Need Some Advice for What to Do with Toddler All Day! He Seems Bored..........

My kids always had ideas. They managed to make their views known even at that early age. Here are some things we did: 1) Go outside. My oldest insisted on going for long walks around the neighborhood; the younger one loved to be taken to a good park. 2) Read to him. Maybe you do already, but maybe you could do it more--it does bring a lot of benefits along with it, like increasing attention span, building vocabulary, preparing for success in school. 3) Let him "help" you do what you do. Toddlers love to play in the dirt while you garden or get out the funny looking things they can bang on in the kitchen. 4) Play with his toys with him. I didn't get to do this as much with the second one, but his dad did. I can't tell you how many block houses I built or helped with for my oldest.
Good luck, and have fun.

Go to the library.

Go to the park.

Go to the play place at the mall.

Sign up for a "mommy and me" gymnastics or "music and movement" class.

Sign up for a Moms Club.

Trade kids with another mom in your neighborhood - have her child come over one day a week for a couple of hours, and send your kid to her a second day for a couple of hours.

Visit relatives.

Visit a museum or zoo.

Go shopping.

Have a friend who also has children over for coffee.

Play in the yard.

Go for walks.

Make cookies.

Paint.

Play with clay/play-doh.

READ.

Turn on some music and dance in the living room.

Make cookies.

Find an "indoor playground" - here it's called Monkey Joe's and Chuck E. Cheese.

Find a church that has a "Mommy's Time Out" program and drop him off so he can play with the other kids, go get a pedicure.

Join a gym that has free child care - drop him off so he can play with the other kids and go work out.

Go to the pet store and look at the critters.

Go to the animal shelter and look at the critters (beware of the dogs - our shelter is full of pit bulls all the time, but the cats and bunnies are nice).

Go to outdoor concerts/festivals - our town has "brown bag lunch" concerts during the week right around lunch time. The people who work downtown can bring a lunch and listen to music during their break, but there's no reason why kids couldn't come.

Babysit someone else's kids - you'll be amazed at how well someone else's kids entertain YOUR kid!

Volunteer to help out in your older kid's classroom/school - provided that you can bring the little one along.

When I had "two under two" I tried to do one thing each day - some days it was just grocery shopping, but it got us out of the house and my kids were MUCH better behaved and less bored when we weren't just sitting around the house looking at each other all day. Now they're 4 and 2.5, and they're in preschool and activities and the weeks just fly by.

I have a 13 month old and when sis is at school we try at least once a week to have a playdate with one of our friends. I keep our toys organized in different boxes so I will get a different box everyday out for her to play with. I'm sure you sit in the floor sometimes and play with him and thats fun too. Weather permitting she likes to play in the backyard a little too. Sometimes we go for a walk and our local Burger KIng has a playplace for toddlers. You could try a mommy and me class. But I bet he isn't bored.

Hi Tiffany,

My son is 10 months and we go for a walk every morning. I try to get out before 10 so we can beat the heat. It's good exercise and my son loves the fresh air and looking around at everything.
My son doesn't sit still long enough to enjoy reading, but have you tried story time at the library? We also go to the park sometimes when the weather is nice.
These are all free things to do. If you have the money, Gymboree is a cool place to let your toddler expend some energy. I went to their website and got a free pass to check the place out. It's a little expensive though, 60$ a month. Or you can go every once in a while and pay 15$ for a session.
Good luck!

Check out some local parks. It's great because he gets to sit there in the swing for half an hour while you chat with other parents :) and of course there are sandboxes and other things, and jungle gyms that you can help him with. That's maybe an hour right there.

I also really like the book called Baby Days. i found it at the library. There are all kinds of excellent activities for toddlers.

Be outside as much as possible - you'll regret it if you don't and the next thing you know, it's February and not so easy to be outside.

Read to him , or talk with him about pictures in a book,take him for a walk in the neighborhood park or just around the block.

Hello Tiffany. I too was a stay at home mom. This is the age that children will pick up on everything. Each morning I would put on an educational program (age appropriate) and watch it with my son. I would do that for about an hour, then talk to him about it. Go over what he may have learned, but on a child level. There's also reading. But children get distracted so I would make sure the book is short but something I can use different voices with. Take fields trips to the park or play blocks or puzzles. It's also a great chance to bond.

My little boy liked to go for walks which could take a while as he would sit on a curb and play with a leaf or something for 5 minutes or so. He also loves to be read to. Check out your nearest community center sometimes they have classes for his age 1 or 2 times a week that gets him around other children.

hello tiffany,
i have a 10 month old son who is a very active little boy. i have no other children and i feel, as you do, that he is getting bored being with me all day. He does take a 1.5 hour morning nap and a 1 hour afternoon nap, but other than that i am trying to entertain him most of the day. I am enrolling him in a mothers day out program. I am starting with one day a week and if he does well, will move him to 2-3 days per week. I have been told by multiple mothers at the local playground that these programs are great in keeping toddlers busy.

