How do you make evenings with your toddler special?

[justKate]

I'm looking for ideas for simple evening activities that I could do at home with my 16 month old. We live in Texas and it is getting too hot to be outside every evening (95+ degrees and very humid this week), and by the time it cools off DD is ready for bath/bed.

Our evening looks like this:
Pick up DD @4:30; home by 4:45.
Have snack if she wants.
Play on floor (not really that interesting because she's been doing this all day at Baby School), greet Daddy when he comes home.
Sometimes watch DVR'ed Wonder Pets.
Make/eat dinner around 6:00/6:30.
Clean up.
Upstairs to look at "upstairs" toys/take bath (lots of playing in bath!).
Teeth, nurse, sleep around 7:15-7:45.

So there's a little time where we could do something before (or maybe after) dinner. What do you all suggest? I try to save getting ready for the next day/chores/laundry for after she goes to sleep. DD is toy-ed out by the end of the day, and is not that in to books, and can't color yet.

What sort of little "activities" could I do with her to make that time special?

Sorry if this is a lame question, I'm just new to parenting and don't have any experience with entertaining toddlers. TIA.

[madskye]

Do you have a little baby pool she could splash in? That's fun.

DD used to love to blow bubbles, too, with the bubble wand at that age.

READ! Make a special story area in her room with her books and a bean bag and read there every day.

[LorenaAZ]

My 16 month old DD and I are visiting Grandma in Spain for the summer. I never thought it would get so hot here!! We can`t go out between 11am and 8pm because it`s so blistering hot and the UV index is quite high, so you actually feel your skin cooking.
So......Today I made a bath for both of us (we always bathe together), with cool water, and we picked some of Grandma`s geranium flowers. We took them in the bath, and plucked 1 by 1 until we had a bunch of them to play with. It was magical!! We loved it so much! Perhaps you can try this with your little one.

[Skippy918]

Our evening looks like this:
Pick up DD @4:30; home by 4:45.
Have snack if she wants.
Play on floor (not really that interesting because she's been doing this all day at Baby School), greet Daddy when he comes home.
Sometimes watch DVR'ed Wonder Pets.
Make/eat dinner around 6:00/6:30.
Clean up.
Upstairs to look at "upstairs" toys/take bath (lots of playing in bath!).
Teeth, nurse, sleep around 7:15-7:45.

This sounds very similar to our evening. We're in TX also, and yeah, it's hot as blazes out there right now. On a cooler evening, we'll go take a walk outside before or after dinner. DS likes running up and down the sidewalk. Hubby's out of town this week (again) so we really haven't done much else. He'll play on his own and I'll relax a bit while watching him. I'll read him some books. We'll play with blocks. DS likes getting chased around the house. He is an endless ball of energy sometimes. I wish I had his level of energy.

[justKate]

Thanks for the ideas. It's hard to keep her focused on anything at that time of day! I really like the idea of extra time in the tub with something different from the usual bath toys.

[caenach]

Yeah, a lot of our evening routine revolves around being outdoors. We take walks, play in the backyard, play in the hose, blow bubbles on the porch. And we have a lot of coloring, toy, and book time.If you take those things out of the mix, I guess we don't have a lot of variety!

I guess. Hmm. I let her help me make dinner, stir things, grate cheese, eat veggies while I chop them, break eggs (badly), stuff like that. We water the plants. We have lots of extended bathtime with toys, bath bubbles, blowing bubbles, or mama in the tub, too. We do lots of physical play, like chasing, rolling around, piggyback rides, or she rides in the ringsling or Ergo while I do chores, because I think we need a lot of physical reconnection after time apart.

Maybe crayons aren't your DD's thing, but what about some finger painting? DD loved that at 16 months. DD likes it when we put a giant piece of paper on the floor and finger paint or sticker or glue or color. She makes a huge mess, but we're generally headed for the tub at that time of day, anyway, so no big deal.

[poorlittlefish]

Yes, we bake together and she LOVES it! That is always our old reliable.

Long baths, reading, finger painting, playdough, play with her babies, she likes to help me unload the dishwasher and fold clothes......

[vrclay]

Originally Posted by justKate

Thanks for the ideas. It's hard to keep her focused on anything at that time of day! I really like the idea of extra time in the tub with something different from the usual bath toys.

We blew bubble in the tub last night. Both our little guys loved it!

[justKate]

Originally Posted by vrclay

We blew bubble in the tub last night. Both our little guys loved it!

Bubbles in the tub sounds so naughty! Almost as naughty as playing with bath toys when you are not actually in the bath!

[cakemama579]

My LO used to love to play in the sink at that age and "help" me cook. While I cooked dinner, he would splash around with spoons, tupperware, etc. in the sink while standing on a chair. I have never seen anyone so entertained.

We also spend a lot of time playing with our dog in the evenings. we have a 6 month old puppy with a lot of energy, so my DS helps to entertain him with toys.

And of course as some others have already suggested, reading is a great activity to do with your child if you want some quiet time. Her vocabulary will soar when she starts talking if you read to her often!

There's also always fingerpaints and playdough too! fun stuff!