What does your 16mo like doing at home?? Need ideas please!

[BotBotticelli]

OK, so DS is in nursery 4 days per week, which he loves, but on my day off and at weekends with him, I can't help but feel I should be doing more with him when we're at home.

We go out lots - typically on my day off we will go to a toddler group in the morning and then round to visit MIL in the afternoon (with lunch and nap at home in the middle). And at the weekends will we always do a couple of family outings (park one day and soft play the next for example). But the times we are at home, DS is a grizzly whingey nightmare.

We live in a small flat with no outside space.

What do you do with your 16mos?? he seems to old now for sitting singing nursery rhymes etc and he wont sit still for more than 12 seconds anyway but not sure if he's really old enough to enjoy crafty activities, drawing, jigsaws etc.

Any ideas gratefully received! He seems to be v bored with all his plastic tat toys and I haven't got enough money to buy any more atm!

At this age I think mainly cars, blocks, stacking cups (for HOURS) plastic/foam balls - things he could manipulate. He'd also started to really love his soft toys, and would listen to story after story, too. He wasn't really ready for TV, yet. Also putting things into boxes - though only my friend's super advanced child did the shape sorter at this age.

Ps he wasn't walking yet and was too short for anything ride on - he was cruising though.

Hello Bot!

So things that DD loves:

• being read to (likes to choose the story herself, often the same one over and over ). Only time she sits still.

• drawing on her Megasketcher thingy, and watching me draw things she can identify. Crayon and paper would work too I expect (but would require more supervision to protect walls etc from decoration).

• any variation on peekaboo

• "cooking" with pots and pans while I cook (this sounds more idyllic than it is, usually involves her banging the pans very very loudly)

• any new items to play with ... they don't have to be toys they just have to be new. So for example my hairbrush, plastic measuring spoons, old birthday cards, egg box - basically anything that won't hurt her, is good for 10 mins entertainment as long as it's new.

• just starting to get into those peg puzzles and stacking rings

• emptying kitchen cupboards and shoes out of wardrobe, and putting things back again

When she's ill or teething mind you, none of this really helps that much and she will be pretty grumpy unless we go somewhere.

DS is also 16 months old. At the moment he loves playing with domestic stuff rather than his toys so I get out pots, pans, wooden spoons, etc. for him. Brushes, brooms, the laundry basket and the Hoover (when it's off!) are p popular too. He also likes looking at books with me, for a nanosecond at a time, and is fascinated with action songs.

Table top sales are great for picking up toys and books really cheaply.

My 15 month old enjoys playing noisy games with spoons and pots. He also enjoys drawing and he likes to help when I'm doing household things like hanging up washing. He likes playing with water, I sometimes put a washing up basin on the floor for him filled with water and cups and bowls. We also have a game called hunt the biscuit. I hide a biscuit and he finds it :) he is surprisingly good.

Maybe you could ask his nursery what kind of activities they do with him there? Sometimes they surprise you with what they're capable of in arts and crafts. Doesn't matter if he doesn't really 'draw' or colour in - as long as he's putting crayon to paper and enjoying himself.
I use a time efficiency ratio with my 2yr old. If it keeps him amused for longer than it takes me to set it up/ tidy it up then it's worthwhile. If not then I don't bother. So getting out some crayons and paper - doesn't matter if he only does it for 10 mins, it's still a gain for you. Whereas with my DS painting is really not worth the effort at the moment so we only do that at playgroups/ art club where it's someone else's mess!

Play-doh (cheap to buy from pound shop, even cheaper to make)
Peg jigsaw puzzles - second hand on eBay. The wood ones last for ages so doesn't matter that they're second hand
Long play baths - bubbles, pots, pans, sieves etc
Puppets - eBay or market
If you have a hard floor in your kitchen and a way of penning him in - a few handfuls of flour, rice, a sieve, plastic pot, slotted spoon etc. It will be messy but actually very easy to hoover up!
Soft balls to throw back and forth

But time with you and family is important for him too - he may be grizzly because he's overtired on the weekends - chances are you give him far more stimulation and attention than nursery.

Ds is 16 mo. He likes toddling about, touching everything, stacking cups (also FOR HOURS), aquadoodle, reading, balls, being tickled, he likes tipping up his sippy cups into the cups from his tea set and then drinking his 'tea' and sound touch on the ipad.

We were still well within the crayon eating stage at this age, but

Damn. But you could be lucky on crayons.

My DS2 likes...

Empting cupboards and drawers.
Climbing on the coffee table
Eating crumbs off the floor
Trying to catch the cat
Dismantling DS1s games

Mostly while I am on MN or doing housework.

I really think that with several days at nursery being occupied and stimulated, a few days basically learning how to entertain himself and being part of family life is quite adequate, without you actually organising things. Well, that's my excuse. DS2 (actually both my DSs) entertain themselves (and each other) for hours. I have no idea what they get up to, cars mostly.

Emptying drawers.
Copying me while I do housework (I have bought her a mini broom and mini dustpan and brush!)
Just starting to do the peg jigsaws
Shape sorter toys - she's getting really good at these. I got one in sainsbury's called 'Betsy Butterfly' where you stack the shapes and she loves it.
I have one cupboard without a cupboard luck which I have filled with plastic things and she gleefully empties frequently.
Chasing the cat
Being chased round the house (this one is tiring for me!)
She has a little pushchair that she likes to push around bits of the peg jigsaws in at high speed....

My DD also likes to get out quite a bit, so we try and do that a lot. We do have a little garden though which kills half an hour here and there.

My ds loves to have jobs, I give him individual bits of dirty washing and he runs and puts them in the washing machine, he screams with excitement whilst doing this.

We have a "song box" which has little toys that represent different songs, a sheep for ba-ba black sheep, a spider for incy-wincy, a star for twinkle twinkle (and lots more) he loves to knock on the box and choose a toy and I sing the song and we both do the actions.

He has just started to love his brio train track, he can't build it yet but he likes to push his trains on it. He has also started playing with some russian dolls.

Ds is a climber, he has a little chair and table that he climbs on and off and under and over. He also has a sheepskin on the floor, he likes to lie on that especially when he has a bare bum.

We don't have all his toys out at the same time, his garage, pirate ship and till are up high, his brio and duplo and plastic figures/cars are packed away, he askes for the toys (points and shouts) and we take them down one by one, putting the toy he has finished with away, I find this helps to prevent him getting bored or overwelmed, the times when we have had lots of his toys out he has become a bit manic.

Copying me while I do housework
I have one cupboard without a cupboard luck which I have filled with plastic things and she gleefully empties frequently.
Yes, both of these - he was sweeping up from his high chair before he could walk!

Dd2 is 17mo. She loves:

• a big box of stickle bricks. She tips them out, plays with them, I stick them together, she pulls them apart, we separate them into colours, she puts them back into the box.

• a big aquadoodle mat which I put on the floor and she makes squiggles on it with the water pen or enjoys chewing the end of it.

• her pack of 6 rubber bricks - from Asda I think - to squeeze and build towers with.

• banging pots with a wooden spoon or stirring in plastic beakers.

• stacking cups.

• Happyland - playmat, cottage, figures and cars.

Don't feel you have to play with your lo all the time - I felt guilty with ds1 if I wasn't constantly trying to entertain him. The reality is that you need to be able to do other things too, and it's fine for them to explore around your feet, look in cupboards, and 'help' you do jobs around the house. Dd2 is generally more content than ds1 was at this age, and is happier to occupy herself. We play together but certainly not all the time.