Fun ideas for toddler awaiting baby brother

[notadoctor]

I currently work part time and I am about to go on maternity leave in anticipation of DC2 arriving. I'm going off early so I can spend some quality time with DD1 before the new arrival.

At the moment we spend our days together out quite a lot - at toddler groups, the park etc but as I'm getting bigger and bigger I'd like some ideas for fun things to do together at home!

She's 2.1, very chatty, quite active, likes role play, loves dancing and is also quite into artsy stuff (but so far we've only done normal painting together).

Any ideas?!

I did similar when I went on maternity leave with DC2 although my DD was a bit older as she was 2.5. I didn't want to raise her expectations too much as I knew I wouldn't be able to be all singing all dancing hands on mummy when I was sleep deprived & stuck on the sofa breast feeding. So, yes, we had some fun trips out but we also did mundane things that she happened to love like sorting out the baby clothes (and the dolls clothes at the same time), going & buying the bits for the baby (and DD's new doll), choosing the PJs she was going to wear when mummy was in hospital and exploring role play ideas and working out what she needed to keep herself entertained for a while. For example, I realised she wanted to make me pretend tea & toast so I bought her a toy kettle & toaster to go with her kitchen, she wanted to be Bob the Builder so we made her a sort of builders jacket and hat etc. I showed her some ways of playing too - for example she'd never really played with her cars before so we parked them, drove them around etc as it meant that, when she'd got bored of playing with her dolls, her kitchen etc I still had something to suggest. We also spent some time doing stickers so I could teach her to get the stickers off the page herself meaning she could do it by herself sat next to me rather than needing me to peel them off. We got a couple of good nursery rhyme/song DVDs and watched them a couple of times together. This meant that when DC2 came along, even if I was upstairs I could shout things like "its the hokey cokey next" down the stairs and appear as though I was involved! And we spent some time watching CBeebies so I learned which ones she liked & didn't like. Knowing she liked X at 10.45 but not Y at 11.00 had its advantages. She got quite into cleaning the skirting boards for a while too!

Baking is always a good activity and then you get to sit and eat cake together have you got a build a bear shop near you? If so you could go along and build a bear together for the new baby and maybe the new baby could give a bear to their big sister when they are born. I know it's not at home like you asked but swimming is also a good thing to do together as once the baby is here you won't be able to go as often.

Another thing to do - learn what your DD is capable of. Try out all of the local soft play places & work out at which ones your DD can get around the (baby) frame without getting stuck as, if your bfing, it's not that easy to mount a rescue mission. Likewise in the park. What equipment can she do unaided? How good is she at following commands such as go to the cupboard & bring me a muslin (obviously practice with other scenarios)? What is her road sense like? Whilst I had a double, I'd often go out with the single & DD "loose" so there were moments when I'd need her to stand still & hold onto the buggy. How good is she at doing as she's told? For example if you tell her she can run to the lamp post, would she reliably stop at the lamp post? What jigsaws or similar can she do by herself? If you're desperately grabbing something for DD as DS is screaming for his next feed, then it needs to be something she can just do with verbal guidance rather than actual hands on help.

Thank-you so much for the replies!

It's a great idea to spend some of the time we have together seeing what she's capable and helping her develop the skills to play more independently.

I also love the idea of Building A Bear especially for her brother!