How to keep 2 year old entertained all day

[Karma1387]

Just looking for some useful ideas and suggestions. Sorry for the long post.

Prior to getting pregnant with DC2 I never let my DC1 watch tv besides the occasional Miss rachel when he first woke up. Unfortunately when I got pregnant between sickness, pain and exhaustion we basically live off the TV currently.

DC2 is due in a few weeks and I would really like to try to cut back down on the TV. He loves watching a film but I don't want to continue with all day having it on.

Thankfully he goes to nursery 3 days a week so he gets a break then and we try to go to my dads once a week but it does mean hes having at least 3 days with an insane amount of TV.

But I find it very hard to know what to do for 10 hours a day with him. Hes not big enough to go around soft play yet on his own and we don't have a lot of groups etc around us that aren't pricey (and honestly I hate them). Hes extremely energetic and its become very noticeable that his behaviour is getting bad when we are just spending whole days inside.

So any suggestions on how to keep a very energetic 2 year old entertained (whilst having a newborn) would be greatly appreciated.

He mostly plays inside the bath - strictly "water stays in the bath" rule. If there is something going on in the bath to occupy him that usually suffices.

It's easy for them to move around when the water isnt too deep.

How long has he been walking?

He does love stickers! I will have to stock up.

Hes been walking for almost a year. Runs around constantly but in the bath he just has a tendancy to fall whilst playing. Which is why we still bath with him.

He mostly plays inside the bath - strictly "water stays in the bath" rule. If there is something going on in the bath to occupy him that usually suffices.

To your question upthread - yes when they repeatedly dont do as you ask you remove the fun thing from them or them from the fun thing.

It's easy for them to move around when the water isnt too deep.

How long has he been walking?

Get an annual pass to a local attraction - I got one to a small kids farm which has a little soft play area small enough for toddlers to play in by themselves. I can take my toddler there for a few hours to break up the day.

Get a buggy board for the pram and walk to the park.

Kinetic sand, play doh, paints and magnet tiles are all things that keep my little one engaged a while if I need to feed the baby.

Find a playgroup that has adult volunteers present - local church groups are probably your best bet - this was a game changer for me as it meant I could feed the baby and my toddler did the crafts or games with the other adults, or they would hold the baby while I did stuff with the toddler.

When my little boy was around that age our daily routine was
a walk to the coffee shop (my daily keeping me sane treat)
then a walk to the local park
then a walk to the local garden centre to see the fish (luckily walking distance to me) , or just to the supermarket for a browse
home for a lunch and nap
Wake up and play at home. Do crafts or bake
get jobs done and have him help me (eg load washing machine, give him a water spray and cloth when cleaning and accept mess lol)
then 4pm a film to wind down
5:30 dinner

My DS was 2 last month, he’s very energetic, these are what we do (he also goes to nursery 3 days).
-feed ducks in the park and go to park for playground.
-scooter (he got a micro mini for Xmas)
-baking (basic chocolate crispy cakes etc)—he does swimming lessons
-local council run toddler gym class (£24 a month - one lady takes her newborn and either she sleeps in the pram at the side or she carries her round and the other mums/instructor her toddler if she needs it)
-playgroup at the village hall Tuesday and church one Monday (usually do one or the other) (£2 or £2.50 but inc snack and cuppa)
-rhyme time at library (free)
-supermarket shop (our Morrisons has toddler trolleys)
-sort washing / help tidying /cleaning up
-brio train set/cars /read books / paint / playdoh / toddler jigsaws
-walk to coffee shop for coffee and snack (take toys with us)
-dancing to music (he loves this)
-role play cafe or toddler softplay (there is an under 5s by us and it’s perfect for DS to go round on his own.
-bigger day out to local farm

The issue with a car nap is if its only 30 mins- 1hr thats 1-3hrs less than he has at home which causes some serious meltdowns but I may just have to accept that and try to manage the tiredness meltdowns if I want less TV for him.

Honestly yes thats what I'm like in everyday life. Bad quality I know but a difficult thing to change.

I have said on a fair few of these replies which it hasnt worked before I would give it a try. Thats the reason for the thread so I can try and make some kind of plan for once ive recovered from having the baby.

He only has a good nap at home. He will nap in the car but unless we have gone somewhere 2-3 hours away he is losing a significant portion of his nap which worries me as he has serious meltdowns if he hasnt had a long nap. But I may just have to accept the meltdown is something we have to manage until he needs less sleep.

I think you need to get more tolerant of mud, mess, and climbing. He's not even two yet and he will learn, I'm probably being a bit hypocritical here because I had a toddler who would look at me saying no and just carry on. But he will learn as mine did that we do some things some places and not others.

