Hit me with your best winter/ rainy day toddler activities please!!

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I’m 39 weeks pregnant with a 25/6 month old, so not that agile for much outdoor activities without DH. Plus winter is around the corner and let’s be honest it will rain, a lot and with a newborn, won’t be easy. So I’m looking for lots of ways to keep my 2 year old stimulated and entertained on those wet days, with a new baby. Bonus points if it works for the last weeks of a painful pregnancy too!

So far things we have at home:
Puzzles (she’s completed them and is bored of them need to tidy them away)
Blocks
Role play kitchen/ house
Colouring books
Sticker dress up
Play dough
Finger paints
Regular paints
Baby yoga (not a fan)
Water pen drawing pads
Glow pads

What else can we do that doesn’t cost the Earth or require too much to be bought?

Also any suggestions to jazz up generic fresh air walks when we do go out?

We’ll do:

Parks
Feeding fish/ ducks
Leaf collecting
Leaf colouring

We do lots of sweeping the patio and playing in the leaves at the moment

These are all good ideas but if also be wary of seeing up tons of fun stuff that you can't maintain when the baby comes as it will make the impact worse for your DD.

Toy box rotation is easy. Do you have a baby with clothes, bath etc? Might help too learn about babies. A dolly pram can also be taken out for walks.

I'd get her some decent waterproofs because fresh air really helps lift the mood. Get out at least once a day. Wader dungaree types or she might go for a suit that looks like an animal or has her favourite character on. My DD has a duck suit and loves to go out quacking!

A tuff tray is also good, use it to contain messy stuff. DD used to love pouring rice between pots, hiding animals in it etc.

Have a junk box with cereal packets, wrapping paper etc.

DD also loved those usborne dolly dressing books, I used to keep a stash of them for when I had a bad day!

Also do you know about cosmic kids yoga? Free on YouTube and my two are mesmerized by it!

Also we have a little disco light, v useful for crotchety afternoons. Pull curtains, lights off, stick on frozen soundtrack and have a boogie. Cheers us all up!

Paint the fence or walls outside with water and a paint brush
Colour walk - how many red things can you see? Could also do a dog walk - how many dogs can you see
Try walking in different ways eg backwards, sideways, with hands on heads.
She can help you clean- give her a damp cloth and she can wipe the walls. Or outside bowl of water and she can wash toys.
Read books throughout the day not just at bedtime.

Put on music and dance inside. - doesn’t have to be kids music, try Abba or similar. My DD loved the locomotion at that age
Action songs eg 5 little ducks, incy wincy spider.
Cooking. Make jelly together. Cream cheese spread on bread and she decorates with raisins then eats.

Bug hunting, indoors or outdoors. Get some little plastic bugs and a net, Hide bugs all over the house/garden and set her going. We also did this with dinosaurs on our lockdown walks with our toddler, I'd have them in my pockets and chuck them in the hedge a little way ahead of him when he wasn't looking.

Shaving foam in a large, shallow container with drops of food colouring. DS would use dinosaurs to swirl the colours into the foam and then when it was all mixed up he'd bury the dinos in the foam. I also did this with a load of unwanted body lotion Xmas presents I'd collected over the years, a bit wasteful I know but I'd never use them and they end up in the bin/charity shop.

Kinetic sand was a lifesaver for me through each lockdown. Prefer it to play doh as it doesn't dry out.

Make ramps to slide cars etc. into water. Use warm water seeing as its autumn/winter so their fingers don't freeze.

Will she still go in a buggy? If so, get a double and just walk. I had a Phil and Teds which is about to fall apart, but in the January 2021 lockdown I'd still strap mine in at the age of 3 and 2 and just push them for miles. They'd usually fall asleep towards the end of the walk so I'd just push them into the house and enjoy a bit of peace.

Grandparent here - Big cardboard box to make a house/ boat whatever, can paint the box and hide in. We made a shop which became her own art gallery. Hunt the teddy is better than hide n seek at that age. Big roll of paper such as wallpaper lining paper - do hand and footprints or get her to lie down on it and draw round her - she can then colour it in. A wooden ramp to roll little cars down also a big hit. Small wheelbarrow kept her busy in garden for ages, Dolly washing in washing up bowl also good. .