Those with a 2-3 year old at home ..

[iwantitalltobenormal]

What kinds of things are you filling your time with? I’m seriously running out of activities and things to do to fill our day, I have little resource , just lots of toys that he seems to be bored with now

Sandpit has been my best friend so far.

Weirdly giving dd a baby wipe and getting her to 'clean' things entertains her for ages (could be my dd is just odd though!!)

Sometimes hiding toys for a couple of days makes them more interesting when they see them again.

We can’t get sand anywhere!

I’m struggling aswell op, there’s only so much you can do at home for weeks on end

Definitely rotate toys,
Have you got a garden? Lots of running around
Lots of tv tbh!
I'm on mat leave so I play with DS a lot, spent a lot of time "making tea" yesterday.
I built a fort out of boxes
Colouring on a sheet of paper
Reading books.
Dancing to music

My eldest will be 3 in June, so far we've managed to keep her busy and happy but I'm still on the look out for more ideas!

One afternoon we made a zoo in the garden, she stayed indoors with DH while I went and hid some of her soft toys outside. Then we went round and she tried to find them all (and 'fed' them biscuits!)

We also taught her to play some party games, like musical statues and musical bumps (she doesn't 100% get them but she has lots of fun and it's funny to watch!)

When lockdown was announced I managed to order lots of craft activities from Pound Toy and The Works so we've been slowly working our way through them.

pumpkin Amazon have kinetic sand. I've ordered some but yet to use it

Having a bath can kill an hour- play with bath toys, sponges, pouring water from one cup to another - seems to entertain her for ages.
Crafts - have a look on pinterest
"Helping" with jobs like loading the dishwasher, watering the garden, sweeping the floor
Have you been taking daily exercise. We go out on scooter or bike or just walking for around an hour each day.
Watching TV is fine. Or look on YouTube for something a bit more interactive. We like Cosmic Kids Yoga.

A paint roller and bucket of water to ‘paint’ the fence with

Chalks for drawing on the patio

Sandpit to play in

Tent to play in, sometimes paddling pool if I can be bothered

Lots of colouring in

Going for short walks around the block

Playing orchard toys games and puzzles

Disney +

Baking

Building towers with blocks, knocking them down again

Reading

Picking toys out of brochures

.

Salt dough (2 parts flour 1 part salt and 1 part water)

Toilet roll crafts!! Just did some butterflies - pics when you paint one side and then fold in half. There are loads of ideas on google.we did a rocket the other week.

I printed off some basic work sheets (free on google) such as tracing letters ect. (My son is 3 in July)

Ive packaged away a few toys which he loves and alternate them.

Lord i reaaaallyyy hate him. But BLIPPI on YouTube can keep him hooked for hours (its painful viewing though!!)

We go for a dog walk in the woods at 3oc each afternoon.

Sometimes lunch is a picnic which he helps me prepare.

We face time a different family member most mornings.

Puzzle hide and seek ( i hid the large puzzle pieces round the room ect and he has to find them before we do the puzzle)

Collected leaves/twigs/fircones from walks and made in to art work

I save most cardboard boxes and turn in to some sort of craft. Saved 4 cereal boxes. Flattened them and drew a big race track on the back which he coloured in with trees, coloured in the pond.

Bit of sensory - brown rice on a tray with all his little diggers. Moon sand and his small beach toys.

Threading toys with shoe laces and penne pasta ( if you can get hold of it!! Haha)

Try and limit tv but certsin days me and his dad are both working from home so its last resort.

Probs lots else but hard to remember with the baby brain!!

Il be following this post for ideas though!!

Have you got family members who could facetime / zoom and read to them? Or set them a scavenger hunt to find things around the house.
You can probably pick up craft resources with a supermarket shop, or use what's in your recycling bin!
It's a good time to practice basic "life skills" - getting dressed, brushing hair, putting coat and shoes on etc. Counting, basic letters/phonetics and numbers.

Sand pit. I work in tesco and there's a massive stack of play sand just oside the door a lot of the bigger stores will have the same. 2 bags for £4
Painting the fence and shed with a bucket of water and paint brush amused 2 year old for hours.
Treasure hunt in the garden but I have older children to help her.

I have a 2 and 5 year old. Some things we have done recently:
-Washed the car

• They took it upon themselves to then wash the windows (big bifold doors). The 2 year old lives a spray bottle and cloth, this keeps her busy for a while

-Put the tent up in the garden. We got whole days entertainment out of this -Chalk paint for the patio (also normal chalks) -Crafts e.g. making spring animals and painting Easter eggs -Playing out on bikes and scooters -Trip to see the ducks or sheep in the village -Playdough. We made it together and she used the blue one as a muddy puddle for Peppa Pig to jump in, and the green one to make a forest. Collected twigs from outside to use as trees, and pebbles to use as rocks -Baking - chocolate rice krispie cakes -Youtube Tumble tots for singing/dancing and Cosmic kids yoga

Plan today is to get a big tub and put a load of shaving foam in it. They can either use it as "snow", or squirt bits of paint in and use sticks to drag the paint through a d make patterns.

The imagination tree website seems to be good for ideas.

Fighting with older siblings taking up most of our time here!

