What mundane things entertain your children?

[Cheeseycheeseycheesecheese]

Ds (almost 2) has spent the past 25 minutes stood, face smooshed against the backdoor giving dh and I a running commentary about the pigeon in the garden.

"Pigeon fence!"
"In corner"
"Oh no pigeon... careful"
"Muuummmmyyyy, pigeon on shed, daddy it's fall"
"Night night Mr pigeon" as it flew away

I've never known a child to be so totally enamoured with the behaviour of a bird before...

So I'm asking what things that you would class as mundane/uninteresting held your children rapt for extended periods of time?

Cardboard boxes. My DD is almost 9 and still loves a cardboard box. She makes the big ones into a fort and the smaller ones are cut up to make strange crafts. She most recently made one into a bed for her soft toy.

Mine are older now but if I had to say most played with items when they were little I suggest you invest in.
A bucket
A pile of clean middle sized pebbles
A long heavy chain from the DIY store
A bag of old single socks

@firstimemamma Pinterest is your friend for a cake as long as you have a rubbish truck toy to hand.

The bin men and the lollipop lady are celebs in our house!

My son loved to watch the washing go round in the machine, as a toddler. 40 minutes of bliss. Occasionally I would put it on a long cycle. Heaven.

My dog. My one year old is a bit obsessed with him and crawls around after him. The dog gives in and leaves a ball by the baby to throw for him. Best game ever apparently.

Second @Youdiditanyway on cardboard boxes. A large cardboard box with a child-sized hole cut in each end. Bonus points if you cut some circles in the sides and provide some small balls to drop through them.

I took DD (3) to the natural history museum last week and as far as I could see the highlight for her was jumping on a large grate by the exit .

When she was younger we also had a year (!) of botany videos on YouTube, and the best thing about a recent holiday was Henry the Hoover. I just leave her to it now tbh

My son loved his nana’s push carpet cleaner. He would “clean” the carpet for hours. They have all liked playing with torches inside and outside . I once bought a really cheap light up revolving disco ball . We had to draw the curtains and they and their friends would dance to some music !

My DS had such a short attention span at that age but would spend hours stirring water in a bucket with a stick! And cutting up paper with child scissors.

And trying to teach his DGFs cat how to talk.

My youngest is 21 months and she loves rewatching a video of herself at the park. All it shows is her climbing backwards up a slide, losing her grip and sliding down it. The 12 second clip keeps her busy for a good 20 minutes!
( She is a little rebel at the park! Tries to do everything the wrong way)

My youngest teen used to love the garden centre in range when he was 4 and we'd often be there on a weekend just staring at the fountains!

My kids are obsessed with cardboard boxes. They think they are the best thing ever.

Watching trains, we used to just go and sit on the platform for an hour and they’d be absolutely fascinated.

At the start of the first lockdown, DS (then 5) got obsessed with Numberblocks (CBBC show). He spent weeks drawing his own Numberblocks and then making them from cubes, Duplo and Play-Doh.

@seething1234

I got a dog clicker for our puppy.... my five year old will do just about anything to click it. Put on pjs.... CLICK.... brush teeth .... CLICK..... Puck up toys .... CLICK .... would highly recommend it

Hilarious!

@firstimemamma

My toddler is mesmerised by the dustbin lorry! "Look mummy, it's doing a tip tip! Hello dustbin man!" He's even asked for a dustbin lorry themed cake for his upcoming third birthday, I mean where do I begin with baking that?!

Could you buy a bin lorry toy (Amazon do them) and make the cake a wheelie bin? Might be a bit easier to do!

Those free leaflets advertising what foods are on offer etc from the supermarket.
My older dc spent hours deciding what item they would buy of each page, or pretending to have a budget and do their shopping off one.
They've kept dc occupied since they were toddlers.

The cardboard and plastic recycling bin my 15 month old can spend an hour tipping it out and putting it all back over and over and my almost 3 year old loves standing up empty plastic bottles and knocking them down over and over of which I have to clap and cheer and high five every single time.....

Yes to undoing harnesses on pushchairs and highchairs! I'm a childminder and every single child has done this!
Also, stickers. And a plain sheet of paper. Peace for hours...

My 1 year old has recently discovered the joy of emptying the bottom kitchen drawer (luckily only placemats and coasters in it) and carefully placing them on the floor. It keeps him entertained for ages.
He does actually put them back in the drawer but in such a way that the drawer won't shut which annoys him but even more annoyed if I try and help.

Digging up stones and throwing them in the river. This would be my morning activity with DS when dd was a newborn. He’d be happy for well over an hour, whatever the weather. I am sure we ran out of stones to dig up in our favourite spot 😂😂😂

Piling up a 16 pack of lavatory paper, making towers, pyramids and stacks with them.

@seething1234

I got a dog clicker for our puppy.... my five year old will do just about anything to click it. Put on pjs.... CLICK.... brush teeth .... CLICK..... Puck up toys .... CLICK .... would highly recommend it

I'm actually going to try that! My 2&3 year old Dds pulled an all nighter last night, if I could get 'Bed time' CLICK, 'Sleep' CLICK in there ......Heaven!!!!! 🤞

My ds is 10 and loves a cardboard box and water. Paddling pools, baths, seawater, hoses anything really oh and digging holes on the beach