Ideas for entertaining a 2 year old- STRUGGLING

[lipglossandmascara]

My DD is almost 2. I've generally found parenting very easy up until now but the last few months- WOAH.

I'm also pregnant so I think energy levels are not where they need to be.

I reeeeeeally need some help thinking of where to take her/ what to do with her as currently everything feels like hard work.

Here's the current daily schedule- She goes to nursery 9-1 Mon- Fri whilst I work and then I collect, home for nap. Wakes about 3:30pm.

I am looking for ideas of what to do with her between 3:30-6:30.

Everything feels like hard work (going to cafes etc) as she just wants to be exploring/ touching everything/ running off/ playing with breakable things etc etc etc.

I don't have lots of energy to run around with her. At home, I feel we both get bored/ agitated.

I want to create special times together but I'm struggling to find some good solutions for this time period.

SUGGESTIONS????

Oh lord. I remember DS1 at this age. He still wasn't particularly bothered with toys or ‘playing’ but had energy to burn - staying in the house was horrendous! At that stage I worked 3 v long days a week and had him for 2 days. The 2 days childcare were harder than the days in work!

We were out twice a day. Generally we would go to a toddler group in the morning, the home for lunch and nap. Afternoons were one of a few things on repeat:

-Park
-Bus ride: not to anywhere in particular, just for the thrill of being on a bus
-Tram ride: see above
-Library
-Supermarket (sit in the trolley with a decent snack)
-Walk around the block looking at things (sometimes he’d manage the whole ~ 1.5km, sometimes he’d be in the buggy after 50 metres)
-Occasionally soft play but I really hated this when pregnant!

Not particularly inspiring but saw us through!

I hear you, the struggle is real! I found from 18 months to 2.5 the hardest. So much energy, so much frustration for both of us. I mainly survived by going to the shops, park, walk round the block. Or a bath no matter what time of day it was if nothing else worked! Couldn’t manage anything else as my DS didn’t have the focus and we both got wound up. Felt awful and like I was doing something wrong.

There is light at the end of the tunnel though. That was just a loooong difficult phase in his development. My DS is almost 3 and his speech has just exploded. And suddenly I have my sweet boy back who listens, isn’t destructive, can be tamed and will happily do activities at home and even play by himself for long enough for me to do my jobs or have a nice sit down. The difference is night and day.

Hang in there and just do whatever is easiest on the day. Don’t put pressure on yourself or feel you “should be” doing all sorts of things that just won’t work for you and your DD.

In good weather - playground.
In bad weather - soft play.

That's basically it for us

That’s a hard time of the day you have her. I adore my children in the morning. By about 330, I am ready to put them out for collection with the wheelie bins.

Some of these are the usual suggestions. Some are lazy at home/can't be bothered /have sh1t to get done at home suggestions.

Park
Library
Soft play
Local church playgroups! There's at least 1 every day near us in different places, some afternoon some mornings.
Bus ride to nowhere particular
Train ride to nowhere particular
Visit the bus station/ bed time for buses!
Garden Centre
Museums (we've got lots near us geared up for engaging kids!)
National Trust places
Marks & Spencers 😆 (my 2 always love going here and saying hello to all the grannies resting in the furniture section, then ending up in the cafe or at least buying a treat to take home)
Jumping on the bed
Sock fights over the bed (tossing balled up socks at each other from one side of the bed to the other)
Loading and unloading clothes in the washing machine
Kids Zumba on Youtube
Visit to the supermarket (& let them choose a tin can for the donations box)
Floor is lava
Dancing to the radio with colored scarves
Oats (or rice) in a tin with selection of spoons and measures for scooping - add any small toys just for fun
Sweeping up after the oats!
Day time bath (with a mini-milk!)
Baking (mine love making gingerbread or jam buns)
Decorating biscuits (icing on a digestive)
Washing up after baking!
Anything that requires going up and down the stairs multiple times during the day "I forgot the....."!
Indoor obstacle course/ cushion stepping stones
Mark making with chalk on the pavement
Paint with water on the pavement (on a dry day)
Bug hunt
Stick hunt - make Stickman!!
Acquire a big box and turn it into a den (shove a blanket and cushion in).

There's 2.5yrs between my two smalls. I remember the pregnancy exhaustion! TV is not the devil.

Good luck!

oh I remember feeling exactly the same with my 20 month old when heavily pregnant with my second…the struggle is real 😂.

We got out of the house and went to either a playground or a playgroup each morning. Otherwise the day dragged too much. Playgroup was better as he had a great time playing with other kids and I got to sit down with a cup of tea!

At home, sensory play was my saviour. It doesn’t have to be fancy like slime etc. A washing up bowl of water and fairy liquid on the floor (old towels under) with a tray of a few different scoops / spoons / pots etc. Repeat but with rice. Repeat with macaroni. Repeat with sand. Bury little things in it for kid to find. They will spend hours entertaining themselves.

in the evening I would lie on the floor on my stomach too tired to face starting bedtime 😂😂. My kid would spend half an hour climbing on my back and jumping off, trying to balance on my legs etc. it sounds wierd but when absolutely shattered it gave me half an hour of recharge time lol

I want to create special times together
I don't think this is an age-appropriate objective - you are putting a lot of pressure on yourself when doing 'exciting' things can be emotionally overwhelming for them anyway. What they need at two is very simple - exercise, play/investigation and comfort really.

