How to Entertain Toddler Boys for a Week [Can You Tell Me?]
May/1024
Later in the week my wonderful wife, ‘V’, is taking a trip to visit family in the UK. I’m going to be home alone with the boys for 9 days, the longest period I’ve had them alone so far.
I’m both looking forward to and dreading (a little) the week and am determined to attempt to make the most of it rather than see it as something just to ‘get through’. As a result – I’m making a bit of a list of things I want to do with the boys over that 9 day period.
The boys are almost 2 and almost 4 so can be a bit of a juggling act in terms of day time sleeps, tantrums and hyperactivity (particularly with us heading into cooler/wetter weather) – however I’m sure we’ll have a good time (although our littlest one just came down with an ear infection – timing!)
I mentioned I was writing a list of activities to do with the boys over the time while V is away and a number of people tweeted some great suggestions. So I thought I’d write this post and invite more suggestions. Hopefully it’ll help me over the next week – but also help other parents looking for ways to entertain toddlers!
So – if you have any ideas for activities (whether they be things to do with toddlers around Melbourne – or just fun things to do with little kids in general at home that are fun) – I’m all ears!
The kids of things on my list already include cooking (both the boys love baking), a visit to the museum (and perhaps the zoo, weather permitting) etc
Looking forward to some fun ideas!
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4:07 pm on May 10th, 2010
Right around the toddler years my son loved to bake cupcakes, he could spend hours building Lego towers with me and should the weather be nice … a sprinkler in the yard is always fun, especially after helping me dig holes to plant flowers.
4:10 pm on May 10th, 2010
make working rockets from cardboard tubes!
not my link, but we’ve tried it and it rocks (literally!)
http://www.kiddio.org/2008/09/pop-rockets-5-4-3-2-1.html
4:11 pm on May 10th, 2010
Hi, I hope your wife enjoys her trip!
You could make slime, build a cubby, draw, paint, go to the park, read stories, play with playdough, go to the library, or go to an indoor play centre. There’s nine ideas, lol!
4:12 pm on May 10th, 2010
I take my little fella (17 mths) swimming every week. We don’t do a class but just take a toy/ball and hang out for about an 1-1.5 hours.
He loves the water and mucking around plus it wears him out for his sleep!
Indoor kids gyms/playgrounds are also great as they go bonkers for ages while you can relax and have a coffee.
Soaking yourself in the water is also very relaxing!
4:15 pm on May 10th, 2010
Have a movie picnic… It involves Pizza or something of that ilk, – popcorn, the floor and some comfy pillows and a good kids movie. Major treat for the weekend. Good leverage for getting bathed and ready for bed all b4 the movie starts. My kids love it. Good luck!
4:22 pm on May 10th, 2010
We’ve got two little boys ourself, and if you’re in Australia and the weather is still nice, water play is always a hit. (Bucket of water, and a paintbrush, and go nuts on the fence)
Playdough – bought or home made – home made if you want the extra half an hour of entertainment while they help you make it!! I’ve collated loads of recipes over at my site in the playdough recipes section!
Goo – where you mix one part cornflour to 2 parts water – definitely an outside activity.
Read stories.
Play dress ups
Make egg carton crocodiles
Play in the sand box
walk to a park
And generally just be present with them, they’ll love the attention!!! Have a ball, toddler boys are just awesome!
4:24 pm on May 10th, 2010
Why not try juggling together and have some fun together…laughing is good
Do take them to Tom tit or something with activities…my children like’s to run around http://beta.stockholmtown.com/en/To-Do/Attractions/tom-tit-s-experiment/902 something like that…. physics with activities…
4:25 pm on May 10th, 2010
Put old clothes on them, take them into garden, give ‘em a little spade and let them dig in the dirt. My son has loved this since he was a toddler (now six) and still does it. He has his only little patch and over the years he has put different seeds in – flowers, veggies etc. Also letting them make up plant pots with seeds in is great fun too. A particualr favourite was filling up one of his dumper trucks and moving dirt from one area to another.
A great activity when it is raining is to put on raincoats and wellies and going puddle jumping (must admit, I love doing that myself).
Sometimes just quiet “down time” activities like colouring/drawing together and reading books is really lovely too.
Enjoy your time together. One of teh things I have come to realsie is all tehse phases come and go so quickly. Can’t believe my son is now a school boy and the toddler years gone for good.
