How to fill my toddler's day

[homemademom]

My two yr old got into a very bad habit of watching TV with my older kids this summer. I was newly pregnant, extremely sick and weak and, let's just say, all of my parenting values flew out the window. Now, the older kids are in school and I'm home (sahm) with a very active 2 yr old and I'm still reeeaallllyy exhausted from this pregnancy. I can't seem to keep up with my little boy, and if there's any downtime, he immediately whines for the TV. We sometimes watch PBS, especially if I'm folding clothes (so he won't destroy my piles), but I feel like he's not able to moderate and so even a little TV watching makes him want more, more, more.

What do I do? He just gave up his naps (I nearly cried that day), so we have many hours to fill. How do you fill your toddler's day, and still get some chores and cooking done? Help!! (I'd really love to hear specific activities ) And thanks!

[lach]

Mine still naps, so that helps.

After DD goes to school, DS and I take a walk. He's only 19 months and a fairly new walker, so we don't go terribly far, but since we have to stop and look at every truck or school bus that goes by, this takes a fair chunk of time. Not to mention all the time picking up sticks and whacking them against things.

Then we go home and he has a snack while I do the breakfast dishes and straighten up the kitchen a little.

I made a list of all of the free childrens events (mostly library story hours) within about a 20 minute drive from us, and it's arranged by day and on my fridge so I check and see if anything looks interesting. I asked for recommendations about free toddler things on Facebook, and a few people responded with ideas that I didn't know about.

We usually run some errands in the morning, before picking DD up from preschool.

I try to make each meal ahead of time. So while the kids are eating breakfast, I make their lunches and put them in the fridge. It's almost always a sandwich, some cut fruit, cheese, yogurt, etc. I even pour their milk into cups and put that in the fridge too. Then when it's lunch time I can just put their meals in front of them without having whining hungry kids hanging off of me while I'm trying to make lunch. During lunch, I do as much dinner prep as I can.

My daughter has stopped napping, but I still make her have "rest time" in her room, for about an hour. She really needs it, even though she doesn't sleep. All the toys she has in there are pretty quiet, simple ones. So she plays with her dollhouse or reads books and I go get her after an hour.

Afternoons are long and not always easy, but usually I just make them play while I sew or clean.

[homemademom]

lach, thank you! Those are some really useful ideas, especially regarding food prep. We live in a really lame city with very little for small children to do. However, I took ds to the pet store this morning for a little diversion and he enjoyed that.

Only 3 more hours to go before picking up the other kids. . .

[oaktreemama]

My toddler has a Nature Box and we spend a lot of time finding stuff to put it in. A LOT of time. It never seems to get old.

On our walks we are on the lookout for feathers and funky leaves and the biggest acorn ever and the coolest rock.

These things come home and go in the Nature box. He is than free to spend time looking at his treasures and we also talk about what he has found.

[Artichokie]

I also have a two year old and am very exhausted from pregnancy. Our day goes roughly like this:

8am - wake up and fold laundry/straighten bedrooms (DD is responsible for putting clothes down the laundry chute and putting her clothes in her drawers). My DH brings the clean laundry up from the basement every morning before he leaves so it is ready and waiting for us.
8:30am - dd gets dressed and I do her hair and wash her face/brush teeth.
9am - dd plays in her room while I get my clothes out and my towels together for my shower. She picks out a couple of books to sit and look at while I am in the shower.
9:15am - I shower and get dressed
9:30am - we read stories and dd plays upstairs with her toys.
10am - downstairs for bfast.
10:30am - errands/outing. Library, grocery, science museum, art museum, mommy and me day at school, and general errands are on our list for this time.
12:00pm - return for lunch, wash up.
12:15pm - lunch
1:00pm - quiet time. My DD doesn't have to nap but she has to play quietly during that part of the day.
3:00pm - we play games, take a walk outside, do a craft.
4:00pm - pick up time. All toys get put away.
4:30pm - video. I let her watch 30 min of PBS on my computer. We don't do TV. If toy pickup runs over because she wasn't helpful/cooperative, there is no time for a video. This is a strong motivator to get clean up done!
5:00pm - time to get supper together and get ready for Papa to come home.

[honeybunmom]

My son will be 19 mos old tomorrow and one thing we've added to his repretoire is painting with water colors. He likes to do the wet on wet painting. He gets one color. This will keep him busy for about 20 min. Add a little more time for prep and clean up. He hasn't made a big mess yet, though.

He's also enjoying spending time with modeling bees wax. Just squooshing it in his hands.

Water play: He'll stand at a sink full of water and cups for a while. There is a small danger of him dumping water directly onto the floor, though. If I sit him on the floor with cups and big bowls of water, I do put down a splash mat first.

