What kept/keeps your 2-3 year old entertained?

[Keepingbusyeating]

Expecting #2 later this year and my DC is going to be 2.5. She has a fairly short attention span which I’m told is very normal for her age right now, so I’m worrying a bit about not being able to play with her as much and entertain her when the new baby is here.

Which toys / activities kept your 2-3 year old entertained on their own?

It will be winter time so ideally stuff for inside and that isn’t too messy like painting… I’ll do that with her but not on her own!

I am really worried I’ll just resort to sticking the TV on all the time (obviously I don’t care if I do this sometimes just not for hours on end..)

I have a 3.5 year old and a 1.5 year old and honestly she was too obsessed with baby to care much for her toys and being entertained, she’s still like that now
but… if I did need a minute when baby was sleeping I used to set up a blanket with all her dolls and pretend picnic stuff, she’d sit there for ages, and books all of the books, and honestly if the weather permits just try and be outside as much as possible, we used to go and collect leaves in a bucket when it got colder 😂

DS1 was a bit older when DS2 was born, but assuming you're thinking of things you can do while sitting (ideally!) and holding a baby-

DS1 was obsessed with all vehicles, so I could get hours out of wooden train tracks. If I sat on the floor all I really had to contribute was station announcements / suggestions of where the train should go next. We also spent a lot of time playing "car shop", where I would specify the type of car I was looking for (red/fast/whatever) and then find problems with the one that was suggested so that the game continued.

DS2 is very into imaginative play, and has a toy kitchen which he's very happy to get me coffee etc. from. It keeps him entertained for ages.

And a massive pile of books beside wherever you expect to get nap trapped.

I always found the best way was to involve them in what I was doing. Let them trot round "helping" you - that is play enough for them: sorting washing, hanging it out, sorting the pegs, finding the baby's nappies, helping decide what to dress the baby in, using a dustpan, washing socks in a bowl outside on the grass, choosing which potatoes should be cooked etc. etc. It makes things slower, and sometimes messier, but it has the virtue of keeping toddler busy whilst also involving them in their Big Sister role with the baby and hopefully reducing jealousy.

Entertaining them is not the aim!

Thanks all, very useful!!

Car shop is such a good idea! We have a bucket of hot wheels and I actually think this games would appeal to older kids too.

My youngest is 2 and 4 months. She does have an attention span, not quite sure why. Doesn't run in the family. Anyway! She loves sorting, lots of small objects and putting them into jars etc, playing with her dolls - putting them to bed, giving them toy food in the high chair etc. She also loves books that play music when you press the button. Depending on their fine motor skills those magic water painting books can be great as well. Mu parents have a tonie box which they like playing with as well. Someone got her a Peppa pig story book reader thing for her birthday - it has a tablet thing and buttons you press to read the story.

This is an eBay link to something we borrowed from a friend recently, seems to be like crack to all 3 of my kids:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/256706912308

Good luck.

Oh and we have a marble run, we both absolutely love playing with that!

Nursery. Being with other children, with structure rather than having them hang about at home all the time waiting to be entertained.

How much space do you have? This stores away quite neatly but is handy for rainy days. My two are 3 and 5 now and still enjoy it regularly. They have a tunnel and balance board thing too so we do little obstacle courses etc. the movement helps regulate their mood.

Edited: Clicky link wasn't appearing for some reason.

https://www.decathlon.co.uk/p/baby-gym-motor-skills-set-2-6-years/_/R-p-307098?mc=8545074

Nursery!

But at home the most played with toys are train tracks, magnet tiles, duplo, kinetic sand with little trucks and diggers, and play dough. Also loves to build a den and spend the rest of the day playing in it. You can get Japanese calligraphy paper that you just “paint” on with water. It dries and can be used over and over. Great fun on a rainy day when the garden isn’t an option. But even on a cold day, as long as it’s dry, nothing entertains my son as much as mucking about in the garden.

Children are not there to be entertained!!!

They are there to be a part of family life.

We have so many children and teenagers who do not have the first clue how to fill their time because they have been entertained by the adults round them from a young age.

