How to keep a very active toddler occupied

[Avonacha]

...while I get mundane house chores done? I've had loads of people tell me 'the housework can wait' but there's only so long it can wait before it gets unmanageable.

I have a very driven/active 20 month old who usually creates new work for me while I get some other work done lol. In need of some activity ideas/suggestions to keep her occupied while I get boring things like laundry, ironing, superficial tidying done. She has a very short attention span- I've tried getting her involved with laundry and dishes etc but it results in her walking off with stuff after about 30 seconds of interest.

I do try to take her out as much as I can purely to minimise how horrendously untidy the house gets but I do also need to just get these things done. I prefer not to do them once she's sleeping (obviously Mumsnet is a better way to spend precious potential sleep time) as I'm trying to get as much rest as I can, I really need my sleep to function and I help out a business in the evenings from home some days anyway.

Nursery isn't an option at the moment and I have no other support. DH works long hours and helps whenever he can. Not having a moan at all- the situation isn't terrible but I just want to be more efficient while DD is awake :)

Any tips?

One tip I can think of immediately - clean the bathroom sink, toilet, mirror etc while she is playing in the bath. The bath will pretty much clean itself if she's splashing about in it.

Do you have a somewhat contained play area? We often just let our DCs take out whatever toys they want to in the main area of the basement, and they can keep themselves occupied moving from one thing to the next while we iron and fold laundry either in the room with them, or in the laundry room adjacent. They make a giant mess, but we can shut the door on it and have them tackle it in a big clean up every few days.

Also, the high chair is your friend while you’re doing kitchen stuff. It keeps them contained, and you can either let them do some colouring, or let them eat a snack, or get them to help with small cooking tasks (e.g., my DCs will tear up fresh mint and parsley for me, chop dates with a butter knife, etc and they get very excited about “making dinner”)

I get a tuff tray out, put on the kitchen floor and fill with things like kinetic sand or pots with soapy water of different colours (using food colouring). You can also add dinosaurs, diggers or farm animals.

My boy had little attention span except for washing dishes in the sink. We got a special stool and he would wash for aeons

Do you have a garden? Can you set something up outside for her to play with there? Tuff trays are really useful for this.

I think TV or tablet is how most people manage to be honest!

Do it when she's asleep.

But if you must do it when she's awake;

Give her a cloth and spray bottle of water and get her to clean the radiators.

Fill sink/washing up bowl with a few inches of bubbly water, towel around it and chuck in a cup, empty milk bottles, balls, plastic toys etc. Clean kitchen around her.

Giver her the dustpan and brush and some pompoms/Lego bricks/random crap to sweep.

Or just out her in front of Mr Tumble!

when DS was about this age I would:

high chair for lunch snacks and sort the kitchen

he had a little toy washing machine he’d faff about with while I did the washing - he’s still obsessed with that age 3

he loved watching the hoover so this was never an issue

do the bathroom while he was in the bath

if I really needed to get something done I’d put the tv on

I rarely iron! It takes weeks for it to build up and then DH or I do it front of the tv one night

bigger jobs (like the windows / grubby hands on mirrors and cupboards / dusting and the like) DH and I tag team on a weekend for an hour and it’s usually just a superficial wipe.

we do a toy tidy each night where everything gets shoved into a variety of cupboards. Whoever isn’t on bath and bedtime does this.

Don't underestimate how much dc can enjoy helping. All mine used to help load /unload the washing. Pegs without any wire bits make for great playtime - few pans and a bag of pegs! Handover a duster and an empty can of polish... They can spray away safely! When I had 4 under 7 it was never dc OR housework. They both were constant!!