Please could you tell me what you do every day with your 20 month old?

[RemyMartin]

I really need some inspiration. We go to a couple of toddler groups and go swimming, but I feel I should be doing more. I can't stand being stuck in the house with him, so I like to get out every day, but sometimes we just go to supermarket/shops. Tia.

Going to the shops is allright. That's what we do sometimes as well. Otherwise we go to the park or the library.

She is quite easily pleased.

Yes I suppose he is quite easily pleased really. I'm not though. I think I'm just a bit bored and I feel I should do more for him.

Have you tried maybe getting a bubble blower machine or even just using normal bottle of bubbles and blowing them in the house over a large bathtowel on the floor?
Get the pots and pans out of the kitchen together with a wooden spoon and make some noise.
Put the music on and dance. Go out in the garden and 'hide' some bright coloured cards and see if your DC can find them be saying 'hot' or 'cold'.
Make some playdough and if it rains, get all dressed up for it and put some washing up liquid in the puddles and make bubbles.
Always something to do

Thanks ripeberry, you're good. That's what we need, I can tell he wants me to do "fun" things, but I'm not very good at child style fun. We do dance though.

Do you just know these things, or where do you get them from?

I'm a childminder, so have to have tricks up my sleeve , if you check on the web, there are lots of sites on how to make fun out of everyday situations and objects.
Just look and see what you fancy doing

library - often there are free rhyme time or story sessions, or just spending an hour there letting them run round the kids section and choosing their own books is fun.

Playground/park, feeding the ducks etc

Look on netmums for more toddler groups etc in your area. Depending on your budget there are things like musicbugs, tumble tots, art groups etc.

Painting, playdough, drawing etc are all good at this age. We rip open old cereal packets so DD can draw big pictures on the floor to her hearts content. She also got an aquadraw mat for xmas which is fantastic - no mess, they can paint and it dries up so they can use it again and again! I also print out pictures from the ceebeebies website for her to colour in.

Playdates at other mums' houses are a great way of passing an afternoon, it just sucks when it's your turn to host...

A picnic in the park - as long as it's not raining this is great fun!

Soft play centres

reading, jigsaws etc. DD is 22 months and LOVES jigsaws at the moment, just really simple ones, she will do them again and again.

Thanks SqueezyB, he's tried drawing but doesn't seem into it yet, he's very active, doesn't really sit still. Maybe tumble tots would be good for him!

Bus or train? My DS loved that.

Child-friendly museums with big rooms where kids can run up and down!

Have you got a wildlife park/zoo or similar near you? We've got one about 15 mins from us and I've recently bought an annual season ticket for £50 - DS gets in free until he's 3, so that'll be a good place to go once the weather gets better.

places like garden centres are good during the week - they're often quiet and DS can wonder round and explore all the plants - don't do it too often or the staff will start to get annoyed

If it's raining - Toys-r-us if you're desperate. Let him try out all the bikes/plastic cars, and can run around for ages. Not really a good idea if your DS is the time to have a meltdown if not allowed a certain toy though.

Coffee shop sometimes for lunch?

Hate to say it, but soft play? Go in term time in the morning, usually the quietest time.

My 18mo sounds like yours, RemyMartin - not so big on drawing/puzzling yet but into climbing/running/shouting/exploring everything I also find that spontaneous fun-making doesn't come naturally to me, so often feel like he's being short changed.

I do baking with my 20 month old and he loves it!

Yeah, I need to lighten up about mess. Ironic really since I'm such a slattern about the house, but breaking through the mess barrier seems to be a problem for me Once I've done it, it's fine - we enjoyed painting together.

Bogey, where and what do you do baking-wise? Our kitchen is crap a bit difficult for him, but there is a toddler-level table in the sitting room that we could use...knowing my DS he will just eat the mixture

We have a crappy small galley kitchen. Here's what I do; during his nap I choose a recipe and measure out the ingredients into little bowls. When he wakes up I sit him on the floor in the kitchen and put a big bowl on the floor between us. I get him to empty in the little pots and then either we each hold a wooden spoon and stir, stir, stir. Or we put our hands in and mix it up. He thinks it is hilarious. Then we put e.g. cakes cases into a tin and he spoons in mixture (warning; very messy but go with it). The we put in the oven and watch it rise. When cakes/ biscuits are ready, we get out some coloured icing I have already made (icing sugar and water) and decorate with icing and e.g. buttons/ sprinkles etc. Last of all; we sit down together at the toddler table with a glass of milk and eat!

That sounds brilliant, thank you so much DS is definitely at an age where he wants to be involved in everything we do and he loves it when I pick him up and let him e.g. help to mash potatoes (even though he does then lick the masher or whatever implement we're using ). I'll be doing some baking with him next week.

We do 'cooking' which involves him standing on his stool at the worktop with bowls of flour and bowls of water, which he'll mix into dough, then he has rolling pin and cookie cutters which he makes 'biscuits' with. Usually while he's doing this I'll make up some proper edible ones, so when he's finished I'll put mine in the oven and we'll eat them and tell him how great he is at cooking! I have tried following a recipe with him, but he just gets stroppy and wants to do it his way, or eat all the butter before mixing it, or throw sugar on the floor, so this way he gets the fun and the eating of it, without me getting the strops and the mess!