No-one entertained me as a child! I spent my time exploring the world around me alongside my parents and later on my own. No children expected to be entertained - my children certainly didn't'! They either joined in with what I was doing when they were tiny, or pottered about making their own fun with the raw materials around them - some of which were toys, but lots were simply household items.

It is a total cop out to suggest that they need to be in nursery - and certainly a very bad idea to farm them out at the point when a new sibling arrives!

They do not need to "hang about at home, waiting to be entertained"!!! - they need to be part of everything that is going on around them at home or out and about with a parent.

This whole concept is so sad.

Cars, balls and a magnetic drawing board

TV
Nursery

Things that keep her interested for AGES but need my input:
kinetic sand
sylvanians, playmobil etc
sticking - mainly sticking jewels onto paper, she did that for days once

Getting out every day will help! Park, soft play, play cafe

Wow I can’t imagine what kind of a friend you are..! She’s at nursery 3 days a week but thanks for the concern……

Ds2 (nearly 3) is obsessed with a flower making kit thing I got from Asda (£12) it’s a good activity to get out when he’s bored. It’s basically a plastic flower garden to build your own plastic flowers bit by bit (all plastic bits of stems, stamen, petals etc and they assemble them)

duplo also keeps him busy for ages as does his Thomas train set (similar to brio). we got the majority of it from car boot sales and they’re good to put away and then pull out when he needs distracting.

playdoh and kinetic sand is another good one but he needs more input from me with that and it’s messy so not as ideal when I want him to crack on on his own with sporadic input from me.

My daughter liked the masked singer at this age, it was quite good as she was interested in the performances but not so much the chatting in between so she would watch a performance then go and play with toys in the room then come back for the next one. It meant that even though the TV might have been on for ages she hadn't been watching it and it meant that she engaged with toys for longer without input as she was coming and going from the toys. We had 3 months without childcare just before she was 2 but still had to try to do some work and this helped get us through it!

Stickers, stickers and more stickers. I buy the 5packs from home bargains for 69p, cut up coloured card into A6 size and hand him a piece of card and a page of stickers. This gets me 20 mins while I feed the baby. Not perfect but it works!

I have a just turned 2 year old, and due DD2 at the end of this month.
I have found the third trimester to incredibly difficult, you might be completely different but I have needed tips like these for the last few months - let alone when baby is here ☺️ sticker books are a big hit here, they entertain for hours throughout a day. Also anything where she can move things from one place to another, like little baskets or carriers or trolleys etc

The best thing I did when I needed to feed or change the baby was hide a set of teddies around the room. When I sat down with baby I'd say "oh no, all the teddies are hiding again," and DD would feel like I was playing with her as she looked, when really I was sorting of narrating while stuck on the sofa.

Love those ideas! Thank you!!

DD1 enjoyed a game creatively named 'can you?' Can you pat your head and sit on the floor? Can you find something yellow? Can you name three animals? Very useful when feeding baby, nap-trapped, or just waiting for something.

I have theee, almost exactly two years apart (nearly 4, nearly 2, 6 weeks old).

Duplo/Lego is king in the house, and the older ones will entertain themselves for ages with it. We are also big fans of the toy kitchen, where they’ll whip me up a nice 20 course “meal”. Building a den or a car out of pillows and blankets, and making up the story to go with it can be quite funny. Magnetic drawing board. Cars. Sometimes they’ll sit and read a book whilst I feed the baby.

Also, you’ll probably find the second baby much easier than the first and they’ll just join in! Youngest spends a lot of time asleep in the sling whilst we are out and about, or on the floor watching us play, or on a blanket whilst we do gardening. Today we had a game of football whilst I fed baby, which I probably wouldn’t have done with the eldest but everyone was happy!

Agree with the pps saying letting DC1 ‘help’ or also having their own doll so that they can copy you and look after their own baby, my DC1 loved this when DC2 arrived. Also the stickers suggestion, we buy cheap sticker activity books in places like the works that might also have colouring pages in and they occupy them for a while. I read a lot of stories to DC1 whilst breastfeeding DC2 as well. Also the tea set with a few bits of play food is a firm favourite in our house and DC will happily play making cups of tea and bringing me food etc for ages! (Maybe 10-15 minutes but that’s good enough for me!)