what do you you do with your toddler in the mornings?

[titferbrains]

DD will be at nursery 3 mornings a week this term, but I do often struggle for what activities to do in the morning, and so I end up leaving telly on and playing with her a bit, then doing a bit of tidying/mn/laundry/get dressed etc and then it gets too close to lunch time to go out.

Do you aim to do something particular in the morning? We are at the playground most afternoons. Difficult to get DD to just go for a walk/scoot without going to a park and I'm not organised enough to get out for a walk that ends up with her needing to spend an age at the park then rush to get home to make lunch...

Dd helps me wash, cook or we do art or go in the garden. She's only 2 thou

DD has quite short attention span, we can easily get thru painting/sticking/garden before 10am!

I have the same problem, especially if he wakes up at 6.30 there are a lot of hours to fill. He has some TV while I get myself together for the day and then we get him dressed and do teeth and face wash which can take a while if I let him bugger about play games / bounce on the bed. He will entertain himself with his toys for a while, especially his shape sorter at the moment but does get visibly bored. It doesn't help that around 9- 9.30 when I would have headed out with him, DD (4m) will want to go back to sleep so she sometimes has to forego her moses basket for the pram or car seat while we go for a walk or to his tumbletots class etc. I did just spend about an hour researching local playgroups / arts / music classes and there is something on practically every day but you'd need about £10-15 a week to fund it. Its worse when the weather is bad but we just invested in wellies and a raincoat so we can go out and splash in puddles and he did also spend a happy 15 mins transferring water from one large plastic bowl to another in the garden. he isn't really into colouring, play dough or even building blocks yet. Can't wait for the day he can play a game like snap or snakes and ladders to while away the hours!

I try and shower just before/as she wakes. I feel SO much better to be at least half ready myself before she has breakfast. It doesn't always happen that way, but if I don't do it I end up sitting around for ages

TV for a bit after breakfast whilst I wash up, then encourage her to get toys out. She sleeps from 11.30 for a couple of hours, after which she has lunch and we either go out or play in garden.

Get out!

My DD is 2.4 is definitely better for getting out in the morning. I like to be out of the house by 10 am, if not she starts acting up a bit. We usually have a leisurely breakfast (OH doesn't leave for work till nearly 9) and then she watches Show me Show me on Beebies while I clear up/stick some washing on etc.

We go to toddler groups 2 mornings a week, a gym class once a week and tend to meet up with a friend once a week, so it's not hard to fill our week.

What seems to work best for us is activity in the morning, home by around 12, lunch then a nap from 12.30/1 - 2/3pm, then there's time to visit the swing park round the corner, or do some kind of activity at home before starting dinner etc.

Now that DS (6 weeks) is in the mix, I'm finding it even more important to get up and out in the morning.

We get up, she plays/watches TV while I have a bath. She has breakfast and I have mine and do any ironing put washing on etc. She has a quick bath (quick bum wash/ weetabix out the hair lol). Get her dressed. Go to a toddler group in the morning 10 -12ish most days(we have two surestart centres near us so something free everyday). go home have lunch. DD has a nap (hopefully) I prepare dinner/ tidy up/ cuppa tea. She wakes up, we go to the park / play with toys. Come home put dinner on. After dinner we do some messy play then a longish playing bath time. story and bed.