What do you do with your toddler?

[Incognitopah]

Hi there. My daughter is now 18 months old and I feel a bit guilty that I don’t seem to do many exciting activities with her at the weekends. Can anyone suggest age appropriate fun?!? Or is just toddling about at this age good enough?
we tend to go the park, walks with the dog etc but the times I’ve attempted things like…. farmparks- seems too young to really take much interest, soft play- mental at weekends. Most kiddie things seem to be for a bit older?
Woukd appreciate any suggestions

The key thing is to think what's exciting for her and the answer is 'pretty much anything', so yes toddling about in the park/at home/with friends is fine. She doesn't need the excitement of softplay or a farmpark because she's at the age where pigeons and squirrels are fascinating, you don't need to move on to pigs and cows yet!

Small things like messy play/water play/sand are great. Playdoh. A new playground. Space to wander at her own pace and in her own direction. Bubbles. Balloons. Books (local library). Nursery rhymes. Basic puzzles. Give her some pots and pans to bang. Bags to fill up. Boxes to stack/fill/sit in. Paint and pens and chalk for mark making.

@NuffSaidSam thank you for your feedback! It’s a relief, as yes I provide a lot of the things you describe as that’s what she seems to enjoy!
for some reason I just feel under pressure for not actively taking her to places and exposing her to activities….friends suggest zoo/aquarium etc….but to me it seems pointless as she doesn’t seem engaged by that stuff right now. Also tough to have full days out when she enjoys a midday nap!

At that age, mine were content with running around, throwing and chasing after a ball, picking up leaves and feathers, playing in the sandpit at the park, jumping in puddles, finger painting or any messy play. Letting them explore ordinary things and just chatting to them about them is more important than big experiences I think

Those are trips are for the adults. The truth is your 18 month old would get the same experience from looking at the fish in a pet shop/garden centre as she would at the aquarium!

@HippyChickMama appreciate your reply! I think part of what makes me overthink it is seeing my friends with toddlers attend all sorts of activities during the week like singalongs,toddler ballet (?!?) toddler based classs etc and these sort of things don’t seem to be on at the weekend. I work full time so concerned I’m not exposing my daughter to these sort of things! Whilst also being a bit skeptical of their value 😂

Haha yes your right! Well I shall relax and enjoy splashing in muddy puddles tomorrow rather than panicking about booking her into a sensory experience at the excel centre or something. Thank you for your comments

My boy is coming up on 21 mo and he is ONLY JUST appreciating being outside with a ball. He has SO MUCH FUN in the garden and that's all they need at that age!

Don't stop the exciting trips - it's good to show them different environments, but they don't have to be every day or even every week or month

She’ll be doing the stuff your friends do at classes like singing and dancing plus more at nursery. So chilled weekends and lots of outdoorsy stuff like parks and dog walks sounds perfect.
(This presuming she goes to nursery since you say you work FT)

Social media is what is making you feel like this. I'm guilty of it too. Relax, enjoy time with your little one and don't compare.

What you're doing is fine. My DD is 20 months, and we do take her to farm parks occasionally as she loves sheep but not very often.

Generally, at weekends, we do a mixture of:

• Trips to local NT places or country parks for a walk, play in the playground, and lunch (we do this quite a lot, but it's more for us than DD - DH works at home a lot so likes a change of scenery at weekends)
• Trips to the village playground
• Walk in the local woods
• Trips to the playground at the local leisure centre as there's a cafe there
• Swimming
• Trips to the local big supermarket (we do most of our shopping online, but occasionally need to get something, and it gets her out of the house)
• Playing in the garden
• Painting, playdoh, baking, TV, jigsaws etc etc
• Get her to help with the cleaning

We don’t do a lot of things for our toddler at the weekend, shes perfectly happy with a packet of wetwiped and a few wooden spoons. Shes currently having the time of her life rolling a tin of beans around the kitchen. Take advantage of the easy to please stage, save all the organised fun for the “i’m bored” era.

DD is the same age. We always go out with her as she gets a bit bored at home and we find it hard to entertain her here for more than an hour or two (can stretch it a bit by giving her a bath in the day time!) We tend to do lots of different play parks as she gets a lot out of them. At some there is a duck pond so combine it with feeding the ducks, sometimes I bring a ball but she’s not super into it yet, and one of the local ones has sand so thinking of getting her a bucket and spade but she might not know how to use that yet.

We do country walks, she loves collecting pine cones. We go to visit our parents or grandparents or meet up with friends, get lunch in cafes, go to the library for books, or go to the supermarket. Nothing too exciting yet as we don’t tend to go too far as she still needs her post lunch nap.

We have gone to soft play but it’s manic at the weekends so tend to save that for a weekday off, and I’d rather go swimming on a weekday if possible for the same reason.

Toddlers LOVE toddling about! It's really important for them to learn about ordinary life and that's very exciting exciting them. There are so many sensory experiences in going for a walk - their eyes track the leaves on the trees and they connect the feeling of the wind to things moving around and the noise that comes with that. They'll see birds and small animals. Notice that things change (although too young to directly observe/understand seasons). They'll notice smells.

Zoos and aquariums are fine. But (particularly aquariums) they are quite a homogenous experience, so actually less stimulating/educational to a very young child. When your child is old enough to read the signs, that's the perfect time to take them and broaden their experience. A 7 year old would be excited about going and would learn a lot.

Many experiences aimed at older children/adults are very visual, but lack the mutisensory stimulation that is ideal for a toddler. Playing with a ball/simple peg puzzle is far more valuable at that age. Or just getting out for a walk and chatting about what you see.

So please don't worry! You can waste a lot of money doing fancy activities and get less benefit than you would have had playing in/around the home.