Please share with me your activity/craft ideas for rainy days in with toddler & newborn

[HorridHeffalumpsWickedWoozles]

DD1 has just turned 2 years, DD2 is coming up to 3 weeks. The weather is rubbish, DD1 is full of energy, I am seriously lacking it. DD2 is relatively laid back but is bf on demand and although happy for short periods in bouncy chair etc still spends most of her time being fed or wanting cuddles.

We've done (with varying degrees of success ) salt dough, peanut butter squares, colouring, stickers, reading and copious amounts of cbeebies. It's my first week 'alone' after DH went back to work and I'm really feeling the pressure to keep DD1 stimulated, happy & not left out while still seeing to the baby's needs.

So, what do you all do with your DCs during the day when you can't get out, I need inspiration & tips for coping please! Things I can do one handed or even better that DD1 can just get stuck into herself while I supervise would be fantastic.

I'm in a similar position except DD2 isn't born yet - got a few weeks, but I'm all but laid up with SPD and DD1 is getting bored...

Does DD1 have any happyland style toys ? My girl can entertain herself quite well with those.

I've also been having baths with her. Maybe thats a possibility if the baby is asleep. It kills 45 mins and she loves it. I made some bath paint with a recipe I got on pinterest to make it more fun.

maybe big easy jigsaws / puzzles ?

I have to admit I am totally reliant on my iphone to keep her entertained. Now that she's mastered youtube...

I don't think it's realistic to keep the older one entertained all the time, but it is hard I know.

It's really hard ... Here are a few random things that worked for us- alongside stickers and Tv. Need to buy a few bits but nothing too £££...

1. poking pipe cleaners through our colander to make alien hair
2. playing with dice from a Perudo set.
3. threading cotton reels on string (got a Galt toy, but could do with real ones too I guess)
4. got a little step so she could do "washing up" at the sink safely. Lasts 20 mins sometimes.
5. posting things down old poster tubes.
6. decorating the inside of a massive cardboard box which some bit of baby stuff came in.
7. DVDs of Lost and Found, Snowman, Gruffalo. (Worth every £££)
8. oh and go into dark bathroom and play with a torch

God I miss summer! Good luck x

a friend of mine used to throw the toddler chocolate buttons around the room while she was on the sofa bfing the baby.

i found that the hoover came in quite handy. we used to give each other punky hairstyles.
another good one is balloons - quite a few of them can be fun.

Thank you these are great, especially looking forward to turning the colander into an alien!

The Gruffalo is a firm favourite, had it handily on the sky planner until it got accidentally deleted last week (major toddler meltdown ensued!) so will be doing an Amazon shop for a replacement & maybe a few others.

at throwing chocolate buttons for the toddler! Only problem would be preventing myself scoffing them all.

some great ideas here. Can I have a recipe for salt dough please? DS (3) is just starting to get into it but i hate the way the bought stuff smells. DD (1) tries to eat it so homemade would be better all round I think

Is there a park or green space really close? If so, wrap up toddler and self and baby and go and have a puddle-splashing session, as long as you are near enough to the house to get back home and into dry clothes quickly.

(We have a park at the end of the road and I used to do that with DS in toddler days).

These mats are great with playdough -I printed them off and laminated them so they are easy to wipe off
dl.dropbox.com/u/10832845/Playdough_Mats_Booklet.pdf

My new favourite website

handsonaswegrow.com/

Has a section where you can sort activities by age too.

In fact try this section

handsonaswegrow.com/2012/09/16-materials-perfect-for-toddler-busy-play/

Sainsburys sell ready to roll out cookie dough, gingerbread man dough and a few others varieties I think.

They have quite good sell by dates and my sister in law keeps one in the fridge for emergency 'need to entertain the toddler and fast' moments as she can making them so quickly without the gaff of weighing out ingredients and washing up etc as she has a newborn too so not huge amounts of time

We got one of these for DS1 when DS2 was very little. I remember sitting on the sofa BF DS2 while DS1 happily played 'houses' with tea set and plastic food. It was a permanent fixture in the living room for a while. IIRC we got a tunnel too.

They are 13 and 10 now-I am not sure how that happened.

In a similar vein I buy ready made pastry. I help roll it out and cut a few shapes. He makes his own shapes with the rest!
I then give him little spoons and bowls of jam, lemon curd and sugar to decorate the 'jam tarts'. A lot of it gets eaten but it keeps him going for a while.

