what do ya do all day???

[happy1nluv]

I'm running low on ideas, or brain cells, or maybe both... BUT, what do you do all day to keep the kids occupied and happy? We have TONS of toys, but my kids really don't play with them... I have 2 boys - 3 1/2 and 1 1/2 (and another on the way). We used to get out of the house EVERY day, but I'm finding I just don't have the patience for that, and I'm turning to tv WAAYYY too much (my family is LOVING that! I was always telling them i didnt want the kids watching...now im borrowing kid dvds from them all...)

Anyway... i'd love some ideas of things i could get them going on and then step away... (esp ones that BOTH kids can do. Joe (1 1/2) will not let Nic (3 1/2) do ANYTHING that he isn't doing too... so if one of them does art at the table, so does the other... (thats what kills me too... I have TONS of stuff for Nic that I can't use because joe is right there and he's not old enough or he messes it up insead of playing the right way (board game)... and Joe is NOT a napper, so i if i get half an hour out of him thats a lot...

I want to make a list and post it on the pantry door so that when I'm short of ideas, I can look quick.

thanks!!

[tjjazzy]

i wish i knew!
some ideas:
does your local library have story hour?
is there a local playgroup around? ours is run by health nurses and child services.
if you can make one friend with kids your kids' ages, that can make all the difference.
do they have cousins their age? sometimes my MIL takes my son to play with his cousins, as she babysits them on fridays.
is there a local pool you can go to? my son loves it when we go and it's cheap. in fact, i might suggest that to DH today...
otherwise, if you can't go out, it can be tough to find stuff to do. i know that for a fact (i don't drive)! my DS1 is pretty independent so he plays on his own or asks me to play cars or trains every once in a while. i do let him watch TV a bit much since our DS2 came along *eep* he's good about us turning it off too though.
i'm going to hope you get some more helpful ideas... :

[rumpos]

I have a 20 month old son. Here are some of the activities we do over the course of a week:

*Make collages with glue sticks and old magazines (sometimes I pre-cut images, sometimes we go through them together and he points to what he wants and I cut it out and we talk about it, depending on how interactive we're feeling)
*We take a "cold weather walk" making a production of bundling up--sometimes bringing greens to our local duck pond, sometimes a turn around the local playground equipment that's a bit deserted due to the cold--and then make a warm-up snack when we get back of cocoa or soup. The whole point is to embrace the cold weather and get out there.
*Make fairy houses in the yard.
*Sensations play--I'll get out a big, shallow storage tub and fill it a bit with warm water, or some dry lentils, or soap/shaving foam and add a few measuring cups or utensils.
*I like art projects where he does one thing and I do another and it gets transformed--like he'll sprinkle grated or broken crayons on wax paper and then I'll iron another sheet of wax paper (on low setting, through a dishtowel) and it looks completely different! Or he'll make paint blobs, then I'll fold the paper and open it back up.
*Two words: sticker books
*Amanda Soule's "Creative Family" book has some terrific ideas--including instrument play, crafts, and parlor games.
*Turn up the music and have dance party.
*I'l bake something where he can easily do one of the steps. Like biscuits, where he can smoosh and crumble together the butter and flour into crumbs.
*I have little baskets of single items that aren't always around--like a basket of poker chips, one of chess pieces, another of little animals and I'll get them down just as he's forgotten about them--he'll sit sorting and manipulating small objects like that for awhile.
*Dumping out a box of my fabric scraps from sewing to sort and play with and fold and mess with is fun (and quiet!)
*I have found that rearranging his main play area, sorting through toys to give some away, making things visible and neat, engages him all over again with toys (I sometimes do this at night so he wakes up to a "new" space).
*I'll encourage indoor fort making or jumping around by putting down a pile of pillows, cushions, and blankets.
*I make a production out of snack with muffin tins filled with different cut-up things, or make a theme he cares about.
*I read aloud a chapter book that *I* loved aloud--Little House, Anne of Green Gables, with a cup of tea--and often he just plays at my feet and listens just to listen to me, or sits in my lap, or nurses.
*Putting out a basket of necklaces and bracelets and scarves is always a hit.
*Washing washable toys in the bathtub with a sponge and soap is also a fun project, if a bit wasteful of water.

In general, I make a production of simple things, taking my time gathering everything together, talking about, and then enlisting him to help wrap it up. Or, I make a big deal of having him be my partner in the things I need or like to do--meals, laundry sorting, reading. And if things aren't going well I remember, from my first few LLL meetings: H.A.L.T. Is my kid hungry? angry? lonely? tired? and then I spend time addressing that.

Have fun!

[BellinghamCrunchie]

Rumpos

[funkygranolamama]

my husband stays home with my kids while i work during the day and they spend most of their time outside. i take them for walks when i get home sometimes, and other than that we do whatever, color, watch a movie, make birdfeeders, paint, sing songs, pile couch cushions on the floor and jump on them, slide on plastic placemats across the carpet. yes, we have a wild house.

[mamamolly1]

Rumpos: That's an awesome, inspirational list!

[karemore]

We blow bubbles in the bathtub in the winter.

I also discovered afternoon baths! DD loves it, she can stay in much longer than at night because there is no pressure to get on with the bedtime routine.

She also loves to play with a big bowl of water, seeing what floats and what sinks, mixing pouring etc. Just put down a plastic table cloth.

[karemore]

A tip for the toys. I find that my daughter wants to play with things I keep up out of reach so I put things I WANT her to play with on her top shelf in the closet.

Then she thinks it's a big deal when I let her play with it...

I also find she plays longer if toys are all kept put away and just one to two things come out. I think they can get overwhelmed if there are too many toys around. It's like white noise to them.

She mostly plays on the floor in the living room so every three or four days I rotate a big "toy" and keep everything else in her room.

She loves to make up her own game with a big jar of buttons but that won't work with a little one around.

I also save all the plastic jars, like peanut butter jars and put her little collections in them. She loves to play with the jars and to sort and organize (dinosaurs, beads, etc)

[happy1nluv]

THANK YOU!!

There are some great ideas here.. I'm totally lacking in creativity(esp now), but I was totally shaking my head going - "They'd LOVE that" to many of the ideas...

[Llyra]

A tip: I've found that my kids are much better at playing by themselves (without my active participation) if I get buy myself doing something that looks to them like important work. Like if I sit and read a magazine, they're swarming all over me, wanting me to play, but if I'm up and chopping veggies or sweeping the kitchen or folding laundry, I can say, "no, baby, mama's busy doing this" and they are a lot more willing to accept that as an answer and go do their own thing.

It's always a pain in the neck too for the older child who would happily play if the younger wasn't always getting in the middle of it and messing it up. My poor DD1 was plagued by her brother and sister (twins, 22 months) so we went and bought her a big freestanding playyard, for her not the babies, and she can set up her games and toys and projects in there and the babies can't get in to bother her. I found one that she can open herself, and it's been a real blessing for us.