how/ what do you play with your toddlers?

[krisskross]

I have DS 3.5 and DD 20 months and we do lots of the usual stuff, park , playgroups, trains , playdough etc etc- but got to be honest, sometimes at home, i want to play with them but not really sure what to do.

ideas and suggestions very welcome. thanks!

bump...............

Sorry - would love to help but mine are the same age and I quite often am stuck for ideas.

The only things we do that spring to mind are play hide and seek (with them always hiding in the same places), the train set is a good one for them to play and me to build track, duplo and sometimes a wee cafe, but I must admit that 'playing' doesn't come as naturally to me as I thought it would before having kids.

Lots of nursery rhymes, singing, lego, den making, cleaning the kitchen cuboard doors with wet wipes?!

Chuck some duplo in their general direction and leave them to it!

Oh, sorry.. you actually want to play with them?

Cooking things? Plastic food, a couple of mixing bowls and a play cooker, is great for this kind of age. They can make you horrible combinations of things for lunch. :)

3 is the great dressing up age (apparently - DS hates it, but all his friends seem to like it) so that could work?

Buckaroo, marble run, picnics with teddies, anything involving water...

today I played coffee shop with my 3 and half yr old and her teddy.

She brings in tea cups etc, aske me what I want, I do the talking for "stripey" aswell and then we enjoy whatever she makes.

Also 2nd the get them involved in cleaning too.

Today she also helped me empty dishwasher, she did the cutlery tray, then I give her a sponge and a water spray and she cleaned the stairs wall, whilst I cleaned the cooker. :)

I have a 22 month old and various older children .
Today dp and lo played tea party and she spent ages going round giving all her toys a sip.

Lots of books for her to look at or read together.

Follows me around when I'm cleaning.

She sits in her high chair and draws a lot.

There is a good blog people are always linking to on here The Imagination Tree which has a lot of ideas for pre-schoolers.

I have 2 DS (5 and 2) - when both together the eldest tends to make up the 'rules' to the 'game' (ie today I was the mummy cat and the DC were baby kittens who kept on (and on and on!) getting stuck and needing rescuing or feeding or putting to sleep. Lots of our games focus around pretend play when it involves both together. With just 2yo I have to hold a plastic animal and every toy in our house is lined up to say 'hello' and then we all go to the beach.

Anyway.....I guess basically I just lie on the floor with them and let them take the lead usually. Games/activities I suggest are usually not up to the mark (according to the 5yo!).

But 2yo loves also to play cooking or help with actual cooking. Cleaning. Making a den/hiding. Reading a book.

I got a book which had 101 activities for your toddler....sometimes quite good for ideas. Altho' usually if they aren't actually asking for me to play with them I do a jig and go and do something else (second child syndrome!).

www.nurturestore.co.uk and sunhatswellieboots.blogspot.com/ both have fantastic ideas (as well as links to other blogs). Some of the ideas are a bit complicated but there are simpler ones too. I try to do a couple a week and they normally go down very well.

Put on a play. You can base it on a book such as The Tiger that Came to Tea and act it out together.

I need some kind of 'structure' to the activity to play with small ones so find this kinda thing works well. Also treasure hunts are great.

Dancing songs eg hokey cokey, mulberry bush, also love the animal boogie. Can last for ages
My 2, ds1 (5) and dd (2), like to use me as climbing frame/ gym apparatus ("flips" where they somersault over my head is particularly popular).
Going on holiday is a fave game which can last for ages and works on both levels (packing the "car", actually the sofa, driving, repacking aeroplane/boatltrain, journey, picnic, unpacking, exploring).
Simple card matching games, basic board games (dd2 has joined in with "bus stop", without really understanding it, since about 21m)
Books, books and more books!

My two are almost the same age - we do

Duplo
Mini Disco's with cheesy tunes and games like musical statues/bumps
Camps
Painting Large Floor canvas (v messy)
Playing with water at sink or on floor with large mat
Shape dominos
Matching Pairs
Lay out teddys and have a party (they play musical bumps and stuff)
Marble Run
Cleaning/Gardening/Dusting (they love it, won't last)
We save up egg boxes, toilet tubes and have some dolly pegs and they love them for all sorts of things
Marching music band
Mini assault course (over pillows under sheets)

It is really hard trying to keep them entertained!

