Seriously, how do you occupy toddler boys without TV on rainy days?

[rosalux]

Just that really. DS1!is 2 3/4, DS2 is 4mths. The weather is awful and it's half term so play groups are shut. DS1 has just dropped naps but DS2 obviously still needs his (and long may this continue) so we need to be at home for at least a couple of hours every day. We only have a small (death trap of a) town garden so that's not really an option, any ideas (that won't destroy my house?)

I have a 2.6 year old. He likes baking, Lego, colouring and playdoh. If it's raining and we are stuck on then we have a version of Simon-says that we play and I get him to run up and down, dance, jump etc just to burn some energy off. But by 4pm I do tend to stick cbeebies on for a break too!

Set up shops, dens, teddy bears picnics inside. Bake, play doh. When he's a tiny but older let him pick dinner draw the shopping list, go and get the stuff, cook it.

We bake, do jigsaws, dance, play monsters, read books, go puddle jumping, go swimming, paint/chalk, play with any number of toys, make a game of the housework, build a den, have an indoor picnic, tickle fights, sing songs, go to the library, play with a soft ball, bath with toys and bubbles, get musical instruments out.

To name but a few.

The same way you occupy toddler girls ?

With my toddler grandson we do "baby disco" D.I.S.C.O.and baby hands up are both our favourites.

paddington you say that and before having a boy I would have agreed, but is find my friends with small girls have NO IDEA what it's like with little boys. It's so different. A massive generalisation obviously, but one rooted I fact. Everyone else, thanks for the ideas. Started a little baking today with DS1' and her seemed to enjoy it so may try and encourage that.

raingear on and out we go.
raincover over the pushchair, find a big puddle.
then home for hot chocolate and bath.

It is no different to entertaining a girl in that you do what they like according to personality, not presence or absence of a penis.

Train set and lego here mainly, and stick some music on and let them have a disco in the living room.

I have a terrifyingly vigorous 4 yo and we went to the park in the rain with a couple of little friends then came back and got out the lego. I have refused to help him at all and just insisted he played on his own. Eventually he has just started creating lego stuff and is quite happy. They have to get a bit bored before they start playing on their own. I am knackered and not up for endless baking, play doh and puzzles.

2 3/4 is old enough to learn to just potter for at least an hour without needing to be entertained I reckon.

If you read up on some Montessori at home stuff there will be ideas about how to tweak the environment so your DS can do more for himself. Generally having less toys is better but having them laid out in a way that means DC can be totally independent with them. Having classical music on low seems to help with the general pottering atmosphere. It does take a bit of training (for you as well because you have to learn not to get drawn in) but it is worth it. My DS (3.9) is an only and a typical boy but he goes to a very structured Montessori nursery and we 'Montessori-ed' the room he mainly plays in and he is great at entertaining himself.

I think the key thing is having something that burns off energy. My DS takes all the cushions off the sofa and makes slides and trampolines. He also has one of this happy hoppers, which he bounces around on, and has a balance bike and scooter he can use in the house. Then you can do all the other wholesome activities people have mentioned. And then since toddlers have a ten minute attention span, you will still have plenty of time left to watch TV....

My 19 month old DD plays with the same stuff similar aged boys do. She is way more active than the boys I know.

indoor obstical course - cushions off the sofa, and make a cushion mountain, and then a blanket to go underneath, like a commando crawl, a pop up tunnel to go through, if you have one, throw 5 bean bags into a area, then return them, 10 star jumps, and then repeat.

Waterproofs and outside.

Softplay if you have £

Mummy inside looking through the window while child goes slug and snail collecting..... How much of a death trap is the garden? Is it something you could fix in a few weeks for later in the summer.

Caves from blankets and sofas or dining chairs.

Go Outdoors (or outside shop with tents etc) or pets at home are good for entertainment value.

The bonus is the parks are all deserted, as noone else can be bothered!