4:26 pm on May 10th, 2010
What about a trip to your local nursery? Free, fun and educational. I’ve got some suggestions for getting the most out of your adventure in this post http://bit.ly/czogkO Or you could try a plastic bag kite, which involves, um, string and a plastic bag?!! Instant entertainment :-)
4:32 pm on May 10th, 2010
Do you have a Nintendo Wii? The Wii Sports will contribute to lots of play time. There’s tennis, bowling, golf, boxing and baseball — dads (and moms) will have fun with it too!
Other activities I’ll suggest are basic: coloring books, cutting colored paper using plastic scissors with different style (there’s zigzag, wave scissors, etc), baking cookies, watching kid movies, going to the library..if there’s a farm nearby, they can even go visit the animals or help milk a cow! :-)
4:39 pm on May 10th, 2010
A while back I put together an ebook “Lots of Fun & Games to Keep Your Child Entertained” Free copies of this are available at the website I have listed. Some ideas: make a mural (not as hard as you think), play dough creations and other craft activities and projects (websites with free ideas in book), paper boats, planes etc, blowing bubbles.
At least once a day (2 or 3 times if you want) do something that one of your children will find hilariously funny. This is guaranteed to make childcare more interesting, satisfying and happy for all concerned. Have fun. I am sure you will enjoy the time.
6:29 pm on May 10th, 2010
Heaps of suggestions in the toddler section http://science-at-home.org/category/age-group/toddlers/
Favourites are volcanoes, torches, flight games.
6:57 pm on May 10th, 2010
When our two boys were at that age they used to love painting. Get a huge roll of paper and some large bottles of ready made, child friendly paint and some plastic sheeting. Strip them down to shorts, squirt some blobs of paint on the paper and let them go, no brushes, just hands and feet. Messy but tons of fun. Photograph the out-come and turn them in to framed wall hangings.
Plus, digging (a boy’s favourite).
7:54 pm on May 10th, 2010
I can’t help until they are teenage boys and then it’s easy…teenage girls. But that’s whole new set of problems. Enjoy the time and don’t blink.
8:35 pm on May 10th, 2010
You could make some leadlight with them. I know it sounds inappropriate but I’ve got a recipe for a leadlight dough, they make the design and put in some broken up lollipops. When they’ve finished you put them in the oven for a bit and they come out looking wonderful.
I have lots of other art and craft activities in a folder. My kids are way too old for them now so I’d like to pass this onto someone else who will get some use out of it and then pass it onto someone else.
10:22 pm on May 10th, 2010
At Home:
Some activities that you can do indoors if the Melbourne weather is not flash:
Mark out an indoor hopscotch with masking tape.
Run some string across the room and then play balloon volleyball.
Collect your recyclables and construct rockets, cars – what ever the kids can think of.
Locally things to do:
Library Story Time: Whitehorse Manningham have a huge range of sessions through out the week. The Noisy Minors might suit your little guys. They actually have an Indigenous Story Time at Doncaster on May 26 (outside your time though) where you will hear Annette Sax of Yarn Strong Sista, tell stories from her Aboriginal culture and make your own craft to take home. (For ages 3 – 6 years.)
City Side:
I love Fed Square and there is always so much to do there with kids. There is the new Kids Corner at the National Gallery Of Victoria, which has activities and story times.
Artplay are running free sessions which require no bookings, called Cardboard Spaces. Foundation year architecture students from Monash University will construct four creative spaces for children out of cardboard. And outdoors there is the fabulous Birrarung Marr park for the kids to let of some steam.
Have fun!
10:22 pm on May 10th, 2010
For 2 to 4 yrs old… Swimming certainly always makes them tired ;o) and is a lot of fun. Buiding with building bricks instead of LEGO did interest my boys at that age as well.
We also spent a lot of time with modelling clay at that age. Dress them in an old t-shirt of you and try some fingerpaint on big sheets of paper.. My sons were also fascinated by making footprints with it.
Do you have wooden train sets like BRIO? That also is a lot of fun and is rather easy to build for little kids. They can build tracks, villages, tunnels, play all kinds of things that involve moving something from point A to point B on the train.
Sure, all outside activity like digging up the backyard is pretty cool (even though one of my sons didn’t like to get dirty).
Have lots of fun!