So find anything that works - the park is the obvious thing - and repeat. Sensory play at home is good - loads of info online. Baths are always good, or a paddling pool (always carefully supervised).

Join a toy library and read loads and loads of books. Singing is good.

Also get them to 'help' you with things round the house. If you fold the clothes one-by-one, you can fill a LOT of time getting them to put each one on the right bed etc.

Make a big thing of all the normal things you do, make them take time, talk about them all the time.

A water table, yes it’s all messy and wet but they will spend ages scooping and pouring whilst you chat away to them SST in a chair.

It’s a hard age but equally you’re trying to fill way too much time- when mine were little we’d go out in the morning / early afternoon. Come 3.30 it was back home to self play, colour- whilst I make dinner for 5pm, shower at 6pm, 6.30pm books- bit of tv and then bed.

Ahh, at this age, "creating special times" can be as simple as reading a book in a funny voice! No need to have elaborate days out to make nice memories.

Ahh this makes me sad. Why wouldn't a parent want to jazz up their days to create special memories?! They're as much for the adults as the child, more so probably (the memories). Especially when this is an age when you read so many books with them. I can't remember what books I read my 3.5yo last week in silly voices but I can vividly remember their face light up when they saw the buses in the bus garage for thr first time and the bus drivers came out to say hello, almost 2yrs ago and remember how I felt then too, warm and fuzzy! Hardly elaborate but still so special 🥰

I brought my 2 year old swimming a lot when I was pregnant. You finally feel lightweight again and they get to burn some energy. Also baths. Washing all the small toys in a basin in the garden might give you 40 minutes peace.

Also played a game where they had to beat their time running around the house. This is one where you are only fit for laying on the couch.

One of my best things is a chair at the kitchen sink so they can ‘wash up’. Add a sponge, lots of cups, spoons, a sieve and let them get as wet as they like. Add a bath towel to the floor to catch the mess.
Walk in the pram if possible. If is raining then puddle jumping.
A tent is another fab toy - you can sit inside with her and some toys and it’s pretty low key.
Probably a bit young yet but play dough is on the horizon

I think we are in agreement? I'm saying the mundane is fine.

I meant, you don't need to go to legoland or the London Eye.

I mean, seeing buses at the bus garage...that is equivalent to reading with a funny voice in effort, cost, planning...no?

At this time of year, paddling pool. Not too big at this age and I always (carefully) add a bit of hot water. Sometimes with the tea set, sometimes with all the trucks that need washing, sometimes with bubbles ... And then you have to get dry afterwards and have a warm milk or hot chocolate for a treat. Takes ages. Daytime bath fulfills a similar function

We also loved a wander round a big homeware shop. Wickes or homebase or something. And at this age you play the rainbow game (find something red, orange, yellow...) and when they're a bit older they have to scavenger hunt (find something with a bird on it. Find something for the kitchen) or they have to find something beginning with a,B,C etc. Dunelm is king. It has a good cafe. Also works with garden centres.

If they are prone to running off, I thought reins were good. DC1 wore reins loads in late pregnancy as I just couldn't run as fast and he was too little to reliably understand "stop"!

Also, half an hour or whatever of TV is not a big deal. The Julia Donaldson books on iPlayer are great

You say you think you're both bored at home. I think it'll just be you.

I was coming on to say a bath is an easy one! I see someone else suggested this too.

Get her some gardening gloves and get her to pull up the weeds...I did this with my 2.5 yr old today. He also liked pouring his watering can all over the grass/flowers.

We do the following most afternoons:

• duplo - build a farm or a park, practise building and knocking down towers
• playing with toy animals
• painting
• jigsaws
• reading books
• picnics in tent in the kitchen
• colouring and sticker books
• practising shapes/colours with a shape toy
• dance party
• sing nursery rhymes
• help with cooking dinner
• some tv and cuddles
• out in garden - sandpit/swings/look at clouds and flowers and traffic/ play hide and seek / play catch

Sticking! Keep any magazines/catalogues/leaflets posted through your letterbox, and roughly cut out pictures of objects - cars, people, dogs, trees. When you've amassed enough for her to choose from (red car or blue car? Dog or cat?), sit her down with a sheet of paper and a tube of Pritt Stick and help her create an imaginative picture.

Alternatively, cut pictures from magazines up into squares, about 1cm squared, with just one colour per square. Then you and she can make mosaic pictures.

My 2yo is in nursery for 3 hours in the mornings. We tend to do an active class or outside activity every afternoon - swimming, ballet, gymnastics, music and messy play. We both like having the routine and seeing the same faces every week. We often have some playground time before or afterwards, or visit somewhere like a farm, so she gets a lot of outdoor time to run and climb. For DD it's pretty essential to be active during the day to be able to sleep well, and it means she's happy to do quieter activities at home like play doh and crafts or water play.

Ahh ok I think I must have misread your post along the lines of "don't bother doing stuff just read books". Apologies. Anything can and will be as exciting as you make it 🙂

Reins when out and about. Absolute game changer and make so many more things manageable.

Sticker books for cafes and similar. And a window seat.

Library
supermarket/high street
Gallery
park
visiting friend or family
garden centre
Farm
volunteering groups
walking groups/mum groups