With my 2 dgs the favourite games are acting out 'I'm Going on a Bear Hunt' and 'car Auctions' where we line up all the toy vehicles and I am Mr McSporran the owner of the yard and we sell the cars to an array of soft toys who bid various bits of coloured lego [eg 3yellows...no 2 blues etc]the the duck steals the yellow truck....oh the fun we have :)

I use an idea from The Imagination Tree blog for my ds (2.6). I bought a new cat litter tray and filled it with uncooked pasta and diggers and used it as a construction site. That kept him quiet for ages. It's now filled with the dreaded moon sand and diggers. I love the cat litter tray as everything is 'contained'. He also enjoys having shaving foam on a big wipeable cloth and pushing his cars through it to make tracks.
He also enjoys using crayons on big pieces of paper and likes sticking stuff. We do finger painting and rollers. Play shops. Duplo and sticklebricks. Trains. Teddy tea party. Books. Make a den under table.

DD2 is 3 and loves drawing herself. I stick some sheets of paper together to make it big enough to draw round her then we colour her in. We must have done it half a dozen times. I'm rubbish at drawing so it makes it easier.
Restaurants - she takes my order then goes and cooks & I pretend to eat with play plates etc.
Dens - today we had such a good one that she took a nap in it.
Lots of songs with actions, snap, old maid & pairs card games are mega faves just now.
Her and DD1 who's 9 play schools a lot, sometimes I'm the headmistress who comes in to give the Teacher an important message. DD1 tells me what to say.
A lot of the time I do like Bugsonbuns said and let her take the lead and play along.

we are having lots of tea parties at the moment. place cooled hot chocolate in a kids tea pot, squirty cream with a spoon in the suger bowel, tiny marsh mellows in a little storage jar, milk in the kids milk jug all on a tray with a tea towel underneath to catch spills. add a couple of soft toys and an cafe visitor (mum)- bobs your uncle - an hour of fun!

pretend cafe - cooker, cash register
dressing up
stories/reading
story tapes
music
art & crafts - I am not very arty but lots of good ideas on the internet
dens
jigsaws/games
My older ds loves educational games on the computer
baking and cooking
puppet shows

brilliant- thank you so much for all these ideas!!! Will be really helpful and fun.

Erm today dd1 (2.10) and I made cotton reel and button caterpillars out of her cotton reels and buttons and strings that come with them, then we walked them around the house a bit, then we all went out to the garden where the caterpillars played football, went on the swings (were tied to the clothes line and pushed) and went down the slide (a slight slope in the garden). Then they went to dd's "house" in the garden (behind the shed) and had tea and cake. This went on for ages!

I'm sure that was a fascinating read

I got some hand held magnifying glasses from Tesco for a pound - like ones you'd see Sherlock Holmes using! And we go round garden looking for bugs or whatever - takes up a good 10min!

On Sunday we made paint from flour and food colouring. DD loved that and it took up an hour.She also enjoyed the bubble bath afterwards .

Yesterday she just played with her toys and siblings.

Today we spent the morning at the local park and are making pancakes this afternoon.

DS is 3.3. Playing with him involves:
holding Buzz Lightyear while he holds Woody and having a conversation with each other, which always starts "Hello Buzz, good to see you..."
animals fighting - "No mummy, you hold it by its back, not its tail, no that's wrong, now you roar, now you chase the goat"
playfighting - like lions
tickling "you wanna tickle me, huh, do ya, do ya?"
eating the play food that he has cooked on his cooker (with realistic sound effects hob!)
building train tracks for him
football in the garden
spraying him with the hose, or trying to while he runs around just out of reach
blowing bubbles together
drawing with pavement chalks
table football (mini)
dancing
building towers of blocks
building lego animals/ towers
sorting the washing
hanging up the washing
emptying the dishwasher
chasing him
hide and seek
making biscuits
singing

I think that's about it...

Oh Thumbwitch, DD (22 months) makes me hold Buzz or Woody and we have to sing "Gotta friend in me" about 30 times a day .