Help me avoid soft play this winter

[Porridgeislife]

We have an 18mo and I’m trying to think of ways to keep her entertained at weekends and my day off during the week.

I really, really hate soft play and she’s not particularly keen either. When there’s no classes/groups on, and the weather isn’t great, what do you do with your toddlers to entertain them? So far this winter we’ve been driving to different playgrounds with a coffee as she loves bimbling about in a puddlesuit.

It may sound a bit daft but I grew up somewhere warm and sunny so I don’t really know what small children do for fun when it’s wet and cold.

Does she hate all soft play? It is really great at tiring them out...

We do a lot of classes but when they stop, we do tend to go to a few different soft plays. Farms are nice but a bit spendy around here. We'll do the park/playground in a wet suit and then a coffee shop, but I think that really depends on your toddler! Play dates can be nice but can also be quite stressful if you've got a high-energy toddler.

We've never really managed to do full days in the house, he's got far too much energy, so we still try to go out twice a day, even if one is just a walk, but that does require the weather to be okay. If it's really minging, I bite the bullet and we go to a soft play!

Our local wildlife trust forest area runs a toddler group outdoors which is fun when you wrap up warm and put a waterproof all in one one them. Also our local farm does as well and runs all weathers. Muddy walks, swimming, library rhyme times.

The same as we do every other day but in a puddlesuit and wellies 😊😂. West Coast of Scotland here so we don’t get the best weather. We still get out and about each day - swing parks, forest walks, beach walks, town if we need shopping, a walk around our neighbourhood looking for puddles 😅
Aside from that I always keep a stash of arts & crafts stuff and messier toys (playdoh, kinetic sand etc) aside for the more miserable days. They usually keep him entertained for a decent while.
Turn household jobs into activities. Get her involved with the cleaning/cooking/laundry. Do some baking? She’ll love scooping and mixing etc 😊

When it's the school holidays I struggle with my DD too, it's not easy. DD is 2y9m so quite a bit older, but I distinctly remember making a post on here last winter asking the same thing.

So swimming is one, I find if you go early there aren't many people. I used to take DD at 9am for an hour then take her to the park nearby after as long as the weather was ok. I did this every week.

The library! I go to 4 different libraries locally to me for variety, but also they often still run activities like storytime or legoclub during school holidays. You'll often find in the holidays they have other activities on too, like little into trails (you know where you have the sheet and you wonder round the library looking). They do also run craft sessions but I've found only recently DD can get more into this.

I second swimming! It's my favourite thing to do with mine when it's cold and wet outside

Normal stuff to be honest. Walk the dog, go to the supermarket, pop to the playground for a bit, run errands - things I need to do on my day off. Neither of mine needed "entertainment" or to do something child focused until they were about 2/2.5. Nursery on the other days is pretty tiring for them, and they have tuff trays messy play etc there. I think on the other days when they're that little it's ok to pop to Tesco and go see Nana for a bit, then come home and play.

Also do you have anywhere that does role playing, we have a couple near me and those are a great indoor activity too.

I have a little one the same age as you. Agree with avoiding soft play -we’ve been three times and I can’t stand them.

We go swimming on my day off. Kills a good few hours between driving there, getting changed, in the pool, lunch and car nap afterwards.
We also like a (very slow) walk and play in a park. Puddle suit and wellies on. Kicking leaves is a big favourite at the moment.
Toddler class on a weekend morning.

Watching thread with interest to see if there are ideas for anything I haven’t thought of. We both hate being stuck indoors.

Also we have a dog, so we take her out every afternoon without fail for a walk. I was still using a carrier with DD at this age for a lot of our walks. But we live rurally so it was very muddy. We finally moved on to a Nipper outnabout pushchair at 20 months.

That's another thing, turn the food shop into an activity. We usually shop online but when we have more time we go food shopping in person and I'd spend ages naming things, talking about the list or what to have for dinner.

DD loves sitting in the trolley and I let her put the pound in. Also you could go to the little cafe after for a drink together.

