I want to stay in more with my toddler

[Carrotcakeplease]

I am feeling a bit like my life is a whirlwind of activities and my toddler has sort of forgotten how to play. He does at nursery and at other peoples houses but at our house he just wants to watch TV.

I would love some suggestions of things to do with him. He isn’t really into jigsaws. Sticker books work for a while but then he wanders off. His interests are mostly vehicles - tractors and cars and so on.

What might we enjoy? I really want to get him engaged with toys again.

Train set?

We do endless imaginary play: shop, getting the bus to school, rescuing sea creatures (Octonauts obsessed)

I like the idea of a train set but he’s a bit young for proper imaginative play - think he might just push a train around the tracks a few times and then wander off!

Toot toot. Stupidly annoying but DD used to love it. If your anywhere near me you can have all of ours 🤣🤣. Can't wait to get rid of the stuff

Mostly commenting for a bump, my 2.5yo doesn’t last long at anything so we’re out twice a day most days on the weekend, unless I’ve really planned ahead on the activities.

Play doh gets me about 20 mins but I have to be physically next to him

How old is he?

My 2.5yo loves a tuff tray with rice or cereal and random spoons/yoghurt pots/bread clips/diggers/cars etc. Sticker books, Lego, brio, reading books with him, big piece puzzles like orchard toys.

What I would say is that he needed to learn to play with these things though, so I spent a lot of time (and still do) sat on the floor with him and engaging with the toys.

Do you have one of those mats with roads printed on that he can use with toy vehicles? We had the IKEA one which was great.

As PP suggested a wooden train track is fun.

Play doh or kinetic sand. My DS used to like me burying things in the sand and then digging for them.

Duplo- you can get vehicle sets. Or the ice cream one was popular here.

He’s two next month

Thats probably my issue, I’m not great at sitting and playing, especially not with cars and so on - so dull 😂 but this is what he likes, so …

Toot toot we have - drives me POTTY.

It’s all about the building of the track though, with brio/fake brio.
On that note, how about Sticklebricks or Duplo?
Playdoh? Painting? Organising dried beans into ‘pies’?

Cooking
painting
dusting
playdoh
small world
reading

This is like the one we had...

An easel?

How old is he? I know you say 'toddler', but that covers a lot at that age. My children used to love playing with sticks (building imaginary houses), Duplo, and plastic food. We used put a sheet over the kitchen table and turn it into a den, with the soft toys as lions and tigers etc. However: the one big thing was that I had to be involved in playing with them. They didn't often play in that way on their own. I basically did nothing at all when they were that age, other than play imaginary games with them.

On days at home I’ve always just got out a box of toys ( we have a kallax unit so I just pick one at random, whether it’s cars, superheroes, paw patrol, duplo or whatever) and put it in the lounge. I then go off and potter around, the toddler can either play or follow me and do jobs, usually ends up being 50/50.

if you have a young toddler try making up some curiosity boxes and just leaving them out. Pipe cleaners, cups, puppets, teddies, whatever you have at home.

Rotation is key, new stuff is always more exciting and worthy of exploring for young kids so bring different things out every few weeks.

Lots of tubes (cardboard or plastic) to send the cars through. My one year old loves this.

Paper and paint for making car tracks

Crossed with various people. Sorry, OP, but I think you're going to have to rediscover your inner child and get stuck in to the imaginary stuff which will delight him. What children of that age really want is lots and lots of attention.

@upfucked - yes dusting! Bonus points for a spray bottle of water and a cloth on the cupboard doors.
I take the middle long part off my hoover and let him crack on with that too.
And my DS also really likes helping with the washing. Takes 5x as long but keeps him busy.

We recently discovered cosmic yoga on YouTube too

A large box. We had a delivery not so long ago and I left the box in the lounge to be broken down. All thw toys dD never plays with, she spend hours climbing in and out the box and closing it on herself 🤨

My DS is also two next month.

I have a random tub of playdough and kitchen items, he loves to pretend cook with them.

I also bought a cement mixing tray from B&Q as a fake tuff tray, and let him do some chalking on that, or draw a road and use that for his cars and trains.

He loves Brio trains (loads second hand on marketplace) and Magnatiles for building.

We have a mat with roads on but he hasn’t really engaged with it - might try again tomorrow. I’m better with outdoor stuff!

Get some hot wheels track! My 1.5yr old loves firing her older brothers cars down the tracks

My suggestion would be turn the tv off and leave some toys around. I find the less I actively try and play with him the more he does by himself. Plus if I play with a toy on my own he will come over and join in.

Random box of shite. I'm asd, imaginary okay is my idea of hell.

It definitely shows how different they all are - DS used to play quite well independently but doesn’t now - he does at nursery and at friends houses but not at home. I think we need to rediscover this skill if you like.

My nearly two year old loves an empty bucket and creating a slide for her cars with the wobble board. Any long piece of cardboard or big book might do the same. She likes the crash when they hit the bucket at the bottom. Building towers with wooden blocks and knocking them over. Drawing on her feet. I've got a flisat table from IKEA that has storage bins I put toys In.