What do you do with an almost 17 month old toddler?
Good question.
Let me know when you figure it out.
This crazy kid is so energetic, can't do one thing for longer than 3 minutes and is always on the go....I've run out of ideas of how to entertain him.
We've spent hours outside, on walks to the library, to the park and trips down the slide in our backyard every time we're out there...but that's not enough.He's too busy playing outside to notice he has a bloody knee...until I stick a band-aid on it.
So this morning I woke up and thought I'm going to figure out something to do other than watch Sesame Street (which he loves, but I only like him to watch one episode), read books, play with toys and eat crackers.First, we got some thread and strung some Cheerios on it. He didn't like that much, because he was too impatient and just wanted to eat them. So I hurried and put them on. At first he was mad they were on there, but I told him to eat them and he thought that was pretty cool. A minute later his mouth is stuffed and I can't find the string anywhere....maybe in his diaper later on?
Second, I let him stand on a chair and play in one side of the sink with a couple of dishes and bubbles. He thought that was pretty cool, but he soaked himself, the chair (it has a cushion), the rug and the floor.
Meanwhile, I was cooking up something salty...homemade play dough! I gave him a ball of it and some kitchen odds & ends. At first he thought it was weird and didnt' like it. Then I made lots of little balls out of it and he loved it!
It kept him entertained for 30 minutes!
He tried eating it a few times, but I think he learned his lesson.
Later we went to the park, kicked the soccer ball around, played on the swings, went down the slide.Came home, read some books, played on the piano, chased each other around....and at the end of the afternoon, with a few hours left...I was out of ideas again.
I always feel bad when we aren't doing something! (I must be crossing over to the Clark side...).
If anyone has any good ideas for a little toddler and some fun activities we could do at home, don't hesitate to tell me!
Thanks!
5 comments:
haha i'm running into the same problem... their attention span is so incredibly short. But, at least they don't get bored doing the same things over and over! We go to playgrounds ALL the time, and there's a park with an aquarium just down the street and we feed ducks a lot. Look for yard sales on craigslist! Free toys to play with for a little bit! :) And I think you're doing a great job with him... they're able to play by themselves sometimes too!
Oh Mary I feel your pain - believe me and it only gets harder!! i've wondered about playdough, but I figured Samuel would eat it too. So one new thing we've done. . . I bought a roll of butcher paper from sam's club and I roll out a bunch and tape it to the kitchen floor and let Samuel color ALL over. One of these days I'm going to cover my kitchen table and try finger paits (with pudding). Nothing keeps him occupied for long though. . .
I'll send you the peanut butter playdough recipe too, then you can have him eat it. My mom would get an old sour cream container, cut a small hole in the top and let Luke put small thing in, and then empty it out and start again. Let me know if this is confusing and I'll try to explain it better. A small pool with water and cups are always great. And a bathtub is always entertaining.
I think you did great coming up with ideas! Sounds like a fun (and busy) day. I wish I could give you ideas but Jocelyn is not the run all over energetic kid. She's really into small motor things like: playing with paperclips and magnets, stacking little blocks, sorting things in muffin tins, peeling stickers of things, putting my hair elastics on her arm, looking through the pictures in the game memory, etc. It's kind of strange, but funny that she's so interested in little things. And it's weird because they can entertain her forever!
I'd do a google search for entertaining a toddler. You can find anything on google. :) Good luck
Here's my number one idea - have another kid :) Jonah keeps Lydia busy and vice versa. It's hard having two kids, but in other ways much easier. Plus it's adorable to watch them together.
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