Typical day with a toddler...........what do you get up to, especially in the afternoon

[Melly]

Hi everyone, am looking for advice and tips on how to keep 16 month old happy and stimulated. I work 2 days per week, dd goes to childminder (my auntie) and has lots of contact with other children and also goes to a playgroup on one of the mornings, so no worries on those days. The days we are at home go a bit like this

7.45/8 am - dd has milk, then happily plays until breakfast.

8.15 ish - breakfast.

8.30 will amuse herself toddling around playing with toys etc.

9 am ish - get dd washed and dressed then myself.
then either dd happily follows me around whilst I do a bit of housework or we might pop to supermarket/shops.

11.30/11.45 dd has lunch followed by short play.

12.15 ish - dd has sleep, usually about 2 hours or maybe a bit longer.

2.15/2.30 dd awake. Usually rack my brains on what to do pm.......

More often than not dd gets quite whingey in the afternoon unless we go out in the car, then she is fine. I find myself counting down until 5 pm when it's tea-time. I suppose this is probably quite common but I wondered what others do to fill the afternoons especially if the weather is foul or you don't feel like going out. We live in a rural area and the one thing I hate about it is not being able to just go out for a little walk - nearest pavements and shops are 5 miles away so it means using the car every time. Sometimes I get so desperate to keep her amused I just drive to the supermarket and buy a few things just to kill an hour or so. There are playgroups in my area but they are all in the morning - very little activites for pm.

DD has got to that stage now where she seems to have outgrown alot of her toys and I feel that she needs some new things to grab her attention....any recommendations?

Any advice welcome as these "hard going" afternoons are starting to get me down, probably not helped by the fact that I'm 19 weeks pregnant and feel at my worst mid afternoon!

Hi there
I must admit I go stir crazy if I have a whole day with only ds (12 months) for company! And I think he gets bored too. Mornings I tend to stay home, as not much time between sleeping and feeding for anything else, and I try and give ds his 'quality time' playing one-one then too. pm I always try and go and see a friend or have someone round - I'm lucky to have a few people nearby who have similar age babies who I've been seeing since my maternity leave, plus some good friends with older kids who work pt. For me, company is absolutely my sanity saver! If you don't know anyone, why not check out the playgroups to try and make some contacts with people you could invite back in the afternoon?

There are also times when we get bored and frustrated and simply must get out of the house - do you have any walks at all nearby? Footpaths? Playgrounds?

Ooh, that's a tough one. Dh would like to live in the country but I don't think I could hack it and your post has persuaded me I'm probably doing the right thing (though I do like the country!). When ds and I get bored I pootle round to a friend's or call someone up to come and visit, or go to a one o'clock club (if feeling vv virtuous) or take ds for a swing in the park followed by coffee and cake in a cafe (ds has froth from cappuccino and most of the cake) and a read of the paper while waitresses entertain him. I also go round the shops, or to the supermarket or just take him off wherever I'm going, really. I also read to him a lot, because he prefers books to toys. With a really well-read book I can read it to him while also reading a magazine! He's not that interested in toys though will play with his pushalong dog/trolley/train. He loves music so I often put on a record at his request - anything really, kids music, classical, and sing a bit. He likes chasing games (though I don't much, being a lazy cow). I think friends with children are the answer. Even if the children don't play together, they seem interested in each other.

How about putting a chair in front of your kitchen sink and giving her some different containers to pour water with. It will get spilt but its only water and as long as she has an apron of some sort on then she should love it.

Lie on the floor and let her pile all over you. I used to do this with ds (up to 42 weeks pregnant) and it kept him occupied for quite a while and I loved it as I was immobile on the floor!

Bring cushions/pillows/blankets downstairs and just see what she gets up to with them. Again I used to lie on the floor and we'd pull blankets over us and I'd stick my arm in the air and all of a sudden it was a tent!

Put marbles/beads on a tray and swirl them around with your hands. Find differnt sized bowls and spin one or two marbles in them. Ds used to be fascinated by this.

Build a big tower of tupperware pots (or stacking cubes) and knock them all down.

I seem to remember that at 18 months their attention span is still very short, so I think most of all you have to be prepared to flit back and forth on activities. If its any consolation, it will get better as she gets older and can occupy herself for longer with less input from you. Hope some of these help pass the dark winter afternoons.

