How to play with 18 month old

[Rubberyduck]

Sounds ridiculus but I feel very out of touch knowing how to play with my son. It feels like at the moment I sit on the carpet with him and watch him. Hes just off playing with toys or things from around the house without engaging with me..maybe I am being precious!!

I am just not sure what I should be doing during the day. I only have him 2 days a week (part time work) he goes to groups with the childminder. I do painting but he does it for 10mins then has had enough (and i spend half hour cleaning up). Hes very very active now.

Any suggestions?

Following as I feel exactly the same OP. My MIL seems to be able to play with him for hours on end but it really doesn’t come naturally to me.

There's load you can do with a baby of that age, they lovely texture so messy play is brilliant, get either some flour on the floor and watch him love it! What about painting too, finger painting is great baby will love it. You could fill up old plastic water bottle with pasta or rice to make shakers and sing together, take him to a park? I'm sure if you google there's endless of ideas. Have you thought about a mummy and toddler group? That'll be good got you too to meet other parents and have a good natter x

Just do things like colouring with crayons
Or water pouring
Or shape sorting etc

Let then okay just guide them :)

You don't have to "play" just be there :)

Some suggestions from mums on the first link.

www.netmums.com/coffeehouse/being-mum-794/toddlers-1-3-years-59/171834-what-toys-activities-18-month-old-were-bored.html

chicklink.com/activities-for-18-24-month-olds/

www.momjunction.com/articles/learning-activities-for-your-18-month-old-baby_0092470/#gref

www.babycentre.co.uk/a1014243/lets-play-toddler-games-for-your-18-month-old

Let him lead the play, so if painting isn't his thing feel free to leave the messy stuff to childminder or playgroup. Just get gown on his level and chat about what you're both doing. It doesn't have to be big or exciting. Narrating your own day pottering while he brmms cars or rolls a ball or builds cushion forts or whatever. As long as you communicate with each other the actual activity matters little really.

Also 10 minutes before getting bored and switching is normal. Just go with the flow.

Here's a few ideas that I hope may help: at this age he won't be playing long intricate games, but more pottering from activity to activity with some things taking his fancy! Just potter along with him. E.g.:

Duplo or other building blocks
Build a train track
Toy cars/trucks with toy garage if you have one
Lots of books, especially lift the flap/ones with sounds
Singing
Musical shakers
Shape sorter
Simple puzzles
Build a simple den (sheet over couple e'd chairs will do)
Toy kitchen/teaset

Lots of playtime outside/park etc

Hope some of this helps!

I like duplo / train tracks. I find of I stay playing myself my little boy will wander over and join in. I'm start eg building a house or tower, he'll come to look, I'll ask him to pass me a piece or I'll give him one and ask him to put it in top.

My DS loves knocking towers over so I build and he knocks with loads of giggles.

Train tracks similar - start building a simple one, ask him to pass a train. Show him it brmmm brmmming round, then offer to him to have a go.

In this weather my little boy also loves walking round the garden with a flower in each hand, or a tray /bowl filled with water, watering plants with a watering can etc. Just simple stuff

It sounds like your DS is very independent which is lovely - lucky for you too as it's very easy to entertain these children. It's fine for him to play on his own while you do other things in the same room, whether that's household jobs or a hobby of your own or just sitting down and relaxing. Just don't be lulled into a false sense of security - if you have another child, expect them to need more input as most children this age do.

Watching them is just fantastic - with both my kids I have loved seeing them develop and work on little new skills most of us take for granted, 7mo is currently working on touching one finger at a time to his thumb and is so engrossed by it. As well as getting on his hands and knees and trying to crawl. It can be fun to learn about the various developmental steps and think up (or google) activities which help with each one as you can see them learning and discovering which I think is amazing.

I find it helps if you restrict which toys are available day to day. If they always have access to everything they tend to be overwhelmed and ignore 99% of it. Whereas if you put everything away and get out 3-4 things then they will look at and play with all of them.

Reading books together is lovely at this age, especially lift the flap or touch and feel books, and with crafts yes ten minutes is about the limit of their attention span, so it's a good idea to stick to things which are easy to get out and tidy up again, like simple colouring, duplo, things like that. Water play in the bath or outside. Leave the more ambitious projects until he's more like 3 or 4. I also liked to go for walks with DS1 when he was this age, just follow him and see where he wanted to go and what he wanted to investigate while teaching him boundaries and things like road safety - if we were close to a road he needed to hold hands, if he wanted to cross we had to stop and wait, etc. It was OK to look and touch things but not to pick up rubbish or put things in his mouth. I think all of this learning helped make it easier to walk around in public with him when he was 2-3 as well.

I used to make little trips to the charity shop or library and buy all the "That's not my...." books. The little wooden jigsaws with handles are brilliant, too.

Loads of play accounts on Instagram/Facebook with great ideas - fiveminutemum, playhooray, Becky's treasure baskets

Most toddlers will love just doing stuff with you or with you there.

Great opportunpity to get them to "help" with some of the things you are doing. A duster to "dust" a few bits while you clean up, "posting" stuff into the washer or dryer, something in a bowl to stir or mush up while you cook .

Some simple ideas:

• make a den/tent by putting a blanket over a laundry A-frame or similar, then have lots of fun hiding inside, hiding soft toys inside, etc. I got a cheap crawl tunnel as well so that DD can crawl through the tunnel into the tent
• pretend tea party: some plastic cups, pretend food (IKEA do felt food which is great), soft toys
• sticker pictures - you can get cheap packs of lots of stickers on Amazon, DD loves making pictures with them. Initially I had to help her get them off the backing but she can now do this herself. We chat about the stickers e.g. oh look, there's a dolphin, there's a whale, where shall we put them, so it's a nice way of developing vocabulary, and I figure it must be good for fine motor skills as well.
• hide and seek
• she loves putting things in little bags and then pretending she is going off to the shops, work etc.

I find if I just let myself be silly and get down on her level, it happens naturally. Even if it's a really silly activity, if it makes her giggle it's a win!

18 month olds can't really play with other people. Watch them in a group, they will all play, but doing their own thing :)

OK thanks. I think I do most of these so I am obviously beating myself up for not engaging him for long periods of time. He is very independent which is great but I feel quilty if I leave him to it

surprising things my dd 18 mo loves:

marble run (obviously supervised)
water colour painting (easy to clean up)
finding stuff I've buried in the sand pit.

don't stress, if he's happy pottering enjoy.

Oh don't worry. Soon he will be three and want to engage you All the Fucking Time and you will be sick of it :)

Take lots of photos/videos and drink hot cups of tea.