2.5yo wants to do the same things ALL day

[crazychemist]

I realise that some degree of obsession is normal for toddlers, and I have no reason to believe that it’s more than that (my sister is autistic, so DMum has been keeping a very watchful eye for signs!). DD just wants to do the same two things all day long! She likes to draw on her whiteboard and she likes to arrange some figurines in a dolls house.

It’s not that I mind either of these activities, but it’s almost impossible to engage her in any other kind of activity for more than 2 or 3 minutes. I’m a bit worried that she’s stalled on learning some things that she was previously interested in. How do you get a 2-3 kid interested in things outside their obsessions?

Some youngsters will be tempted to widen their horizons a little, by extending what they do.
So, as she enjoys arranging the particular figurines, what about the 'figurines' going to .... {insert shop / station / garage / space ship /holiday place}.... so she is still arranging the same figurines, but in a different place. Or of course, having "visitors" {ie, different small world figures or animals} come to stay in the dolls house.

Or taking the whiteboard outside. or sticking some black paper over the whiteboard and offering chalks to draw with, instead.

etc etc - so activity is nearly the same, but a little bit different.

Thanks @BackforGood. She has a chalk board (it’s on the back of the whiteboard), but it doesn’t hold her interest much, I think because the contrast isn’t as bold and you have to press harder so she has less control.

I might try making a “castle” or something out of cereal box, see if she’ll play with them there. Or, as you say, get her some new figurines.

I guess I just feel like she’s very limited to one or two types of play, so isn’t really learning some of the new skills I would think appropriate for her age. She doesn’t much like playing with other children as she sees them as “messing up” how she’s staged her characters... she hates drawing on paper as she can’t rub out her mistakes like she can on a whiteboard. I’d love to get her interested in something more physical, like kicking a ball or riding a balance bike, but she’s just not interested in that sort of stuff at all! I’m probably overthinking this.

I'd be tempted to take her out (when the heat is less) and say we need to play in the park / go swimming / go to library story time etc.
So do other stuff out of the home away from her favourite things.

re Castle. Get her to help design it / stick stickers on so she is involved too?

Good idea @TeenTimesTwo. We do go to the playground as much as possible, she likes that. It’s a bit tricky to do other things as I don’t have a car (DH does, but he takes it to work, and he’s also often out at weekends), so can only really access things in walking distance in a pretty rural area (public transport is very infrequent and very unreliable). We used to go to the library, but it’s cut down it’s hours quite a lot. Next academic year my working days will be different, so hopefully we’ll be able to go to the local SureStart on the day they have Stay and Play, maybe that will help.

I’ll try to get her to help with painting and decorating it. She’s not much into that though, so it probably won’t hold her attention long. Good idea though!

At this age all my DD would do was jigsaws - for hours and hours and hours. Occasionally she would play with happyland figures but mostly it was just jigsaws. I used to worry a bit but as she got a bit older, went to pre-school she eventually enjoyed playing imaginative games with other children and now at 6, whilst she still loves a jigsaw, she has a wide range of skills and abilities! Have to say she's never been that into toys though.
I suspect as your dd learns to play with other kids she will widen her games and imagination.

Maybe I’m worrying for no reason. As you say, hopefully as she gets more social she’ll want to join in with other things