Any Ideas About Creative Pre-Sleep Activity?

[momalah]

My son is now about 9 months old and I have found, after much trial and error...that he actually will fall asleep quicker if after I bathe him, letting him have an hour or so of activity before nursing. He is a very active guy and so this must help him unwind in some strange way...although all the books will tell you otherwise.
What I was wondering was..anyone have any creative and fun activities that don't neccesarily involve toys? Sometimes I feel like I am just "babysitting" and I don't like feeling that way. I want to engage both of us and yet do things that are fun and healthy. I even thought about just taking him for a walk outside at dark..but I don't know.just thought I'd ask since there are so many creative moms afoot on here.
Thanks for the input!

[waterbabee]

Are you opposed to toys or do you mean activities besides your child playing with toys by himself? Do you play with his toys with him?
My dd needs about half an hour of good play before she goes to sleep. What I always do with her is we go to her room (that she just moved into last month at 10 months) and we open her toy box and take out lots of toys to play with together, we blow bubbles, she takes all of her books off of her shelf and I read them as she takes them down, we always tickle and rough-house for a while, followed by a massage, jammies, more stories in bed, and lights out. Don't know if that helps at all, but I have found that sticking to this routine, she knows exactly when she's about to go to sleep, and I begin telling her its almost time to go to sleep for about 10 minutes before it is time.
Hope that helps some?

Elise-mama to Zoe Lea

[momalah]

No, I Love Toys!

Oh NO!!! hahahaa...I hope noone else thought that was what I meant about the toys...no, I love his toys and he loves his toys and we have tons of fun playing with them together! But I also try to think of ways where I can come up with creative non-toy ideas to foster more imaginative play. I have a catalogue from Nova Natural Toys which is neat, but he's still kinda young.
As for your ideas about the routines...Yes! I agree!!! I just wish my son was able to sit down to hear a book. He's not very interested nor is he 100% ready for it. He loves books and owns about a million, but at 9 mos, he just isn't really able to sit still. Many times, I just read to him while he is playing...
I just feel there are so many technicolor plastic toys in his room, and it makes me wonder about it all.
Your reply though gave me some good ideas. I am going to look into maybe picking a few of those toys and creating a half hour routine with them. That is a good idea.