How do you occupy a young toddler at home?

[MeadowHay]

1 and a half. Had D n V bug so been stuck at home the last few days, it has been raining too so not even been out much for walks/park etc. She gets so bored at home. We haven't spent this much time at home since...I dunno, 4/5 months old? She hates being at home all the time (and so do I!). She has toys but she plays with everything for like 5 minutes and then moves on, so easily after an hour she has burnt through all the toys she likes and then starts asking to watch telly. Which she will do for 20 mins max before she's bored again. I'm assuming this is normal and they have short attention spans but I know some people who often spend days at home with their little ones of a similar age...how do you keep them occupied for longer than a few mins at a time?! I struggle to get housework or anything done too cos if I go in a different room she cries and wants to come with me but then is bored and cries again...

you can't leave them alone but water is fantastic. you can fill a bowl/tub with water, put some floating objects in and let them play. or ass food colouring to water, freeze it and then add to hot water and let them watch it melt. or use funnels and sponges. finger painting is also fun

The thing that puts me off messy play is that I know she will scream and cry the entire time I clean her up (which will of course mean it takes longer than it should due to her screaming and writhing about). Which is a shame as she likes water play in particular. I tried it once the other week and she was so happy but then cleaning her up after took longer than she played for and was so stressful that I don't know if it's worth it.

Personal experience: boredom is what leads them to actually do the best playing! They cry a little bit at first but you need to incentivise your child to just keep going. They need independence (and you need them to be a little independent as well)

TV can help in this as well. When my kids are asking for too much tv I put on something they find boring. After 5 minutes they'll naturally find something else to do. (Peppa pig they would watch for hours!!)

I used to put a towel on the floor and put down couple of pots, plastic cup and a bowl and pour some rice grains in the pot and my dd would play for at least an hour just pouring rice from one pot to other and scooping it up etc. No mess to clean off them just a quick brush/ hoover afterwards.

could you do it just before she is due a bath, then do an activity in the bath like popping a funnel and some sponges in there? that way she gets clean and hopefully will just see it as more playing. also, i still take my dc out when it is raining for puddle jumping. if you put them in one of these with some wellies then they stay warm and dry and let off some steam in the process. you could also try letting her 'help' with the housework? so give her a duster or a brush (the one from a dustpan and brush will do) and let her mimic your actions

When I've been at home with dd i put the music on loud and we dance round the livingroom. She loved it and it tired her out and she would sleep for hours in the afternoon. Both my dd loved it.

How ill is she?
If she feels really rotton you probably can't expect her to get into anything much. Your options and to cuddle, watch TV, rinse and repeat.
If she's OK (just not allowed to mix) then I second grey12's advice. Let her get bored. She may have a little winge to test you and then find something to amuse herself with.
Another thing you could try is having a really good tidy up of the toys. She may have too many options and be too overwelmed to settle on one thing.
If you remove the majority of her things to a cupboard somewhere and make sure the remaining things are ordered and easily within her reach you may find that she's able to maintain her focus for a little longer.
Try Angela Landsbury's blog for good ideas on how to encourage independant play.

Watching with interest as in the same boat , except for tv only occupies mine for 30 seconds .....

Rice sounds good as well as a messy play followed immediately by a bath. I still have to put up with the wrestling a screaming toddler to get her hair washed and dried and clothes on but I have to do that anyway at some point...she is fine now pretty much but even when she was not eating much and had diarrhea she was almost her usual self in behaviour, wanting to be busy rather than cuddles in front of the TV poorly.

Boredom does not motivate my DC. If I ignore her her warning signs we get epic rolling around on the floor screaming banging on doors/floor etc and that can go on for at least a half hour or so til she's tired out from the effort. She used to play happily/independently a lot more when she was like 8m-14mish and gradually got less since then.

Toy tidy out a good idea in theory but she doesn't actually have tons of toys to start with and even less that she is actually vaguely interested in (why do so many people buy teddies for new babies?!).

She can play independently when she's engaged somewhere out of the home btw. Like I take her to playgroup and she mostly plays independently there now for a good hour and a half or so, and at nursery she plays well but they obviously have soo much different stuff going on all the time there and rotate toys and activities so not an environment I can recreate! But home just bores her it seems. Will look at the blog definitely.

I cut a slot in a small box for my DD and gave her some lollypop sticks (£ shop). She will sit there for ages feeding them through the slot into the box. She also really likes sorting pom poms into a set of stacking cups.

If you have chores to do - putting the washing away, hoovering, cleaning out a cupboard, have her help you. I do this with my DD and yes, things take twice as long but it means I'm getting a household job done and she's doing something a bit different when she's bored of her toys.

Could you try colouring/sticker books or play dough with cookie cutters? I've made rainbow rice (really easy - recipe should be on Pinterest) and let my DD play with it in a container with spoons/cups. It'll keep her entertained for about 20-30 minutes.

We read or look at pop-up books. It's not easy though! I often find myself wondering what to do next because of a toddler's short attention span!

Ipad... ?

I echo the suggestion of rice/lentils in various pots. Mine will spend ages happily scooping and pouring them into different containers.

We often make a slide out of the big sofa cushions. Lean them against the base of the sofa a with a duvet/pillows at the bottom and the have lots of fun bouncing/rolling/sliding down.

We also keep cardboard boxes and make tunnels to crawl through/push toy vehicles through which is usually a hit.

Put dining room chairs in a row, give toddler the front seat and a plastic plate and let them "drive the bus".

We read a lot, and sometimes act out the stories too.

Posting things. Mine loves it! Cut various sized holes/shapes into a box and then get lots of different objects and see what fits into which hole.

If you have a garden, mine loves digging in the mud and watering the plants. Ok, it's incredibly messy, but it will keep him occupied for ages!

If you're feeling energetic, find a big plastic tub and give aeroplane rides by running madly around he house with them inside (I can only do this in short bursts though!)