Typical day in lockdown with toddler and 4 year old?

[MumToBe1980]

Hi, I have a 16month old and 4 year old and am struggling to structure our day during lockdown. We tend to wake up about 6:30, TV on (cbeebies) at 7 until about 9 as I am so knackered from being up in the night with toddler, during this time we have breakfast. Then try to do some sort of activity, pushing pasta into box for toddler, counting it in for 4 year old, or painting, then outside for 30 mins in the garden. Back in for lunch, maybe some baking, then nap for toddler, play on floor with 4 year old. Toddler gets up at 2:30, play tickle time, read books, then snack, back outside then in for tea. TV on while I make tea. Im pretty sure they are having far too much screen time but struggling to think of activities I can do with both of them. I have a pretty small house, 2 up 2 down so not much space to store lots of stuff. On top of this I work 3 days at home which is challenging.

How are you entertaining your little ones, at home? I keep seeing these super mums on Instagram posting amazing stuff but I've generally found when I copy it, it entertains them for 10mins and takes 30 mins to clear away!

My four year old is at school usually so being sent daily tasks to do by school. Yesterday we had to make figures out of stones and sticks collected from the garden and count the stones. This kept him entertained for a whole five minutes. Today they have suggested we put socks in a basket and guess how many might be in there, then count them and see if he was right.

It’s hard. You are managing a greater variety of things than I am. My little boy is waiting for an assessment for autism, he gets very anxious and is now refusing to go in the garden or leave the house in general.

All I can think right now is to spend different parts of the day in different parts of the house to give it some semblance of structure. We're pretty miserable now the parks have all turned into mud swamps and it's too rainy for even a fucking walk.

I find the bath useful. You can buy bath crayons on amazon fairly cheap. My 4 year old loves them and would spend literally hours in there drawing if I let her. My 2 year old just likes to pour water in and out of things. Plastic cups etc. Easy to clean up.
We also do obstacle courses. Put a mattress on floor, climb on couch to jump off etc. Good for a bit of movement when it's too horrible to go outside.
They also watch way too much TV. I let them because this is a pandemic, extraordinary times mean I'm not going to feel guilty about that

Something else we’ve been doing more successfully is den building. Good for his baby sister as we can’t play with his little toys like Lego when she’s around. We hang blankets around in different ways and pretend they’re a spaceship/submarine/pirate ship. Sometimes we eat snacks or read books in the den, and dress up with gloves and hats.

Not needing much equipment/making much mess - throw a trail cushions on the floor and get four year old jumping from one to the other. You can do musical statues and they have to freeze on a cushion when the music stops.

Your day sounds pretty similar to mine; probably better actually. I’ve got a baby and nearly 4 year old; we do an activity in the morning and play in the afternoon. My 3 year old has some screen time while the baby is napping in the afternoon and it gives me a bit of a break as well to sit and have a cup of tea.
I like the 5 minute mum website for ideas and things like the bath are an activity in themselves with bubbles and crazy soap.

Instamum stuff always only entertains for 5 mins - it looks great in photos but that doesn’t mean it’s actually all that fun for kids!

Your routine sounds ok to me. You’re getting some variety in. If they’re getting enough exercise, I think you don’t need to do anything different. Probably very boring for you, sorry about that.