Activities to do at Grandparents

[Peachytea96]

Hi, I am looking for some recommendations of activities/things to do for my DS aged 2. I work 4 days a week, he goes to my parents once a week, my in-laws once a week and nursery twice a week. He isn’t napping at his grandparents though, meaning he falls asleep on his way home in the car. Making our evenings very difficult. I think a huge part of this is due to him having nonstop screen time and being over stimulated. I don’t think either grandparents are up for anything extravagant. We pay for them to go on days out every so often but can’t do it every week. Any easy activities that can be done at home would be great! Thank you!🥰

Could they go to the park? Soft plays, lakes to feed the ducks?
Painting, duplo, water tray in the garden.
Could you afford half days at nursery the days the grandparents have him? He might have more fun with other children and a more structured day.

Have you considered upping his nursery days? Is that feasible financially?

Just sounds like its hard work for the grandparents if they can't cope with anything more than plonking him infront of a screen, and not great for your DS.

Find out where the local toddler groups are as a wee outing that lets him interact and lets your mum or MIL have a cuppa ? Our local garden centre has a lovely wee playroom in their coffee shop too so places like that (dobbies?) could be less mad than a big soft play. Other than that, what did they do to entertain their children? They didn’t have tv and screens so I’m not sure why they’re using them so much now… I’d be annoyed tbh and look into more hands on and interactive childcare like a child minder or similar tbh.

Local toddler groups / Stay and Plays. Many of them are well populated by Grandparents.

I'll be honest though, if parents are at a stage of life where they can't think of how to occupy a 2 yr old, maybe they shouldn't be looking after a 2 yr old on a weekly basis.

Can you give them some of your toys or get some bits from charity shops?

op you have my sympathies. My parents had my kids when they were little and it just didn’t work, they would barely eat, barely nap and my parents just put them in front on TV and didn’t seem able to do anything with them aside from screens. In the end we upped nursery days, because it wasn’t just an issue in the day they had them but had knock on for the next day too.

Could your child do 4x mornings at nursery and parents/In-laws covers 2x afternoons each? That way he has lots of activity in the morning and then can chill out in the afternoon with grandparents, maybe even sleep in car between nursery and their home.

Up until quite recently I was providing care for a 2 year old (I’m over 60).

I had him outside all morning, park, playground, zoo, pond. He then ate like a horse and slept from 1-4.

I find it difficult to entertain toddlers inside for extended periods but my guy loved cars/lorries, building blocks and books were a favourite. He also liked bubbles. He was extremely good at independent play. When we were really desperate (extreme cold climate) I’d fill the sink with water and give him a bunch of plastic cups and spoons etc and he’d slop. Definitely got a bit messy!

Also I’d fill a big basin with rice or oatmeal and hide little plastic things in there, small toys etc and he’d dig for them. Sometimes he’d put his small diggers in there too.

I took care of him for 2.5 years (2 days a week) and NEVER gave him any kind of screen!

They sound like pretty rubbish grandparents to be honest. As pp have said, they brought their own children up without screens so should be fully able to entertain a 2 year old. I looked after my now 9 year old grandchild for 3 days a week from babyhood till she went to school, I never turned on the TV or used a screen, even now she rarely watches it at mine. They should just do the usual things 2 year olds like to do, when the weather is decent go to a park or for a walk to feed ducks, get a swing in their garden, sandpit etc. Indoors do drawing, painting, jigsaws, Duplo, toy cars, wooden trainset etc. I bought and buy toys from charity shops or online so it needn't cost a lot. It's easy to be full on and engaged with grandchildren because you give them back at the end of the day and don't have them all of the time so loads of time to recharge and do your own thing.
Were they put under pressure to do childcare or did they offer freely and enthusiastically? Because I don't get why they would be so disengaged if they really wanted to spend time with their grandchild. How old are they?

If they are not up to activities they shouldn't take on regular care and just stick to grandparenting childcare is full on hard work can you up the days and get grandparents to alternate so neither set gets exhausted?
Would they be up to messy play if done inside a crafty pod? Aquadoodle is mess free, scooping and pouring rice, kinetic sand....clumps so less mess. Paint sticks,

I don’t understand the ‘they brought up their children without screens’. There was tv when I was a toddler and I’m 60. There was definitely children’s tv and videos when my own children (now in their 30s) were small. Screens are not a new invention.