We also go to the river and throw sticks and stones in; go to friends houses for him to play with their toys; go on the trampoline, he has recently got a balance bike for xmas which he is learning to ride; we go on bear hunts in the woods; he sits in my car pretending to drive it while I read and listen to the radio; colouring, painting and drawing lots; he has a mini spade so 'helps' me in the garden; we go to local farms and look at the cows eating silage/sheep with lambs/whatever is going on (lucky in where we live though, not so easy in the city!). Plus just hanging out in the house with him playing with his trains or his duplo.

My son sounds like yours Remy and I've often wondered what to do with him especially when it's cold and raining outside even though he loves being outside. He will run and play with earth as much as I will let him. He's not a colourer yet either. I'm so sick of this weather, so it's parks for us in the mornings.
We do go to tumbletots where unlike the other kids he likes to run around. Like yours DS is 19 mths and I often wonder what to do!

We play a lot of hallway football when the weather's bad, or make crawlspaces out of the sofa cushions and chase each other through.

washing up! mine would do it for ages..... I just used to slip a (needs to be washed) towel on the floor before they started and removed the sharp and fragile things.
Warning though - as they get older you have to get more subtle at doing the re-washing up, they do notice and are very " I've already done that Mummy"! Oh and once a whole bottle of washing up liquid got used up which I didn;t notice until I came to washup that night after they were in bed and I couldn't go and buy any more!

1of4 we have a dishwasher, but he did enjoy vacuuming today!
The baking idea is the next one we'll try I think.
Cyteen I too am a slattern but a bit funny about ds spilling things and making a mess, which is a bit daft and I need to get over it.
We are going to a jo-jingles near us on friday to see what it's like, hope he will enjoy it, but I don't think he will take and instructions too well!
Unfortunately there are no tumble tots very near us, happywheezer.
Heeka your life sounds idyllic, and fun!
Pure yes there is a lovely soft play not too far but I will need to borrow my mum's car to get there and need to sort a car seat ou. I think I will do that as a priority and then we can get out more.
Thanks everyone.

1of4 thank you so much for the washing up tip - DS has just spent an hour utterly engrossed in washing up a few pans and plastic bowls. We had to pry him away from the sink in the end because his hands were all wrinkly

Thanks for all the fun ideas!! Especially loved the baking and washing up bit! Here are a few more ideas from another mum of 19 month old!

1. I am yet to find a toy that would keep my LO engrossed! Books on the other hand keep him going for hours! He would cuddle up on my lap and pretty much read every darn book on the shelf (and he's got quite a lot!)!

2. LOs love dancing and singing. So dancing to "Hokey Pokey" on full volume and the likes keep DS going for another half hour.

3. Puzzles are fun too. The little wooden pegged ones. DS spends quite some time with his puzzles

4. I sometimes make a small "mountain" out of bedsheets and pillows. He spends quite some time climbing over it and "sliding" down!

5. I give him a big vessel with water, a few spoons and his sticker book. He loves putting the apples, birds and balls from the book into the water and scooping them out with the spoon! Once I did the mistake of giving him a tissue and he figured how to dip it in water and squeeze it out all over the place.

HTH

My DS (23 months) never sits still either. He is just getting into imaginative stuff so likes:

• putting toys to bed in boxes or under cloths or having me dress his toys in his clothes!

• we have made a little train out of cardboard boxes for him to give rides to in his toys, although I fear it wont last long as he wants to ride in it!

• taking his doll for a walk in its little buggy - we were out for an hour yesterday doing this, although I ended up carrying it home while he collected berries!

Also, we have annual passes for everywhere locally we can get one - much better value and that way you dont feel you have wasted money if you just call in for 45 mins to kill time and get a quick change of scenery. Have asked for these from family for DS birthday too as he gets so much pleasure from all the places we go.

My DD isn't too keen on sitting still. However she is being a very girly girl and is heavily into hats, shoes and bags. So she puts on my, or DHs, shoes (my knee high boots were an experience). She has a couple of large Christmas gift bags that she carries round the house gathering up random items. Dh and I now know where to look whenever we can't find soemthing. We have played making hats out of anything we can find - DH came home one day to find me wearing the colander on my head.

For drawing, I have a large roll of lining paper. I tape a long length to the wooden floor. DD can then sit in the middle of the paper and scribble away. I also draw around her, her hands, her feet, her toys ...

Great ideas, I'm noting these all down!

My dd (21 months) would love doing a lot of these! I can only think of a couple of things to add to this - sidewalk chalk - have you heard of it? Basically it's chalk you can use to draw on the pavement and cleans off easily, and you can make your own, apparently.

Also, if you don't have time to make biscuits, just give your toddler the cookie cutters to use with playdoh. And my dd seems to like using a chopstick to make little holes in it.

Take all the pegs out of the pegbag and tell them you need them to put them all back in for you.