Choc biscuit cake also works well. Let them spend ages crushing/breaking biscuits. Then add butter, syrup, cocoa and any bits like raisins. Sometimes put choc on top.

Prop up a long cardboard tube so the lower end is above a xylophone, then roll conkers or similar down it. If you position it right you can join in from the sofa.

Bouncing on mummy + daddy's bed...

Some fantastic inspiration thank you :) cashew that website is brilliant thank you!

sparkling we've got one of those in a bag somewhere, hadn't even thought of digging it out again but will be doing so tonight, DD loves playing house & making tea etc so I reckon it should be a hit :)

I am a teensy bit jealous Horrid. It's great to get a toy out you had forgotten about and see their faces light up. IIRC we had a little till and played shopping in there too.

We generally have an empty cardboard box somewhere in the house, which is generally painted and holes cut in it for windows. Depending on the size sometimes they are houses, cars, rockets, ice cream vans. Smaller boxes are made into televisions or robots heads etc.
Also when I am cleaning the sofa cushions on the floor turn the living room into their own soft play area.
I have 2 years between my two and also relied on the TV for feeds etc, sometimes you just have to. It gets easier as they get bigger and start to entertain each other - honest

Going for walks whatever the weather? Puddle jumping v popular:) as already suggested.
Painting, drawings, put them in the bath with water pistol and some plastic toys to shoot at?
Tie a ball onto the washing line and hand over a ping pong bat. The swivel lines are great.
Act out stories like we are going on a bear hunt?

Toddler groups are good, I found. Outings are fun, pretend you are a tourist in your home town and visit everything. Libraries are a good visit.

I am going back a few years here but how about those soft felt toys tha tthey can make images/ scenes from. Dd can do it with you adding/helping where ncessary with one hand? They used to have all sorts of those sets available - fuzzy felt that 's it!!!!

Fuzzy felt is in early learning, it's great:) sofa based activities whilst bf coud be reading, crayons and paper leaning on a big book. You can also hide things in easy places and do the cold, warmer, hot, no cold... And activity books with stickers. Plus cbeebies, nothing wrong with a bit of telly.

Those touchable bubbles are fab. Or jsut normal bubbles. You sit on sofa with baby, she races around the room catching bubbles. Do it to music.

DS(just 3) is playing with a tub of dried pasta. He's made a building site and is moving the pasta around with his digger and dumper truck. It's macaroni, so he's laying 'pipes' too. In the past, he's made a desert island with it and pasta 'sharks' swimming round the floor or made big long snakes. Sometimes he uses it with his tea set, or just spends ages feeling, pouring and drawing in it.

We scoop it up and put it back in the tub, but it could be easily hoovered up too.

Another lovely tactile and cheap idea we made - I got a shoe box (now use a big plastic storage box as he loves it) and filled with dried pulses, pasta, rice, craft scraps and household bits n bobs. We call it the 'bean box'. Good for sensory play, you can do buried treasure hunts in it, get an ice cube tray out and do sorting. For baby, or if DC are into eating/tasting still, then how about bigger bits like cotton balls, wool, fabric, etc. Alternatively, scoop some of the mixture into a clear plastic bottle for baby to shake and watch while older DC plays in the tub.

I like that DS can choose a cheap bag of split peas as a 'treat' when we do the shopping and he likes to pour them in when we get home. Good Luck.

Totally fantastic ideas, the bean box has got me excited that sounds fab!

sparkling the tent was a hit

We've done our first few days now and its not been as scary as I thought, even managed play group on Monday which was great too. Armed with all these ideas I'm quite looking forward to each day now :)

Is it permanently up in the living room Horrid? I got used to it in the end, and tidied toys into it in the evening.

The bean box is good fun, but don't put rice in it - smells funny!
I'm pregnant and was beached on the sofa mumsnetting watching DS play this afternoon and was inspired by some of the ideas here, so thanks for a really useful thread [hsmile]. Will be making a tent with blankets and furniture tomorrow.

I did take it down tonight but am planning a bit of a toy reshuffle and will find it a better home so it can stay up for a bit. It used to live in the corner with ball pond balls in but then it got so full of junk it couldn't be played in anymore so that's when it got taken down, will try notto let that happen again.

It's DHs birthday tomorrow so planning a salt dough handprint session for presents (trixie: link to really easy recipe) Also got a tonne of pipe cleaners in the pound shop today so the colander's getting a makeover too [hgrin]