tips on tiring out a 13 mo!

[missingmyflatbelly]

hello

what games can we play at home to tire 13mo ds out? and ideas for things he can do independently for a little while as well? we already go to 2 playgroups and sometimes soft play as well, go out other times as well. but some days we have at home, or even if we've been to a playgroup, he gets home and has a nap and then needs activities to use up his energy the rest of the day. as he's getting older and more alert and active, some of our previous games aren't as interesting anymore so i need new ideas!

i've really noticed in the last couple of weeks he seems to have a lot more excess energy and is also eating loads (not sure if the two are connected?)

thanks! :)

bump...

My dd2 is also 13 months and if not entertained by me or her elder sister becomes stropy!

Dd2 loves books, walks, trips to park, singing, cebeebies, playing with her toys and eating :)

is he walking - assume so
do you have a garden -
or park near by - where he can walk around - my DSs both loved being out side at that stage -and seem to tired them out more as well
and then balls, and other outdoor toys are all great -

swimming can be v tiring

sometimes especially my older one just got hyper and actually needed help to calm now - atleast that was my excuse when cbeebie came on
bubbles are fun especially outside he can run and try and catch them
and things for him to do on his own - stuff to empty, boxes to climb into and books on a low shelf for him to pull off and look at

Even if not walking you can still go to the park. My DS is now 15 mo and walking but we have been going to the park regularly since his birthday. Crawling through things/ up climbing frames and he loves the slide! Fresh air is good. I also second the swimming idea, we do that some rainy Sunday mornings. Just going out seems to help tire him actually.

Thanks for your replies :) he is walking and we have a garden we spend an hour a day there at least so long as the weather is good. I love the books idea,he has a bookshelf of his own upstairs and LOVES it, so I think to make him a place for his books downstairs. He has a kitchen drawer of safe utensils, he used to love this but now it doesn't hold his attention as long,do you think I need to change the contents?

What outdoor toys are good?ATM he has some balls I was thinking of a sandpit buy dh doesn't like the idea I think he had a bad incident with a sandpit lol (reminds me of Rachel from friends ad the park episode:) )

I try to get him to do jigsaws but he doesn't get them I guess it'll take time. I just feel like I'm running out of ideas and I do want him to have lots of fun it's so lovely to see him enjoying himself

Cross post tigress. The outdoors thing seems to make sense to get him tired.we tend to avoid the garden if it's cold or rainy am I just worrying for nothing and should I just wrap him up and get him out there whatever the weather? we practically live in the garden when the suns out but when it's cold I worry about colds and I guess also I myself don't like the cold...

I'm not sure about playing out in the rain generally but we did play in the rain at the park on the weekend. It is June though, I'd have felt differently if it was December!

Another thing we just added to the garden is a small slide. Up down up down will tire him out!

Hi, my DD is 16 months so a little older but we have been doing quite a few things for the past couple of months. Like your ds she loves to be outside. I got her a sand/water table and she loves it. I am yet to put sand in it though but she loves playing with water. Keeps her amused for ages. She loves running her hands under taps and just generally getting wet. She has a trampoline in the garden too which she bounces on for ages (just a small one from elc).

She is only just getting into jigsaw puzzles but has liked shape sorting toys for quite a while now so reccomend those.

She also has a bookshelf in the living room and spends ages going through books.

We have a play field near by and often go there where she runs around with a ball (our garden isn't that big).

Also she has started to draw and likes painting (well just scribbles rather than draws!). It's quite messy but I think she enjoys the washing up bit just as much, goes back to the water thing!

One thing I am going to do soon is get her involved in cake making. Mixing the butter and sugar together etc for the textures and more mess! Not been brave enough to try yet but will do it on a rainy day.

We also go swimming once a week which she loves and wears her out.

And in the last couple of weeks she has started singing and dancing to just about anything so I put the radio on and we sing and dance around the living room. Helps keep me fit.

Hope this helps.

x-posts. Re the rain thing, I too was unsure about dd playing in the rain. But dh took her out in the rain once and she had such fun splashing in the puddles so I bought her some wellies and a water proof rain all in one thing from mothercare so she can go out in the rain and not get soaked. I took her to a farm on Thursday and it absolutly pissed it down, but she didn't care one dot. In fact I think she prefered it. Not much fun for us adults though!
Reading back my posts it looks like my dd is slightly water obsessed!

Dancing. My ds loved to do the more active dances (skip to my Lou, hokey cokey, mulberry bush ,sleeping bunniest, animal boogie). Julia donaldson also has some cos with good action songs. Balloons provide hours of fun.
For quieter moments: home made play dough, filling up old tubs with pasta shapes, entails etc, books books and more books, especially lift the flap and noisy ones.

agree small slide - and small ride on and those little tikes coupe cars are also good - both loads on ebay
and agree balls and ballons both good
sandpits are fun but not that good for burning off energy and can be a bit messey -
and yes don't worry about him out side in not such good weather -so long as he is warm and dry - its just how long you can stand it!
jigsaws - my 16 month old only takes them out really -

thank you everyone ive been very inspired by all these ideas! we went out today and bought a sand and water table and he spent ages on it and i got to do half an hour's worth of video lessons for my distance learning course, yay!! i also picked up some simpler jigsaws and we did them together which was fun

i want to change the contents of my his utensil drawer to make it more interesting, just need to work out where i can put the utensils though!!

ive bought some books down, need to work out a better arrangement for them so he can help himself as he loves this, just picking out the books from the shelf and usually all of them ending up on the floor!

oh and i will be buying some basics pasta shapes and setting up those for play, i know he'll love that as he loves helping me take out the potatoes from teh shopping and putting them in our potato bag

thank you everyone we've had loads of fun today with all these ideas :)