How to entertain myself and my toddler

[tintinenamerique]

I have a 17 mo ds - an absolute joy but I'm beginning to feel a bit stuck for ideas of what to do at the weekend. He has a big lunchtime nap which is great but I feel I can't go too far afield as he only really sleeps properly in his cot. We do all the nice kiddie things, park, swimming, play at home, in the garden when we can. But he gets bored if he's at home all day and so do I. I feel that I can't really do many of the things I would do at the weekend pre-kids. He won't tolerate being pushed around the shops for very long, neither would he have the patience to sit through a lunch or even coffee with friends (mine, rather than his). Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

The park and swimming both sound lovely.

Is there a local zoo or children's farm that does annual passes? If you have a good local National Trust or English Heritage place with a cafe and a playground then membership can be great there too. With a membership you can just pop in for a couple of hours and not worry about getting good value for money by staying the whole day.

Other ideas:

• soft play
• walk in the woods
• local events: steam rally, airshow
• museum: the Natural History Museum in London is great if you're close
• an occasional theme park: Thomas Land at Drayton Manor, Peppa Pig World and Gulliver's Land have all been hits with my kids
• Gruffalo trail at one of the Foresty Commission places
• beach
• library. My local central one does Rhyme Time on a Saturday morning.
• Tumble Tots weekend class.
• local council/gymnastics centre play gym

Do you have garden centre near you? I find our local ones a god send in all weathers; they have a combination of small animals, little toys, mini soft plays, sheds. Nice coming up to xmas too

Are there any local toddler groups you could visit? Once they're mobile they usually quite like the freedom of legging it and chasing each other round on ride-on tractors! It's nice to be able to sit back with a cuppa and let them explore reasonably safely too.

My DS is the same age and keeping him entertained feels like a full time job.

What does he/you do during the week?

Instead of going out for coffee and lunch, can you arrange to meet at your or someone's house so DS has a bit more freedom to play while you socialise?

Swimming is good, but so much work and tiring for the parent.

Parks also good but can get repetitive.

If you are looking for some quiet activities at home, colouring with crayons or finger painting are good.

If you do want to go grocery shopping, try to involve him. "Can you show me where the apples are? We need to buy 4. How many is mummy holding now?"

Can you pick one day each weekend to go do something, whether it's a drive to the seaside or another 'proper' place and then if he doesn't nap well on that day write it off and do more local activities and have time at home for sleeping on the second day?

Thank you. Helpful suggestions. I work 4 days and find our day off together quite easy to fill - playgroup 5 mins away in the morning, back for lunch and nap and park/see a friend in the afternoon. But at the weekend I feel I want to be doing something more exciting. Great point KP about going out one day and writing off naps if necessary. I do tend to get my knickers in a twist about him not having a 'proper' nap.
We have NT membership, live in London and could do most things that have been suggested, apart from ds counting how many apples I'm holding - please tell me it's normal that a 17 month old doesn't count (though he is partial to the number8 and will treat it over and over).

Good for thought - thanks. Hoping to start to climb out of the rut this weekend!

I am a nanny to a toddler [20 months] and works 4 days a week.

Our day generally is split into segments,

MORNING we are out the door by 9am - go for a walk - she takes her doll pram, rides her scooter, walks or sits in the pushchair. Then we do a prepaid activity session [*Our weekly activities are : swimming lessons, toddler group, toddler gym, music lesson, rhyme time, messy play session]

LUNCH we generally take a packed lunch with us and we eat when we're out and about or come home for a nap. She sleeps for 2 hours in the afternoon but this can be moved around to suit our plans ie 11-1, 12-2, 1-3 [must be up by 3] and is now able to go down to 1 hour naps [again to suit our plans]

AFTERNOON As soon as she's up - we get straight out - we go for country walks, have playdates, go to a local garden centre or soft play, go to the library to change books, go to town, local museums, meet friends at the playground etc. Sometimes we do stay home - to do painting, baking [cheese biscuits, scones, cake etc] play in the garden, sensory play

EVENING I start dinner at 4.45 so we have eaten by 5.15 and then we potter at home - this is usually great fun as we've been out all day so toys are fun and fascinating again!

For day trips out - we go to the local lake [take toy pram for a walk] the zoo, the farm, outside lido, swimming pool, local town - but by train or double decker bus, national trust properties, the beach. We team up with another nanny and her child so that they have a friend to play with and entertain

Oh, sorry to confuse you about the counting. My DS can't count at all, but I meant you can talk him through it - we need 4 apples; 1, 2, 3, 4... so they feel more involved.

Just wanted to say that it gets easier -ds was like this at 17 months, he would get cabin fever at home and needed several trips out to keep him entertained. He's 22 months now and has a lot more interest playing with toys, we even managed to go a whole day last weekend without a trip out!

What more interesting playing toys have you bought Mrs? Would love to know the toy secret as I never seem to quite get the right toys!

MNerAnon, we joined a local toy library and now DS gets a couple of new toys every fortnight.

£8 membership for 12 months and then each toy is between 50p and £1.50 for a fortnight's hire.

Might be a solution to test some toys on your little one before buying?

Great idea, thanks

Other ideas:
Sticker books (can often pick them up at the pound shop).
Making refrigerator cake.
Making and decorating crowns- again with lots of stickers and glittery stuff.
Collecting stuff in a little bag- dried leaves, snail shells, other random stuff
Sandpit in garden

Also a lot of garden centres have aquariums- my toddler loves that and mooching around pets at home.

Some great ideas! Commenting pointlessly because I can't work out how to watch a thread on the new app! :-)

Haven't got any more interesting toys, he just has more interest in playing with them than he used to.

*CouldaShouldaWoulda
*
To bookmark a thread you go to the title at the start, slide across from right to left, and reveal the 'bookmark' option.

Not bookmark option, I mean "watch" thread option.

To bookmark you slide on an actual post.

Oh, thank you for teaching me how to bookmark in the app. :)

I was about to suggest garden centres. Ds is 3.5 now so less easily pleased but we went all the time until he was about 3. Find one with a pet shop, aquarium, cafe, toy dept etc and it can kill a couple of hours. Loved going at x,as to for Santa and looking at the decorations. We also do a lot of going out collecting sticks, stones etc. for afternoon crafts. I can only tolerate occasional soft play so tend to do more woods, parks etc.

It's normal that a 17 month old doesn't count. But counting with them while shopping, if they like it, is a good way to get into it. They can start recognising numbers out and about.