At-home activities for an 18mo

[spicymum]

Hi
I'm stuck for ideas on how to keep my 18mo dd occupied at home. We go out most days to playgroups, playgrounds etc. But it's the odd couple of hours at home, or days when the weather is really crap, or days (like today) when she's a bit too poorly to go out, when I run out of ideas and energy!

She hates messy play (complains about sticky hands) and drawing only keeps her entertained for a few minutes. In fact nothing keeps her entertained for more than a few minutes, which is why I need more things up my sleeve! I do let her potter by herself a fair bit, but she gets bored pretty quickly. and I don't want to always resort to cbeebies

What activities do you do with your dcs? Or suggestions for toys/stuff they can play with by themselves? Thanks!

they do have really short attention spans at that age, so we avoided stuff that would take ages to set up/ put away. i prefer crayons/washable pens to painting for this reason.

dd2 like to "sort" things - out of boxes, into bags, back into boxed. you could use toys (play food for example) or shells, pebbles, anythings really.
we sometimes set up a sort of hideway/explory type area with cushions, chairs, throws, boxes etc, to climb in and around, and play peekaboo.

or a bath in the middle of the day? lots of bath toys, bottles, cups and pans, and lots of bubbles.

My dd liked 'cleaning' the windows with a plant spray bottle and a cloth.

To be honest, I don't think there are many toys/activities that an 18 month old will play away with by themselves for too long.

DS quite liked happyland toys at that age but I had to play with him which bored me to tears.

How about cd/dvd of action songs - head, shoulders, knees and toes etc.

Aquadraw is quite good - you only need water for it so it's not messy. We had a big aquadraw mat.

This worked yesterday - selection of soft animals - arrange on a pedestal. Sing Old Macdonald - choose an animal for each verse. Toss it around / between us / in the air when it goes "baa" or "moo".

I'm quite big on arranging things at the moment. I find that if I get a toy out and "display" it somewhere, dd will be intrigued. So toddles into kitchen, finds all her "toolbox" bits arranged on the floor in colour order, goes "ooh" and sits down for a good few minutes to play with them.

Laundry. She can push the laundry basket arround. I ask her to push the dirty stuff from the bedroom to the kitchen and the clean stuff from the machine to the hangy-out thing. She'll pass and sort things too. I do more laundry when she's around really, it's my first "what can we do now?" ploy.

Musical instruments using pots and pans with wooden spoons. Put pebbles in a screw top bottle for a shaker.

Singing together to a cd of nursery rhymes, add dancing and clapping.

Playing with a soft ball, rolling it between you, patting it around the furniture obstacle course.

Wow, thanks everyone! Loads of great ideas? Especially making dens, I love dens :). This is why I need help ? I am not nearly this imaginative.

Off to peruse amazon for cds, aquadraw and happyland?

at this age DD really like me reading books to her and singing to her, especially songs with actions. We could easily do at least 30 mins of each.

Thanks penguin. Realised I've forgotten most songs apart from wheels on the bus.

Goes off again to read threads on action songs...

Standing on a chair 'helping' me to wash up is a favourite around here - so much so that I have to keep an eye out that he doesn't start doing it while I'm not watching (luckily the sound of the chair being dragged across the floor usually gives it away). I sometimes just fill the sink with warm water and bubbles and DS plays while I stand next to him and prepare lunch/whatever.

Also pots and pans on the kitchen floor with dry ingredients and a wooden spoon for stirring, e.g. yesterday we used some out of date cake sprinkles, some lentils, some cheerios and some dry pasta, and spent a good 20 minutes 'cooking' with it all, mixing it together, tipping from one pot to another etc... and then it was easily cleaned up with a dustpan and brush.

Sticker books are also becoming popular round here.

meant to say - thank you for starting this thread, I shall watch with interest!

Things that were a hit today: going through my knitting "notions" bag (tape measure, ball of wool, stitch holders, etc) and taking two identical bowls, filling one with beans and showing her how to scoop beans from one bowl to the other. Both occupied her for ages!

Second dens. Teddy bear picnic. Mostly DS sort of helps with the cleaning
He's into "wrapping presents" at the mo'.

Notes to self we must do more fun stuff.

DD is 19mo and similar to other posters children likes emptying things out of bags / boxes and sorting them into another box, if the bag is a handbag or something she isn't normally allowed to have that's even better. She also like pushing her shopping trolley round picking things up.

Helping with the cleaning a big draw at the moment, especially emptying the washing machine and 'dusting'

She has some chunky wooden puzzles that she loves (melissa and doug on amazon not cheap but good quality)

We're lucky as our sitting room window overlooks the stables so she will happily spend time standing on a coffee table watching the horses or people coming and going.

Hope this helps - we do resort to some cbeebies at time!

Love the idea of den building, think I'll add that to our list of activities too

Cook some spaghetti, let it cool, pour in to an old baby bath or large bowl and let her play with it. You can do the same with jelly - sugar free of course

Cornflour and water mixed together with a little drop of food colouring - little ones love the sensation of runny verses solid.

Buy a cheap teaset, set up her teddies for a party

How about a train set? Kept DS entertained for decent spells from about that age. The beauty is that you can start small and build up if she shows an interest. I think it's a shame so few parents play trains and cars with their daughters. Wheels are cool to all toddlers, surely?

Thanks for this thread! I too have an 18 month dd who is so hard to entertain indoors (without the help of mr tumble). And with the horrible weather it's been hard work!

Great ideas here, ( I've just ordered an aquadoodle) keep them coming please!!

And I think there is a sainbos one half price at the moment.

I meant trainset of course

My DD loves dried pasta, in the biggest bowl I can find, with various plastic spoons, and plastic glasses/cups (been using partyware) so she can fill and empty them - it's noisy, but keeps her entertained for quite a while!

Shredding parties. We shredded stuff that was going to the recycling bin (newspapers, flyers, etc) by ripping it into strips and then we'd toss it in the air over our heads. She laughed quite a bit at this.

Finger paints. (Didn't try this, only read about it.) Use vanilla pudding and put a drop of food colouring in it and "paint" with it. Yummy clean up.

Oooh thanks everyone for all the great ideas! I didn't think to come back and keep checking, apologies for the delayed reply

DD and I have built some awesome dens this week. Have also bought some hideous cheapie plastic food (ELC) and been feeding dolls/teddies a lot - that's gone down very well.

And for the next 7 days we will be mostly shredding things (thanks pickup!)