Drawing
Painting
Water painting- paint brush and water on paving stones
Hide and seek
Watering plants
Picnics in the garden
Sandpit
Waterplsy- use a tub and cups etc
Sensory bins - Google them.
Making dens
Hiding dinosaurs then finding them etc
BBC early years nursery rhymes on YouTube is good
Walks/ bike rides

A lot of this depends on you having the stuff at home....

DD only just turned two. We're keeping very heavily to a routine which keeps us all sane.

A walk in the morning after breakfast. Take her in the buggy then get her out somewhere quiet and try run the legs off her.

Then home and usually watch a half hour of something. She's loving rag dolly Anna on YouTube - just a woman in her living room doing songs with actions but I think she enjoys the simplicity of it.

Then lunch and nap (thank Christ for the nap...).

Then in the afternoon out to the garden - slide, scuttlebug, chalk. General running around. We're lucky we have a big garden though. Bring out a snack and water, she'll go for an hour or two quite happily.

Then in for a bit of play, usually the dolls but whatever she goes for, before dinner and bed.

We have indoor stuff like baking, colouring, some things recorded from TV. But we're saving them for wet days right now because the garden is an easy way to get through the afternoon and tire her out.

We're both wfh, so alternating days with her and in the study. Daddy days are definitely more fun, both just because he's more into throwing her around in general, and because I'm pregnant and trying to minimise the physical side of looking after her as much as possible.

Can’t get anywhere that delivers sand as we can’t get out. That would have helped massively as I had to throw away last years sand because my son left it open and the cat decided it was a giant litter tray

I’m afraid we’ve watched a lot of Disney Plus. Making mud soup and digging in the garden is our other favourite pastime. Or playing with gravel, watering the plants, etc.

Lots of outdoor play here. Although I'm 11 weeks pregnant and suffering from terrible sickness and feel so exhausted. A lot of TV time which I wouldn't usually do. We're struggling a bit as we do lots of clubs and groups usually and see friends.

Yesterday we watched TV in bed until 8.30/9am. Had breakfast, got ready and dragged it out as long as possible with a fashion show. Outside about 11/12ish on bike/scooter etc to the end of the street. Had lunch on the garden, played in a tent and with his cars. Went for a walk. Came back, read a peppa pig magazine, watched more TV as I was feeling terrible at this point.

But different as I have 4 year old and 1 year old. Also can’t find sand anywhere! Trying to get them out in garden as much as possible then walk in afternoon. All the little games I have with them seems to hold their interest for a few mins so the days can feel long.

I'm on maternity leave and my two year old's schedule is roughly:

7 breakfast and washed/dressed
8 'helps' with chores
9 we play together with his toys
10 garden
11 craft/cooking/baking etc. or facetiming family
12 lunch
13 nap
15 up
16 walk
17 make/eat dinner
18 bath
19 bed

In between things he potters about playing with his toys or reading books. But we fill a lot of time with him helping me do chores, cook meals, etc. I let him try and dress himself and things like that. This makes everything take much longer than it needs to :)

Ginntoniconpause. Pregnant lockdown with a toddler is no fun, is it. And can't even have a drink when they're in bed and the day is finally over. I'm finding it hard enough and I'm just tired and sore, I'd be really struggling with sickness. Take every shortcut available!

Anyone know where to buy play sand? We are using about 1kg per day at the moment.

I got play sand with a recent Tesco order. Why can't you reuse it the next day though?

We've been doing letter of the week, more to give me some structure for activities than anything really. I try and plan for an activity a day (always at least one craft, outdoor activity and physical activity) plus stick in some colouring sheets and books. Mostly she watches YouTube though 🙈 she particularly enjoys forcing us to reenact her favourite YouTube videos with her, loves racing in the garden and likes games where we take it in turns to hide objects that the other person then has to find.

Can’t get it with our Tesco’s shop says unavailable, I know people were getting it at b&m (we don’t have one local) or Wickes click and collect (no delivery though, everywhere is oos for delivery where I am

I have a 2.5 yo
I echo sandpit. I've just used an old storage box and managed to get some building sand with a shop. Been getting an hour of play out of it.
Water play, chalks, colouring, shaving foam on a tray and run cars through. Anything like messy play has been a hit.
That's usually the morning then in the afternoon I'll take him on his trike for a bit.
Other than that too much TV 🙈

I've ordered a couple of different kinetic sand kits from argos so hopefully that'll be fun too

I've got a 2.5yr old and an 8 week old so life is pretty busy right now! My toddler usually has a couple of hours tv time in the morning while I have a lay in with the newborn and get us all breakfast etc. From 10.30-1pm we go out into the garden (when it's rainy I try and do some sort of activity ie baking or arts and crafts). Lunch then nap from 1pm-3pm. Up and out for a 2hrs walk 4-6pm then home for a snack, CBeebies bedtime routine, bath and bed.

Activities I've done include baking banana bread, teddy bears picnic, hide and see with teddies, water play with bubbles, general glueing/glitter/colouring etc. My DD also likes helping me wash up (basically throw water around the kitcheb).

I'm also running out of ideas though and looks like we have 3 more weeks of this!