds learning about Picasso and Mathematics in Art.

@Stonefromthehenge I don't think she ' looks baked ' I just think she acts up and that's because they think she's bored and under stimulated.

They seem to think it may be the cause of some bad behaviour.

She plays with her peers and seeks out play but I think she's chatty for example and they're not.

I didn't come up with the reason of her acting up being that she's intelligent and under stimulated in her environment. They told me that.

I meant ' I don't think she looks bored ' not baked m..

Go away..

Aww, cmon

I hated kindy and preschool with a passion. I wanted to learn and was extremely frustrated that I couldn't. I taught myself to read. I'm stubborn and tenacious and mum wouldn't read to me when I wanted her to, so I fixed that and could read when I wanted.

I would encourage things that get her thinking. Mental stimulation is tiring.

I'd look up reggio emilia activities on Pinterest.

Have you got a learning tower and toddler tools so that they can help you cook?

Also, could it be energy driven, maybe they need to be out in a playground for longer, do you have a garden? Get some really good wet weather gear so they can go outside more.

I had this with my ds. He was always forward, could speak well at 2, and could articulate well. When at school he sat at Greater depth throughout primary, went to grammar school and is now on track to be a scientist. He is just one of those who never really has to try, they are just that way.

Thing is, I could never say to people "-he's very intelligent " because people would roll their eyes. So I just went with it quietly. Your dc may be like that, but my advice is just go with the flow, cream will always rise to the top.

Was this reggio emilia?