11:30 pm on May 10th, 2010
I’m so happy for you. My kingdom for 9 days with my children again as toddlers . (They are adult) Allow me to give you a couple don’ts. No sugar snacks No caffeine or sugary drinks for the entire nine days. Make sure you are at home during nap time especially for the 2 year old.. Don’t schedule all of the nine days. For the child with the ear infection. Have a whole extra week of antibiotics (if you use antibiotics) available for the week you are home.
Say Yes a lot. Let the kids go at their own pace. Keep the outings short and between nap times. Say yes and OK a lot and smile while saying it. Have a babysitter on hand to call just in case. Do things around the house for at least 5 of the nine days, and keep their schedule much as their mother would. Kids love kitchen stuff and making messes. Those are good ideas for the 4 year old. The 2 year old might miss his mother, so hold him a lot. You will see things differently again through your boys eyes. Toward the end of the time have the boys do something nice for moms return. Make her some ‘beauty soap’ or tie a ribbon around a bud vase of flowers the boys picked. Help the older boy keep a simple journal of your week together and all read it with Mom when she comes home.
I would hire a housecleaner on the 8th day. And order take out on the 9th.
12:04 pm on May 11th, 2010
I have a 4-yr-old son, and he loves indoor snowball fights (rolled-up clean socks), simple magic tricks, scavenger hunts, digging for pirate treasure, digging for dinosaur “bones”, playing dress-up (Darth Vader is a favorite right now), bowling (with bumpers, or on the Wii), building towers and robots and spaceships with legos (ok, I do most of the building, and he likes playing Godzilla). And racing paper airplanes is always a hit! Have fun :)
12:06 pm on May 11th, 2010
Boys love to build — so besides blocks, think of what else you have around that is stackable — boxes, pillows, plastic bowls.
Also, water play — in the sink, with ice cubes, make bubble mix — will give them hours of entertainment. The more mess, the cleaner the house gets . . . hopefully!
Cheers!
12:13 pm on May 11th, 2010
I would suggest making up a daily schedule so that your boys know what to expect every day. A schedule will help to keep everyone on track. After breakfast, for example, can be story time. I take my boys to our local library and let them check out books. They love doing this! Before lunch, I like taking them to the park and letting them run loose. They come home hungry and tired, and have no trouble taking a nap, which is good for me! You can also have them help you do chores. Mine love helping with the laundry – I think watching the water make all of those bubbles while they drop clothes in the washer is their favorite part.
11:41 pm on May 11th, 2010
My 4.5 year old loves to bake as well. We’ve done a bunch of baking activities:
- Make bread dough and then let them use it like play dough to make shapes. Bake & eat the results.
- Make your own recipe. Let the 4y old have access to the pantry to pick his own ingredients. Just control anything expensive. Add 1teaspoon baking powder per cup of four he uses to make sure it rises. My 4y old LOVES this… results sometimes edible, sometimes not.. but always lots of fun.
- Cheesy pretzels from an old kids cookbook. I’m betting you could find a similar recipe on line.
Search for kids programs at local museums, libraries, gyms, book stores, etc. In the winter here a local community center has free play time where they put out a bunch of kids toys in the gym and kids 5 and under can play for $1.
If you don’t already have it make a collage bin. Put in ribbon, shapes, paper scraps, old cards, etc. Then set it out on the table with glue and kid scissors for the older one. Let them make big art projects combining stuff how ever they want.
11:07 am on May 12th, 2010
Cardboard box play
1) Go to Bunnings (or the NSW equivalent) & get as many cardboard boxes in heaps of different sizes.
2) Buy rolls and rolls of masking tape.
3) Buy a couple of good stanley knives (for dad’s use only!!)
4) Buy nikko pens – big thick ones in a variety of colours (don’t try to cheat with whiteboard pens cause they don’t work for very long on cardboard!)
Make cardboard armour – my 11 yr old boy & dad spend alot of the holidays making Transformer type/ Knights of the round table armour – helmets, arm guards, chest guards etc. Use the masking tape to connect it all together
Build a city – for littler boys perhaps, build a city with boxes of different shapes. use the nikko pens to add “stories” & windows to box skyscapers. If you can score a big box (like a fridge or washing machine box) – use that for the road – draw on highways.
Photograph it all. Then demolish it. Chuck in recycling bin.
Have fun!!!
10:15 pm on January 6th, 2011
From to time I give my little boys a bag of rice to play with. I clear off the kitchen table, take out bowls, spoons, tupperware containers and measuring cups and they go nuts pouring rice in and out of various containers. I sometimes throw in a few large beads or coins. Have fun and enjoy!