Or if you're doing a little top up shop, I take her to a Lidl with the children trolleys? Not all lidls have them so I pick one I know that does

She absolutely loves that

I was also going to say, naming things and narrating is meant to be really good for language development

DS is 3 and goes to a nursery which spends a lot of time outdoors so thankfully he wants to do similar at the weekends. We dress for the weather and I often take a thermal cup with a coffee for me and some hot chocolate for him.
we explore parks, forests, national trust sites, beaches and if it’s really cold or wet - museums or coffee shops!
It usually involves us taking a packed lunch - not only to save some money but he enjoys the process of making it!
We visit softplay occasionally usually to meet friends but it’s not something we do weekly/fortnightly

Just normal day to day stuff tbh. Ds just comes alone with us. We go outside walking a lot still, and occasionally swimming. We live rural and things like soft play don’t really exist ( not in uk).

It does snow here most the winter so maybe it’s easier being outside? As snow not rain.

What others said. Plus one for

taking hot chocolate along
very good layers / waterproofs
Playing in the bath one afternoon with lots of bubbles

Also, borrow a neighbouring dog once in a while.

Are you within sensible distance of a beach? My small children are very happy on a beach in winter, splashing in the sea in their wellies. Make sure you've got really good warm and dry clothes and it's great.

Agree with the pp above that you don't actually need to do anything specifically for your dc, especially when they're so young and everything is a new and exciting learning experience. You don't have to even go out if you don't want to; there's no harm in staying in and listening to the radio or whatever and simply enjoying your child's company whilst getting on with household jobs. You don't have to always be out.

Any role play centers near you? Where theres pretend vet, supermarket etc. More younger one focused and less manic than soft play.

Museums are great, we have a couple of free ones near and a couple with 12 month entry so pay once then doesn't matter if you just pop im for an hour on a dull day to do the toddler friendly bits

Swimming and library are great for days I don't want to drive. Mine loves a cafe/babychino after

We have a dog so have to get out in all weathers but I do hate wet days! Otherwise often use stately home memberships a lot.
Think the only days we've not left the house are few days post partum, covid isolation and potty training in 2.5 years! - hate being stuck in

Swimming

Trip to the library

Local museum (often free)

Mini movers (bit like tumble tots, but council run in our area)

Baby group/ stay & play (often lots of tots in church hall & either free or £1-2)

Book more classes

Some indoor activities: blanket fort, big cardboard box with a load of shredded paper in, easy cooking (stuff like rice crispy cakes is manageable at that age).

Old cardboard boxes are great in general - you can build towers, you can cut slots to post things through, you can hide the child in and play "Jack in a box".

DD1 was occupied for hours with a bag of pompoms I bought in the Works. We used to post them through holes and separate them by colour. (I still remember the first time the midwife came to see me at home when I was expecting DD2, and I realised halfway through the appointment that her bag was quietly being filled up with pompoms!)

Making a slope to roll cars or balls down is good too.

A later afternoon walk once its getting dark (4pm ish) to see the town Christmas lights is still a favourite activity here now at 5 years old. Now he's older we'll combine it with a trip to a local cafe for a snack or light dinner.

Also Ds is happy with a day at home when weathers awful. He’s 3 now but the last winters the same. Just mix it up with leaving him to play whilst dh and I get on with stuff, he likes to ‘help’ when we are doing random diy, bake something or prep meals with him, bit of craft (playdough/ stamps/ watercolour paint/ stickers), set up toys in new way or make fort.

It’s usually rare it’s raining literally all
day, so there’s usually time to go out for an hour on bike, walk, garden. Trip to buy bread at bakery or to supermarket passes an hour.

Yesterday we took car to garage to change tyres, popped to hardware store to look at new lawnmower, found local flea market on in town hall, small grocery shop. Back home by early afternoon for relax and neighbours with own toddler came over 4-6pm for play. So a fairly boring non event day, but he seemed happy enough and this is a fairly usual weekend day if we have stuff to do.

I'd do swimming, puddle suit wellies and walks, we also used to do an art class for babies which we both loved.

Play groups in church halls, rhyme time at the Libary, one a clock clubs if you live in London. The South Ken museums are fantastic during termtime for a wet afternoon.

I hate soft play too and only ever went if invited.
We would go playgroups, swimming, library, museums, friends houses and lots of time outside in different parks, woods, nature reserves and so on. I don't think you can bear the outdoors.

Current favourite is a trip to the garden centre with DS2. Free parking, free to walk around and at most I might grab a coffee in the cafe. Currently getting more Christmassy by the day so lots of lights and Christmas set ups to look at. Has kept us out of the cold and entertained for hours!