How do you fill your days for 3 year old who doesn't nap?

[Gnnn]

Child has dropped their nap immediately before turning 3- gone from two hours to nothing.

I now am struggling a bit to plan days - weekend where we are out all day seem to be fine- but weekdays with playgroups etc.

Today we went to playgroup, cafe and then afterwards I wondered about taking her home but knew that was going to devolve into watching cbeebies and id struggle to get her out again so we went to library rhyme time instead. It started ok but ended with not following instructions and tears as she was tired and a bit done.

She would have napped 1-3 ISH and then potter about for a bit with toys and before watching 30 mins of cartoons while I was prepping tea. But now if I come home at 1pm for her to have downtime she can be awake and play with her toys for a bit but I'm going to struggle to entertain her for four hours until dinner honestly. All afternoon activities at library and play centre start between 1-2, nothing starts later on and then it's dark.

Wondering what others do!

I've found we've needed to swap nap time for quiet time. So reading a few books, watching cartoons for a while etc in order for them to recharge a bit for the afternoon. So I'd said you might have to skip the 1pm activities for a while.

DC dropped their 40-60 min nap by 18 months, but they also only slept 3 hours a night until age 6. They were like the Duracell bunny!
We used to go on lots of walks in a desperate attempt to burn energy off. Rain or shine.
Trips to the woods, the beach or the park…every day. We’d take a picnic (flask of hot chocolate in winter) and just spent hours collecting leaves, pebbles, counting snails or whatever.
At the weekends movies for juniors-do cinemas still do that?-got through a couple of hours very cheaply.
We’d bake.
Do crafts.
Go swimming.
Go to the library just to read books and kill a couple of hours.
If it was dark early we would go for an exciting walk in the dark. They loved that. Especially with a head torch. Coming up to Christmas was especially entertaining as we’d spot all the Christmas lights and decorations and talk about those.
I’d just have to play with them endlessly for hours and hours.
It was exhausting tbh. Nobody had a child like mine, it was a struggle!

I find that a very quick walk or park trip at about 3pm is a nice way to structure the day post nap. So you can do quiet play for about an hour and then an hour of watching something then out for a little air, before being home for the rest of the evening.

Mine is only at home 1 weekday per week now so might be less useful but...

We usually get up 'slowly' iyswim. Chat in bed for a bit then go downstairs and feed the pets together in our pj's. She will let me know what she wants to do first (Colouring, playing with dolls house etc) and we will do it together for a bit then il go make a coffee and breakfast and bring it into the playroom to pick at. Then she does a morning mini ballet class (she loves this) and if the weather is good I will pack a change of clothes and shoes and we will go to the nearby park straight from there (one with a hot drinks hut!). Then home for lunch.

After lunch we might bake, play games (I love the orchard ones, incy wincy spider is current fave), go & see a friend/relative, watch a film. Sometimes go out on her scooter and trying to help her learn to ride a bike at the moment too. Sometimes we just put Alexa on and Potter around the kitchen singing and dancing. Sometimes if I'm feeling brave il get the paint and glitter out and some big bits of paper and let her go nuts. They usually ends up with a bath that kills an hour! Sometimes I let her put food Colouring in the bath, which she enjoys.

Honestly the day itself is only as successful as her mood - if she's in a happy mood we can do the simplest of things and it'll be delightful, if she's in a bad one I could have the most exciting day in the world planned and it will be an absolute shit show 🤣

When my (then 2 year old) DD dropped her 1.5 hour post lunch nap, we did Sofa Time for an hour every day 1-2 pm. We read books and just snuggled and listened to audio books, funnily enough she often dozed off for 20 minutes. I actually think she hated going in her cot and had major FOMO.

Reading, singing nursery rhymes, Puzzles, pairs, learning colours counting. Flash cards. Make play dough, make cakes, decorate biscuits painting, bingo with pictures. Nothing wrong with a little telly. Put music on and dance.

We stay out of the house most of the day. We have scheduled activities every weekday morning (usually a class that we've booked into for the term), and another activity in the afternoon, a mixture of planned activities or visiting somewhere like a library, farm, river walk or playground. I mix the afternoons up every week otherwise it gets boring (for me). We leave the house at 8.30-9 and get home around 4. By then they're happy to play at home quietly while I sort out dinner (we eat at 5.30).

Quiet time for both of you. Bit of a cuddle under a warm blanket on the sofa and a spot of Sarah and Duck or something equally chilled.

I found DD would often nap every other day at that age and FOMO definitely a thing.

There's always nursery too?