Siblings aged 3 and 1 - how do you keep them both happy?

[elliott]

Ds1 is fast approaching 3 and very lively; ds2 is nearly 10 months, just crawling. My routine on a day at home with them before summer was toddler group in the morning, lunch and nap at home, then out to a nearby park in the afternoon, sometimes seeing friends. This week was my first back at work after summer holidays and its occurred to me I'm going to need to rethink our activities to survive the winter!

Ds1 is going to be out-growing toddler groups soon and then I'm a bit stuck as to activities we can do outside the home which will suit both of them. I don't really want ds1 to go to playgroup (without me) because he already has 3 long days at nursery.

Also, now ds2 is getting mobile, I need to think about how to cope with time at home. Up till now ds2 has largely been left sitting playing on his own (very much a Neglected Second Child I'm afraid!) while I do things with ds1. I'm not sure what kind of activities I can set up to keep them both happy while stopping ds2 crawling all over whatever ds1 is doing!

Visiting friends is also getting more tricky because of the number of children involved and the fact the many of them are now tied in with the school run at 3-ish.

So, what do you all do with your preschool siblings? So far my inspiration has only stretched to doing a tour of the local soft play centres.....

What about Tumbletots or similar? Or music groups? At home, I try and set the older one up with an activity out of the way of the younger one if possible e.g. drawing or painting up at the table while the little one plays on the floor. It's a shortlived stage though as you'll find they will play together for short bursts more and more as the younger one becomes more mobile. And if in doubt, hit a local playground!

HTH

Plus you could always have a friend over for the older one without their Mum which sometimes is actually easier.

Agree with Stickynote. I was in the same position as you 12 months ago and now they are 2 and 4 it is a whole lot easier. Our local Wacky Warehouse was a godsend for me last year, but I have to admit that when dd was one she had a morning and afternoon nap for ages which meant that I could divide my time and the activites more easily.

Thanks for the ideas so far. During the summer we lived in the local parks practically, which is good for ds1 but not such fun for ds2, and may not always be possible in the winter. I've put my name down for tumbletots (too late inevitably, by the time we get to the top of the waiting list it will be summer again!).
The nap thing is tricky since left to his own devices ds2 probably would nap for an hour or so am and pm, but then we'd never get out of the house and ds1 really really needs to get out (and so do I!). Bagpuss I keep thinking it will be harder next year, since ds2 will be ready for toddler groups and ds1 will be far too old.

Come on, I know there are loads of you out there with similar age gaps! What do you do for activities indoors? I feel I'm suffering a severe imagination failure here....

Also ds1 isn't that keen on drawing etc (quite likes playdough) - prefers traintrack etc which is really hard for keeping ds2 out of. I'm actually scratching my head for things for ds2 to do - you know I can't remember what I did with ds1 at that age at all!

It really annoys me that where we live now there are very few Mum+Tots groups that cater to a range of ages. The activities are really only set up for under 2's at most the Norfolk M+Tots groups I've tried. Hopeless for DD (almost 3yo), who has been reluctant to go to playgroup. When she was the baby, back in Leicestershire, I had no problems finding suitable groups for both her & her big brother (23 months older).

What about... trips to the zoo? Rail station? Building sites? At home, fence off part of the room for your DS1's projects that the baby would otherwise Godzilla into? Could your DS1 play on the computer while you do something else with the baby? DD just got the hang of using the computer, on cbeebies as I type...

About entertaining the DS2 -- read stories, make up rattling bottles for him, let him take things out/put them back into a container, Bang your kitchen pots, Round and round the garden, give interesting things to touch and gnaw on, play peek-a-boo (you've just forgotten how repetitious they like their games...)

Elliot, do you have a garden?

Ah, zebra, its all coming back to me now....i remember ds1 spending A LOT of time putting pieces of pasta from one bowl into another...

Yes, stickynote, we've just had lots of work done in the garden to create a more usable play area - just need to get some warm clothes and bundle ds1 out there now I guess!

Thanks again....

As you know very similar age gap of 22 months. I remember the period of crawling to walking well( 7 months to about 13/14 months being difficult ) - but now a lot easier and in fact now that DS2 is nearly 16 months they are increasingly playing together peacefully allowing me to do other things sometimes.

I introduced DS1 to the concept of doing things on other levels - ie; trainset or bricks on the table. Also getting him to show DS2 how to do things, not quite as successful. Other than that parks, zoo, anywhere lots to look at to distract DS2.

The other thing I still try and do is to set up stations with different things to do - in different rooms so hopefully one or both of them will get caught up in different activites, increasingly worked as DS2 attention span grew bigger.

We have some very long bath times. They both love sand and water (yes my house looks like a building site!)

I have the same gap elliot, with ds1 about to be 3, and ds2 just past 10 months. We still go to the park as much as we can as ds2 loves the swings so sits in there while ds1 runs around onto everything else.
At home ds1 plays with his cars / fire engines / lorries a lot, and has learnt to give ds2 one to hold and that keeps him amused for a while!
For activities together it tends to involve 'music', we put on a CD of nursery rhymes and then ds1 'plays' an instrument - plastic drum / piano and ds2 gets either the maracas or two bricks to bang together. We sing a lot too, as ds2 will clap along and sway! Really anything that makes a lot of noise is good for both of them. This morning they were both banging wooden spoons on saucepans while I was cooking - awful for me, but they enjoyed it.

Ds1 (3.3)is OBSESSED with buses and trains. So, we go on them A LOT. Ds2 (14 months) enjoys trips on them too. Can while away an hour and a half doing this. I tend to do round trips, get a bit of shopping and then back on bus or train home. Ds1 now always groans of we are going out in the car.

Have music sessions as mentioned by someone else. Have made instruments (shakers mainly) with ds 1 using plastic containers, lentils, pasta etc which we then use along with pans, wooden spoons etc.

Sometimes make collages - ds2 helps rip up the magazines, me and ds1 do the glueing and sticking. I usually draw a big shape on a big piece of paper (eg animal or shape (eg circle)) and off we go. Ds2 likes to try and stick things on too, so I pre glue a patch for him. Tip - use blue tac to hold the paper down on the table to stop it sliding about.