Easy toddler activity ideas

[MumChats]

Wise mumsnetters, please give me your wisdom/help/experience... we are due our second baby soon and have a nearly-2 year old. I want to put together a small box of 'emergency activities' to have on hand to give the toddler if she ever needs a bit of entertainment at the same time as i need to do something with the baby.

Ideally they'd be cheap/free to make and not create any additional mess! When we went on a plane recently i put some old cards (Nectar card, Boots advantage card etc) in a plastic case and gave her them - she absolutely loved it and spent ages going through them all, putting them in and out of the case etc. A few more ideas like that would be golden!

I would recommend the book “5 minute mum” - whole book full of quick and easy activities that take 5 minutes to set up.

Great thank you! I'll have a look :)

Make a toddler treasure box/bag.

Collect interesting household items and fill a bag (ideally one with lots of pockets) with the items. If you don't have a bag a box will do (or boxes within boxes), you don't want it to be too easy to empty. If you've got time/can be bothered you can wrap the items up to further slow the opening process.

Some ideas for fillers:

calculator
torch
tape measure
big buttons
purse with some coins and/or moneybox to post the coins in
bunch of keys/key rings
Notepad and crayons/pens
Some ribbons/material that can be used for imaginative play
a small toy or two that she hasn't seen for a while
A book
A box of raisins/Cheerios/other snack item
A tin/box with a lid that's nice to open and shut.
Measuring spoons
Shaker/something that makes a nice noise
Bicycle bell and/or light
Old mobile phone with buttons

Don't put everything in at once and then you can change a few items each time to keep it fresh.

No word of a lie I put small holes in a big cardboard box earlier and gave my charge (I’m a nanny) a Tupperware of mixed dried pasta shapes. I said if he posted every piece through the holes he would win a small packet of chocolate buttons.

47 minutes it took him!!🎉🎉

Thanks these are great and I definitely have an old bag I can repurpose to put treasures in! So funny about the determination to win some buttons!

Some simple things that my now 3 year old has enjoyed doing: Punch some holes in a Pringles tub lid or something similar and get some colourful lolly sticks for them to slot through. print off a blank head shape on a piece of paper and cut out face parts (ears, eyes, nose etc) from people in magazines and let them make up silly faces (I laminated ours so they lasted longer). Simple playdoh kits, busy books you can buy them on Etsy or print off your own if you have time.
I find Pinterest really helpful for simple ideas for play you can just type in what your looking for.

I would be bloody cross if you bribed my child with chocolate, that is such bad practice! The activty is good but the bribing with food is really dreadful.

Calm Yourself down Jesus Christ. The mum was totally on board. What’s wrong with a treat of chocolate buttons at the end of a long day when I’m also looking after his baby sibling for goodness sake?

Perhaps her employer doesn't have the stick pushed quite so firmly up her arse?

If it's not nap time for baby you could try a xylophone, little drum or bells.

I am surprised it was not covered in your training.

This blog post from Queensland covers the basics www.childrens.health.qld.gov.au/blog-whats-wrong-with-rewarding-or-punishing-children-with-food/.

It is pretty standard knowledge going back decades that it is very unhealthy to link behaviour with food. It is not something professional early years settings do.

I am just surprised at such old-fashioned practice given the professional advice on this.

@carefulcalculator
Kids like chocolate though. It's fun. Not everything has to be about research.

What training?

My Early Years degree? Nope. Thankfully if anything we were taught that it’s ok to relax sometimes, and a treat isn’t the enemy.

He amused himself with an activity i set up so I could get on with other things. So he got a treat. No children or animals were harmed.

Well that’s funny because the oldest, most experienced and qualified nanny I know uses smarties as a bribe for potty training.

But it wasn't bribery or a reward for good behaviour, it was a prize. There is a difference.

I actually agree with you re. bribing with food/using food as a reward or punishment.

I don't know how old your child is but it is very common for a small bag of sweets to be the prize for pin the tail on the donkey/musical statues/party games or at tombolas/raffles etc. It's something you might want to get your head round or birthday parties are going to be a nightmare!

FYI we are talking a tiny fun size pack out of a Halloween booty (that will be rationed from a high cupboard over many weeks) not a cinema size. He’s 3, so a few chocolate buttons as a prize was pretty cool to him.

I’m glad I don’t work for a militant employer like the one above! I’d be pretty pissed off if I was micro managed over a fun (to the toddler anyway) activity with a prize at the end.

I don't need to get my head around it as my kids are now much older, parties were fine. What happens at parties is different to what happens at home or regular daycare.

The training in early years and teaching is now not to give food as an incentive. I shan't derail the thread any further but it is very outdated practice - it was old fashioned when my kids were little and practice has moved on further still. Perhaps the older nanny referred to above just hasn't updated their training.

Ds liked rescuing his toys from ice at that age: find some little figures (dinosaurs work well) and freeze in so water (sprinkle in sequins or glitter if you're feeling fancy) in a tupperware box/plastic cup/whatever. Pop into tuff try or baking tray a let little one poir warm water over or use a toy hammer etc to get them out.

Waterbeads in a tuff try has bought me many hours if cup of tea time.

Use masking tape to make roads on carpet or floor for toddler to drive cars round

Stick some spaghetti through a base standing up and get toddler to thread cheerios on.

Kinetic sand.

Draw different colour squares on paper, get toddler to sort different colour beads jewels etc in to them (or if brave, send them off into another room or the one you're in to find a tellow/blue/red object etc).

Balloons, lots of them. Bonus for hanging some from ceiling for them to bat at.

Ds was 18 months at the start of lock down so I had to get creative!

I'm not militant, this is mainstream in qualified childcare.

Oh and pom poms -giant ones and all sizes - great for stirring in a saucepan, using a spoon to transfer, lining up etc and zero mess.

My 2.5yo loves a tufftray with some coloured rice (loads of blogs online) and random spoons/tongs/yoghurt pots/diggers. Can also substitute the rice with lentils/cereal.

Also loves drawing on the tuff tray with chalk pens.

Sticker books and fuzzy felt.

Also, don't make the TV the enemy - a couple of episodes of Octonauts for the toddler whilst putting the youngest down for a nap saves everyone's sanity.

It isn’t.

And are any of your older children suffering serious long-term harm from winning a packet of haribo for pinning the tail on the donkey/musical bumps/threading pasta through a hole?

Or is it actually fine?

Think you misread my posts - if you read it again you'll see it says What happens at parties is different to what happens at home or regular daycare

The research has been known for years.