Tips for tiring out 18 month old?

[Alice4563]

My 18 month old daughter always goes down for her nap really easily but bedtime has been a bit of a nightmare for the last couple of months. She gets up around 7am...nap at 12 for 2 hours max then bed around 7:30pm....however it usually takes about an hour for her to go to sleep. Tried putting her down an hour later and still takes an hour! She is also waking very frequently at the moment.

I think some days she just isn't tired...I make sure we get fresh air at least once a day...usually walk in the local park or woods in the morning then some kind of activity in the afternoon. The only thing is she doesn't tend to like walking very far..I think she gets bored rather than tired and then wants to go in the pram or be carried. I'm 22 weeks pregnant so most of our outings result in a very tired mum but toddler still full of beans!

I know some toddlers are really active and don't stop moving, my daughters more chilled...how do I encourage more activity / wear her out more!?

Park, soft play, swimming, scooting.

Swimming in the afternoon then keep awake till 7 should do the trick Also my daughter used to like pushing a dolly's pram around the park after dinner I found that wore her out nicely for bed

Have you tried a shorter nap?

Playground
Go for a walk (and don't pick her up when she asks)
Play football
Swimming
Softplay or use cushions etc to build a soft play at home
Make an assault course
Just get her to walk round the house a lot by asking her to take this to daddy/let's go upstairs and do X/can you put this in the garden etc.
Blow bubbles or get a bubble machine and get her to chase them
Make a game involving lots of movement for her but not you. It will depend on her interests, but as an example put a bucket up one end of the garden/room/hallway and give her things one at a time to put in the bucket so she's running back and forth between you and the bucket. Lots of cheering and clapping to encourage her.

Make sure you're getting out for fresh air and exercise in the afternoon not just the morning.

I’d try shortening the nap to 1.5hrs and bringing bedtime forward to 6.45/7.

I was going to say the same as @FizzingWhizzbee123. I always found DS took longer to go to sleep when he went to bed too late. Maybe she’s actually overtired? A 2 hour nap is quite long - perhaps she’s sleeping during the day because you’re already keeping her busy!

I would shorter the nap to 12-1-15ish.

Swimming is a good one to tire them, trampoline park, zoo, playground, scootering, balance bike, walk through woods, walk around a shopping mall. Lots of thing s

It's the nap it needs shortening had the exact same issue she ain't tired enough as re filled the batteries half way through the day. Ideally needs to be awake before 1.30 from the nap any later will guarantee around an 8pm or later bedtime

Keep her up later until 8:30 perhaps