Comments on: How to Entertain Toddler Boys for a Week [Can You Tell Me?]

By: Catherine

Catherine — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 12:15:24 +0000

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!

By: Leesa Watego

Leesa Watego — Wed, 12 May 2010 01:07:54 +0000

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!!!

By: Rose

Rose — Tue, 11 May 2010 13:41:09 +0000

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.

By: Vanessa

Vanessa — Tue, 11 May 2010 02:13:28 +0000

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.

By: Melissa Taylor

Melissa Taylor — Tue, 11 May 2010 02:06:23 +0000

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!

By: Michelle S.

Michelle S. — Tue, 11 May 2010 02:04:56 +0000

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 :)

By: SusanE

SusanE — Mon, 10 May 2010 13:30:42 +0000

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.

By: Elisabeth

Elisabeth — Mon, 10 May 2010 12:22:48 +0000

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!

By: PlanningQueen

PlanningQueen — Mon, 10 May 2010 12:22:02 +0000

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!

By: Suzie

Suzie — Mon, 10 May 2010 10:35:41 +0000

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.