"2 3/4 is old enough to learn to just potter for at least an hour without needing to be entertained I reckon."

An hour? Wow! Children can be so different!

DS is 5 now and has only this year found he's able to entertain himself for longer stretches. (DD's too little to tell just yet.)

It is training I think wiggly. DS's nursery's mantra is independence. I think DS is the last kid naturally disposed to entertaining himself.

I used to take mine out regardless of weather, we couldn't stay in or we'd all go crazy.

Could never get them remotely interested in colouring. Second boy would be happy vrooming cars for ages, or lining them all up. First boy had no attention span for anything until he got to about 4 and was able to do Lego.

I'm glad they're bigger. Now if it rains they just play Minecraft.

I realise that makes it sound like they just ignore them Romanian orphanage style. That really isn't the case, they devote a huge amount of attention to ensuring the children develop the confidence and security to be independent. Hard to explain if you haven't seen them doing it.

Having had three boys and then a girl, I can say girl toddlers are pretty much the same as boy toddlers, in fact DS3 was very quiet as a toddler. DD is a crazy fireball.

The OP said that she would be inside owing to DS2 naps so outdoor activities are a bit pointless suggestions.

We listen to music, play with cars endlessly, play doh, red books, train set, play hide and seek tn he ayes by himsel really well and if all else fails there is Wall-E!

It is hard with an active boy or girl.
I have a 3 year old and a 2 year old (as well as a 14 yo and 9 yo).
We play simple games like pop up pirate and a shopping list matching game.
A version of charades where we pretend to do a job or play an instrument and the other guesses (usually with lots of hints and 2 yo just dances around laughing).
Turn normal jobs into longer tasks, get them help make lunch and wash up for example.
We play a pirate game where they are pirates and have to hop from cushion to cushion on the floor, me one of the older ones has to be a shark and eat them if they fall of the cushion.
Radio roulette where we put on random radio stations and dance to them.

We do also watch a lot of TV though.

I love all these ideas, thanks OP for the thread.

My DD is 15 months and can't really bake, play with play-doh, build dens etc yet - DP is SAHD. They do a lot of dancing to music, playing with toys etc but let's be honest - she's 15months old and her attention span is only slightly longer than a goldfish at the moment.

They go out in the rain quite a lot (dogs to walk), they go to soft play sometimes (or the seventh circle of hell, as I prefer to call it), they go swimming when she doesn't have a streaming cold (rarely!) and they spend a LOT of time in supermarkets (DD loves saying hello to everyone from the trolley). She goes to rhyme time once a week too. Unfortunately that still seems to leave a shedload of time where there's nothing to do during rainy days.

Can anyone suggest anything else for a very small, active person during rainy days?

Computer / tablet / other electronic type things! Not all day, but for an hour or so. It's more interactive and creative than tv - much less passive. Mine both loved Poisson Rouge at that age and could just about manage a computer mouse www.poissonrouge.com/ . I expect you can get it on a touchscreen nowadays. Or drawing programmes that allow you to do cool colours and patterns that a toddler couldn't do in real life . Or things that simulate a guitar or other musical instrument. Or just google for toddler activities on tablets.

Might be pushing it with a 15 month old, notaflamingclue, but you never know!

I spent a very happy hour drawing fire engines, little foes and hoses in felt pen for him to paint red. Then I cut them out & he stuck them on a coloured piece of paper. We stuck the whole thing on his bedroom wall & he's really proud.

I agree pop up pirate is good fun!

He's train obsessed so we make tunnels out of mega blocks & duplo

We also bought an ez-fort you can make houses, castles, trucks, boats fire engines wherever your imagination takes you! By the time he's 8 it'll be the best £40 we ever spent!

Lively toddlers are the same whether boys or girls. A massive generalization, obviously, but one rooted in fact.

How about a long bath with plenty of bath toys while younger child naps? There are some good funny face ones, crayons for wall tiles etc.