Rather than activities at home, I would encourage them to take him out - to the playground and to toddler groups. These are often inexpensive and it's sometimes easier for grandparents to go to a structured activity than to think of things to do at home. To be honest I wouldn't be too impressed if they were just sticking him in front of a screen all day. I know they're doing you a favour, but surely they can think of a couple of nice things to do with him? It's only one day a week. If it continues like this I'd definitely consider upping his nursery hours, or would it be possible for him to do four mornings like a pp suggested?

One thing which totally changed things for us was me realising that MIL's friend had her grandchild one day a week and completely re-arranging our childcare so that MIL had our DD on the same day. MIL and her friend were then quite happy going to the park and things as they had someone to chat to. Even on days when they just met for coffee at each other's houses the DC would get to play with each other.
Does your DC have any toys at the grandparents houses? Some small world toys like a garage, a zoo or a farm? A doll and a pushchair which they could take for walks? Duplo?

Toddler groups are not as expensive as some people think. I thought they would be a huge expense but ours are around £24/£26pm for the season or £7.50 per individual session
Agree with pp's it's maybe better that he goes to one in the morning and that will break the whole day up as he's having breakfast and getting ready for the group ahead of it starting and if ds is still awake after they could have a walk and play in the park before going home for a nap then getting up and having lunch/tea.
It'll be more rewarding for both ds and grandparents to be engaging with each other

Yes, but we watched 'Watch with Mother' and then the TV went off. If was very different. There wasn't children's TV available 24/7. Indeed, there wasn't any TV 24/7. In those days, no streaming, no videos or DVDs, no daytime TV.

Then, we did have videos when mine were little, but that was something you got out as and when - again no streaming services and nothing on tablets or iPads. You chose to put a programme on, they watched it, and then you turned it off. (As, indeed, lots of us still do, but that was the only option then).

I was thinking the same! And children were encouraged to play independently very early - a toddler might not have been out alone but would have been with older children, some probably only five or six themselves.

Aren't there any children's centres or church playgroups near them they could take him too for an hour in the mornings at least? Those are usually free or only cost a few quid and round here there's usually other grandparents at them too for a chat.

I will say though that they are obviously older and if it's too much for them to do much for him really your options are use them less or just accept it for what it is. Will they take kindly to you making suggestions on what they could be doing with him? As many wouldn't, when they're already doing you a huge favour. I think it is hard to stimulate and keep at 2yo occupied for any length of time at home (/in a grandparents house), a lot harder if they're just 2 than closer to 3 too. I dealt with this by taking mine out a lot instead.

How do you know they didn't have tvs?

Likely good OP is 20-35. 35 years ago I watched videos etc

You could provide 1 or 2 activities each week:

'clean' craft such as colouring or stickers or stencils
playdough
cars down tube - ie inner tube from xmas wrapping paper, joined together set on slop, send cars down them
jigsaw puzzles
a ball to take to the park
a game like Cranium's 'Hullabaloo'
happyland / duplo
2 or 3 books each session
an I spy sheet for an walk outside (red bus, green car, blackbird, number 8 ...)

You do know kids TV and videos were available to parents 35 years ago don't you?

My GC used to paint when they were with me also
jigsaws
cooking - cake mixes from packets
reading to them
easy sewing kits eg from The Works or Hobbycraft
drawing
buy educational toys from charity shops to keep at GPs homes and books
The Works often has board games for young ones

How old are the grandparents?
I have looked after my GDs and it's not hard to think of activities to do with small children. Cutting and pasting, drawing, painting , okay doh, model making, stories, Duplo, going to the park, games, singing nursery rhymes, playing with little figures, jigsaws etc. local play groups/ baby/toddler groups etc.

I Have made them sound terrible, not intended. They both have loads of toys etc. and they do arts/crafts. But the TV is never off, usually YouTube kids playing on a loop in the background.
Neither set of grandparents are very old, late 40’s and early 50’s. I would love to up his nursery days as he loves it there but nursery’s round by me are full to the brim!
I will look into local toddler groups to get him out the house. We’ve only seen a change since the weather changed.
thank you for your suggestions😁

Could you set up a little play basket to take with him and switch it up weekly? Have a few pre set up activities in it, Things like sensory play, building bricks, colouring, playdoh etc that way they don't have to think too much about what to do with him it's already there ready to go? Pinterest is amazing for simple ideas.

Do they want to be going to toddler groups or have to do something every time? maybe think of it from their viewpoint