I work 3 days but my DH plays golf Saturday afternoon so I have 3 afternoons to fill. I will go to the shops, visit elderly relatives, etc etc. Always plenty to do. DS loves visiting his friends of couse. Another idea is to go swimming. Our swimming baths is half a mile away and I walk in summer but at this time of year with wet hair etc we go in the car. We swim for 3/4 - 1 hour but the getting changed at each end takes ages and DS likes to play in the changing room!!

PS being in the water may help you play with DD physically more easily while you are pregnant.

By the sounds of this we all find the afternoons hard especially now its darker and colder. Again, I try to visit friends; have recently made play dough (courtesy of another thread!), make cookies with my little assistant (last week threw ginger dough into sink full of washing up!)' he loves a large blanket which amuses him for ages, we try to play in different rooms; have also gone on Cbeebies website and although ds not very good at using mouse yet, he loves to see the characters. Currently likes drawing round hands! Also loves a car track that he can put together (was 1/2 price in Tescos) and push cars along. Hope this helps a bit.

Okay,

1. make some pastry and give it to her on her high chair to play with. That keeps dd going for a good hour. Afterwards you can scatter raisins and honey on it, roll it up and bake it in the oven.
2. Put all your pans on the floor and give her a wooden stick to bash them with.
3. fill a bucket up with bubbles and seat them on the floor with it.
4. join the library and find out when storytimes are.
5. give her a bath with lots of bubbles and bath toys.

HTH!

some great ideas - hope I don't forget them all before ds old enough to do them

meant to add - I never go shopping with ds, unless it is incidental to the outing (e.g. nip in to get paper or few veggies while out on a walk). Supermarket shopping or anything requiring thought is hopeless, he gets really bored unless the buggy is on the move!

me again - rhubarb, what do you do with DD while you make the pastry?? (actually I don't know how - Mr Jusroll does ours) I fear ds would simply eat it - that's what he did when they did 'pasta play' at nursery!!

thanks for all the ideas and suggestions. So far so good this afternoon, dd woke up naturally (always better when she does this) just after 2 pm in a very good mood and is now playing happily on the floor with her toys, not sure we will make it through until tea-time without any whingeing but I live in hope

Dd helps me make it - it doesn't take long to make a bit. 5 spoonfuls of flour, then add enough butter so that when you mix it all up, it resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add enough water to make a dough and hey presto! They like getting their hands dirty at that age so they love helping to mix the flour!

My DS did eat pastry but I didn't think it would do him any harm. Also thought he would learn and not do it again. I was wrong - he immediately went back for a second spoonful (ie this was at the breadcrumbs stage).

Put mustard in it!

Is there anything in pastry that shouldn't be eaten raw?

Don't think so!

Can't imagine why anyone (even a child) would want more than one sponfull of it though. it's not as satisfying as eating a whole bowl of cookie dough.

Kids'll eat anything they're not supposed to! I wonder if we put their dinner in there for them and told them not to eat it, they would do? I might try that!

I think it was the novlety factor in DS's case. Still no harm done. I was more concerned about the hygeine factor for DH and my meat and potato pie than for DS!!

Ah, the heat of the ovewn would have killed most things off

Melly - these are some of the things I did with dd at that age and above. Similar situation as we're out in the sticks too - but nearest town IS walkable.

The library - stay there for an hour at least!

Get a big bag of material, wool, velcro, buttons etc and let them take it all out and feel all the textures. But keep it as 'special' and not with her usual toys.

On a non-rainy day wrap up warm and go collecting leaves and sticks outside in a bag. (We were on the beach last week with buckets and spades and the works. 'Refreshing' is the word I think!)

I know what you mean about the supermarket run just to kill time. I'll have a think and see if I can come up with more. Its hard to remember what a 16 month old's attention span is like. I promise it'll get easier though

At what age did your toddlers become interested in drawing/cooking etc? My ds is 14months and when given a crayon waves it about on the paper, then tries to eat it.

my daughter's nursery often cook a load of spaghetti & leave it in a big bowl for the youngest children to feel the texture (once it's cooled down of course!). they also put out very shallow bowls of water with various plastic animals eg seals in.

Is there any chance that you could put back lunch & nap a little - we always have a late lunch, which means DS sleeps from 2pm for 2/3 hours! We are also in a very rural area but I have found a good route I can do with the pushchair that takes an hour & a half, I used to do that in the summer but now by the time he wakes I must admit its usually a video until tea time - reading if I am feeling virtuous!! Do you know any 11/12 year old girls who will come in & play for an hour, we have lots of older children in our village who like to come and earn £1 whilst amusing DS - obviously I am still in the house but it does mean I can get on with other things!! There's one with him now!