We have 1 about 30 mins away. I would just need to sort a harness or something so he cant run off or grab everything 🤣

Oh I dont have an issue with mud, he has an issue with mud 🙈 for a messy child wet mud is just somethiny he hates! But I probably need to push it more.

You need to find a way to get him to run around, but you don't have to. Things like:

Throw a ball for him to fetch (toddlers are surprisingly keen on fetch!).

Blow bubbles for him to chase/pop.

Turn the lights off and shine a torch around and get him to catch the light.

Make an assault course out of cushions/duvets etc and get him to complete it.

Bet that he can't run to the fridge/sofa/his bed and back before you count to ten.

Put all of his toy cars up one end of the hallway and get him to race them down to you at the other end (can also do with animals/balls etc).

Also:

Look for a smaller softplay, one that he can do on his own.

Brave the groups you hate, he needs to get out.

Accept that toddlers have short attention spans, you can't write stuff off because he only does it for 15 minutes. That's still a slice of the day done. Do the garden for 15 minutes a few times a day. Do the park for 15 minutes (plus journey there and back will kill extra time). Pop to the supermarket for 15 mins (yes, I read that you hate the shops, but suck it up). Do the library for 15 minutes.

Don't cut the nap! If you're finding it hard to fill the day don't add extra hours with a tried child in!!! Preserve the nap at all costs!

Unfortunately this is one area I really don't think I could ever change. I'm not good with people or talking. People always try to talk to me when I go to these things but I'm not good at talking back. It makes me incredibly anxious.

Safe to say I am dreading when hes older and gets invited to parties etc!

Your son sounds very much like mine. Very short attention span for any activity and tends to prefer the chaos of throwing the box of toys on the floor than playing with the toys.

I’ve found places like museums and aquariums a waste of time for us - more stressful actually. But we do get out every single day, even if it’s just sticking wellies on to jump in puddles for 15 minutes.

I got a Tony box to have some background noise while playing which he likes sometimes.

we have mini dance parties and shout at Alexa to play songs we want.

groups are invaluable but you have to find the right one for you. I found a smaller group that wasn’t very busy. He was so much calmer there than the larger big church hall ones, and the mums were great too. Much easier to sit back and chat because you can see what he’s up to

My two year old loves playdoh, kinetic sand, sensory boxes with rice or cereal and scoops (it is messy but she'll play with this for hours), jigsaws, stickers, little people sets or animal sets. I rotate her toys weekly so it's like she has new toys and keeps her interested. I try and get her out at least once a day, it's so much easier to parent outside, we just go for walks or a ride in her trike, to the local library, to feed the ducks or to the park.

I'm trying make it fun and get him involved but he hates it. Biggest thing stopping us from trying to potty train.

My mum literally just sent me this link. Lots of ideas on here of things to try at home. Montessori style play activities.

Also just want to say, it is really hard being at home with an energetic toddler and a baby (or when pregnant). I just keep telling myself that they won’t be little forever and it will get easier!
Find the positives in every day and enjoy hanging out with these amazing little people who love spending any time with you!
You are not alone in finding it hard!

We got a tony box for Christmas. We are working on him actually leaving the figures on there at the moment!

Thank you 🥰

Can you up nursery hours? I found I was never able to offer the same amount of interaction and activities as nursery could when ai had my second.
I also found some of those play cafes where you can have a cup of tea and there is an enclosed little play area were good.
2 is a hard age for supervising in a park with a baby too but we did a lot of walks.
Libraries had some good activities like storytime and craft hour.
I would go for upping nursery hours though if its possible. It saved me a lot of guilt and i was more able to think of things to do for all the other hours of the day when it wasnt full long days to fill.

I generally avoid doing this as it results in a 30-1hr nap compared 2-4 hours if at home. But i'm sensing from this thread I may have to accept the disruption from the lack of sleep until he grows out of his long naps.

Gently OP you seem to be desparately clinging onto the long nap, would it be because its your only bit of peace in the day? You've had some really useful ideas on her and you've pushed most of them away or put up a reason for not doing them. Are you ok?
You don't seem to have any support from your partner from what you've posted today.

Oh yeah, sometime the “activity” is just leaving him to fanny around with the characters making the stop and start for 10 minutes. Recommended if you need to be busy in another room.

Stop worrying about naps honestly :) I’m not a by the book person but4 hours is really too long at that age. If he’s out and about he’s likely to be more worn out at night too. Get him into the fresh air and playing with other kids.

Think of all the places you could be taking him! Naps can be in buggies and cars. My favourite days were all day out somewhere and they’d nap while I had a sit down and drink! Once me and my friends went to the theme park and even got the kids to sleep at the same time while we went on a big ride and took it in turns to watch them.

Start looking for opportunities instead of reasons why not to do something :)