What to do on Nothingy days

[JKDcot]

Just looking for some advice. Had a bad week - work, not feeling well, argued with my husband. Nothing major but just feeling down. My best friend was meant to stay this weekend but cancelled last minute. I’m home alone with my 18 month old and trying to find something to do with him tomorrow that will be fun. Can’t deal with soft play and we went to outside playground today. Any ideas?!? What do people do with toddlers in winter?! Thanks

Oh gosh I'd love some tips. It feels like everything is a nothingy day in Winter. I'm not a crafty parent and I've attempted things like cookery with DS (2) and it's done in 10 minutes. I wish I could take him to the cinema but he wouldn't sit still.

My DC are older now but we used to visit one of the free museums in a city near where we live on a Sunday afternoon. Or the city library - sit and read in the children's section followed by hot chocolate in a cafe. Have an awful feeling they could be closed on Sundays now though - post Covid.

Make dens

Then sit in it eating cookies you made together earlier and other fun snacks from the store

While you watch a marathon of diner movies

Disney not diner

We often go to The Range or the garden centre at this time of year to look at the Christmas stuff and go in the cafe. You have to stretch it out though to fill a morning or afternoon but they quite like it!

Jump on the bus and just ride!

Make Christmas cards for loved ones. Zoom the grandparents. Sing nursery rhymes. Get the Playground Buddy app and try a different playground. Fall back on screen time 😂

Painting?

Library, or book shop, museum, swimming ?

Swimming, visit aquarium, visit local garden centre shop as it has a fish section. Local botanic gardens has 2 massive glasshouses which are like an indoors park. Any free museums with a cafe. We are lucky and live near a big city plus a few towns so we have gallery, museum, library, big shopping centre, railway museum, lots of garden centre type places all within an hours drive. For that age I'd do something about a 30-40min drive away as you can easily fill 9am - 1pm with a trip out plus a cafe lunch and then they fall asleep on the way home!

Also if you're near a station go somewhere on the train. Toddlers love trains!

Den, cushion mountain, indoor picnic?
Also invest in some large cardboard boxes for making into boats, trains, castles etc.

Also second the garden centre at this time of year.

I think you need soft play in this situation. Honestly, energy expended, you get to sit down with a hot drink and then you can legitimately have screen time afterwards.

I’m all for the path of least resistance!

Thank you for all your advice! I think I will go to either the garden centre or library - just somewhere to be around some other people

Garden centre to look at lights then lunch then hopefully a nap.

Garden Centre - Our Local One has Reindeer there already and also has a nice coffee shop
Beach Walk - DS loves having his waterproofs and wellies on to go and throw stones in water
Imagination Play Places are a lovely alternative to soft play. We have several near us.
Train or Bus Ride
Library Visit
Play Doh
Swimming
Painting
Sticker Books - I buy a few in Home Bargains every time I'm in as DS happily will sit for an hour doing them
Park to feed the ducks/collect sticks/acorns

Following for more ideas...

It was a bit challenging but we tried a new cake recipe today. But it was fun. And kept dc a bit entertained.

All the best

Along similar lines to the garden centre, we used to sometimes go to Pets@Home - look at the fish and small furries, and I'd let her choose one treat or toy for the dog.

Mine is 3.5 now but we mostly visit the same places as at 18m tbh just we can spend a lot longer everywhere now that her attention span is bigger etc. E.g.:

• Swimming
• Free museums
• Libraries
• Soft play centres
• Visiting friends or relatives or having them come to visit
• Parks/playgrounds if it's dry including feeding ducks/birds/squirrels, taking bubbles/balls/scuttle bug
• Going to a play cafe

@ShadowKitty

We often go to The Range or the garden centre at this time of year to look at the Christmas stuff and go in the cafe. You have to stretch it out though to fill a morning or afternoon but they quite like it!

I tried this with my 18mo. She dug through the baskets of delicate glass baubles like a puppy in the flower beds, wrapped herself in tinsel and ran away laughing hysterically.

Never again.

At that age I would have done the library or the local gardens, then faff at home, maybe some baking or get some sensory stuff out e.g. cooked spaghetti, custard - easy things that keep them entertained while I watch Pride and Prejudice or something with half an eye!

Libraries tend to be closed on sundays. Morrisons have child size trolleys to push around or visit pets at home.

IKEA was always our fall back when DS was small. He loved opening the doors in the display kitchens as they didn’t have safety catches on like at home.

I live rurally so finding things to do can be quite challenging, on top of pandemic restrictions. Here's some stuff we've done through COVID times:

• Bought a tuff tray and sprayed it with foam for DD to find toys in. Messy, but fun!
• Hid pieces of Lego inside jelly for her to squash up. Again, messy and sticky.
• Potato shapes and acrylic paint.
• Took everything off the sofa, including seat and back cushions, piled it all up in the middle of the room and threw a big blanket over it. Told her it was a mountain; she spent ages climbing it.
• Bought a kid's bug hunting kid and scattered a pile of plastic insects around the house for her to find.

We are lucky to live close by to countryside so that's a big plus. And we often go to the local supermarket cafe to have cake and people watch.

It's mostly just the two of us; my family and friends all live elsewhere. So I fully appreciate the endlessness and loneliness associated with young kids. Hope you feel better soon.