[Novus]

DS is 17 months & I baby-sit a friend's 15-month-old, so they do keep each other somewhat occupied. We try to get out of the house every morning--parks, playgrounds, play dates, story times, walks around the neighborhood, even running errands like going to the grocery store (especially the ones with the car carts!) They do both nap, which is a nice break, and then, when they wake up, I try to have some kind of activity for us to do. Sometimes, they're happy just free-playing, but I always like to have a plan B, which is usually one of the following:
-crayons
-dry-erase board & markers
-chalk
-bubbles
-water play
-paint
-play-doh
-dress-up (hats & sunglasses keep them occupied for at least 30 minutes)
-putting some blankets & couch pillows on the ground and building forts/obstacle courses
-pulling out some bigger boxes from our recycling pile to turn into wagons, forts, climbing courses, etc

And when all else fails, we go outside to play with the rocks that are part of the landscaping at our apartment complex

[crunchy_mommy]

We have a bit of a routine that we've fallen into....

Wake up, breakfast, shower, dress
Outing -- usually the playground or library (especially if there's a story hour), other times playdate or zoo or something
Come home, lunch, try to get him to nap (if your DS is no longer napping, try having quiet time?)
Then depending what time he wakes up, we sometimes do errands or go for a walk, otherwise we stay home and read stacks of books or he has a little free play (when DH is home in the evening he has a ton of free play time so we don't do a lot of free play during the day, he gets bored easily).

macaronikid.com If your area is on there & active, it's a great resource -- our local calendar has tons of events (everything from story hours to drop-in crafts to festivals). There are probably other sites like this too that might be more specific to where you live...

We also often do "music time" (instruments & playing CDs or me singing) & "art time" (coloring, chalkboard, I'm not a fan of messy crafts at this stage) & "exercise time" (I help him do somersaults, wheelbarrows, tell him to touch his toes, spin around, etc.)

[Shoonasasi]

My son is 3 1/2 and we were in the same boat, trying to find things to fill our day. We've started in the local StrongStart program which takes up our morning from 9-12, but some days we can't go due to the constant colds he picks up there.

He loves to walk, and we often walk for an hour a few times a week to the mall and back. He loves the atmosphere.

Playdough: I got him a play set with some cut out shapes and an extruder thing that he stuffs with dough and pushes down the plunger to make "worms". He gets two colours at a time so the big $19 pack of 20 lasts us months. He'll play with playdough for hours at a time. I've also made my own dough using a recipe I found online.

Coloured Rice: Got this idea from the StrongStart program. I bought a bag of rice and split it into 3 or 4 smaller ziplock bags. Add a few drops of rubbing alcohol and 5 or 6 drops of food colouring (the alcohol helps the colour stay). Mix up the rice then pour onto a tray lines with tin foil. Let dry overnight. Pour it all into a larger ziplock bag.

I bought a large tray from the dollar store along with some tiny cups and bowls. Add a spoon and a funnel and he'll quietly pour rice into his little cups for hours. I put a towel down to catch fallen rice.

Also try dried beans in stark colours. I found some small, black beans and some bright white ones. He'll play with them the same as the rice for hours.

Scissors and coloured paper: My son can't hold the scissors correctly but he'll sit forever cutting slices into bright card paper. The dollar store is great for little beads, feathers, and pompoms that he glues into card stock with a glue stick.

Stickers: You can get a ton of stickers from the dollar store (do you sense a theme here? ) and a blank spiral notebook. He's ONLY allowed to stick his stickers in the book. He'll spend ages doing just that. I got 500 stickers for 99cents and it's great for dexterity since the stickers are pretty small.

Other things we do are colouring (cheap colouring books from dollar stores), tea parties or pretend picnics with his play food.

That's all I can think of for now.

[homemademom]

Thanks everyone. Great ideas all around. I definitely think we need to work on getting outside more. I'm going to take dh on a walk today

eta: I mean, ds!

[YayJennie]

My son helps with the chores! He's only 19 months, so it's limited. But when I do dishes, he stands on a chair and plays in the sink with me. In the morning, when I make breakfast, he feeds the dog (which consists of a lot of playing in the dog food, but hey, it gives me a few minutes to make eggs and he does fill the dog dish with food and put it down, so I don't have to bend over ) He also helps when I do laundry, as I give him one piece of clothing at a time to move from the washer to the dryer, and when I fold the laundry, I ask him for different pieces of clothing and he gives them to me. He also has a small vacuum (it's really a dustbuster with a handle) and a small broom, so he "sweeps" and "vacuums" with me when I clean up. He's quite the helper!

We also make a point to go to the park every morning to let the dog run and let my son roam. I'm 9 months pregnant, so it's getting harder, but I can still walk around the park with him and that helps him get some fresh air and energy out first thing in the morning (and also helps him nap better!) We also have a playgroup and try to get together with other toddlers at least twice a week, or get out to the library for story time.