Low energy activities for 2yo and pregnant SAHM

[Sleepingallday]

Hi all,

I’m 5 months pregnant and have 2yo DS and I’m feeling quite tired during the day. We normally do a fair amount of reading together, spend some time outside at the playground or in the garden, he does some independent play in his room. But I’m finding there are a fair few hours to fill and I end up putting the tv on most days for probably an hour.

I’d like to reduce this tv time if I can so looking for some ideas for low energy activities we can try, any games etc that are good for 2 year olds please :)

thank you!

@Sleepingallday You just have to do what you can, TV is a great resource for entertaining children. As an adult I love Bluey. I could genuinely watch it all day. So pick and choose if you can. We did a lot of Cbeebies and honestly it was a life saver. No one died from watching too much tv as a toddler.

We gave Ds1 his toy kitchen way before Christmas as I was put on bedrest for 12 weeks luckily at home. It was not fun. We got his small table and put it right next to the sofa where I was lying down so he could bring his jigsaws over, or build things on it, he had a little chair that went with it so we played "cafe" where he used his kitchen to make food and drinks for me.

You said he is 2, a very young 2 or close to 3 because it can make a difference. Ds basically understood that Mummy had to lie down and not move, he also made a train track on the floor that I leaned over to push the train on a small section. He just learned to bring things over to the table.

To burn energy he had one of those tiny trampoline things with a handle, that was in our lounge along with a ride on trike, no pedals. You just do what you can to get through it. Pinterest is absolutely full of ideas, lots of suggestions on there. Think ahead to how you will manage both a toddler and a baby, Pinterest is a gold mine for this sort of thing.

@Summergrassstains thank you so much, such a helpful reply. The table is a brilliant idea, I have also wondered about a toy kitchen for when I’m cooking/cleaning for him to ‘join in’ 😂 so will get that sorted.

he’s only just 2 so don’t think he fully understands, you are absolutely right I do need to start planning for how I’m going to manage both of them. thank you for the suggestion of Pinterest, will have a look there too ☺️☺️

@Sleepingallday I am also disabled so the children learned that some days Mum is full on and others I am much less able to do things. My youngest is now 17, I am still a sahm and I have a literal 3 year gap so Ds1 was 2 years and 3 or months when I was on bed rest. Children adapt fast.

Toy kitchens are brilliant, they know they eat food, they will probably see their parents prepare it, you can play cafes with them. We had the ELC toaster too and lots of plastic food from ToysRus back when that was a thing. Ds had a little feather duster and used to clean with me, it was adorable. Pinterest is honestly the best thing ever for coming up with ideas.

Also I don't know how you feel about this but consider looking into childcare, even if they just did a morning or so it gives you a break and one on one time with the second baby just like you had with your first. Don't feel bad about using it either. Don't martyr yourself, there is no gold medal for it. Hope you feel better soon.

There's nothing wrong with cbeebies, in fact it's excellent and a lifesaver. It kept me sane, for much more longer than an hour a day with baby and 18 month old. Give yourself a break. Every programme is educational and fun. My two (9 and 10 now) are now very sporty, academic and had great vocabularies and breadth of knowledge when they started school nursery at 3yo.

As long as you're doing other stuff with them as well, a couple of hours of telly a day isn't going to hurt....while you try and breathe for a moment 😩

I used to push the sofas together in the middle of the room to make a "boat" throw a blanket over one end to make a cabin. The children used to spend ages arranging soft toy passengers and supplies for a long voyage ( they also had prayer swords etc for defence) The carpet was the sea so couldn't be stepped on! Admittedly I had rather scruffy sofas at the time but it became one of their favourite games and I could join in by being a passenger and pointing out interesting sights.