I stay at home with my toddler (now 20 months old). We read books together, do fun silly things like chasing her around the house, catching her and tickling her, etc. She squeals with glee at this kind of stuff. She also likes playing a sort of hide and seek game - more like peek-a-boo really, but she'll hide behind the couch or in the next room and squeal with laughter when I "find" her, or I will hide behind something and she will find me or I will pop out and "surprise" her. Most of the time I am actively doing things with her, but really you don't have to ALL the time. She is content playing on her own with her toys or sitting and looking at her books. She loves her stuffed animals and dolls and makes them dance around, give hugs, "talk" to eachother, etc. She also likes drawing with crayons, and going outside and walking in the yard - there is always something new to find - a stick, a leaf, a stone, a frog, a neighborhood toddler strolling by with their mom! Mine also enjoys watching birds out the window, and playing with a ball. Really simple things, I know, but toddlers are easily amused. As he gets older or if he gets bored, try more challenging games where you have to ask him to find things.

Your right about a schedual, kids feed off of rutines. It will also teach disipline. Best thing to do is take some time sit down with paper and pencil. start by wrighting the things that you do every day, once a week and so on. Sounds like you already on one with the nap times. Then during the day for a few days wright down how long it takes you to do things and about when you do them. Then at the end of those few days you can come up with a very effective rutine that probably help even make more time for your son. At his age is a great time to start learning. It may not seem like it, but it is. Get a sign language book, get colors and coloring book for when you need to do some work. Just make sure it is the safe stuff for toddlers. Educational videos. You can find them at Toys R Us. I've also heard of "Your Baby Can Read". Once I get the money, i'm getting it. Read and sing to him. Our local libray has a toddler day once a week. Also get the book, "To Train Up a Child" they talk in the book how they started training when their children could first start crawling, and their children knew when no meant and had 7 very respectful, loving children. After reading it when my son was 4, i wish i would have started much sooner. Just remember, his little brain is developing very fast right now and it is like a spong. Any thing that you put in front of him and repeat the word over and over, he will learn. Becareful what he watches and for how long. I heard of a study showed brain waves on children and even when they watched educational videos, there brain waves decreased alot.

Hi,

You might check with your local library they have toddler classes. I live in Moore, and on Wed I take my 12 month old to a infant/toddler class at 10:00-10:30 or 10:30-11:00 they sing songs and read stories and at the end of the class is bubble time. They also have a music class on Mon but I havent been to that one yet. I also just joined the YMCA and I go every morning to work out (or try to workout) and I take my son so that he can go to the daycare there, he cries but he needs to get adjusted to playing with other kids since he stays at home with me all day. I also just signed up for the mommie and me water class for Sept and that will be on Mon & Wed from 10:00-10:30 from what I understand is that you don't have to be a member at the YMCA to take that class. I don't know where you live but I also heard that the Norman library has alot of classes daily for little ones. I have noticed that if I take my son somewhere just to look around (pets mart, or even Walmart) he seems alot happier, I think he gets bored also, I can't wait for some cooler weather so I can take him to the park in the afternoon to play!

K.

This is a little odd, but I think about a preschool schedule . . . time for inside play, time for outdoor play (balls, bubbles, take a walk), story time, craft time (crayons, markers, stickers, even washable paint). then think of outings you can do with a toddler . . .library, park, pet store, zoo to add some variety to your week. My suggestion - keep the TV turned off until it is designated TV time (the 30 - 60 min a day you want him watching) too many toddlers have TV running all day long.

I would look up activities on the interenet for children his age. My daughter plays alot. she is 18 months old. I work at home so when I am working I give her paper and crayons.. She has books to read and she just plays.. Then when I am taking a break or so I will play with her. Try going to meetup.com and they have so many actitives like going to the park and everything. You can meet other moms with kids your ages. I love it. Make playdough or something to get him hands on. If you want the recipe for it I can give it to you. Its safe for children. Make cookies and let him help. Make some kind of game to get him involved in helping you fold laundry (i know he probably can fold it) or cleaning.. He will just think its fun. I know my son he is 4 and when he was younger he loved anything that helped momma clean. So I would give him a towel and a spray bottle with water and he would help. Now he helps clean all the time with the real cleaning products. I love my cleaning products because they are safe even for my children. Just get him involved with anything you are doing. HOpe this helps.

S.
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im a stay at home mom and my almost 3 year old loves to go outside and to play with crayons and markes and paper. try getting him a drawing board and some crayons. crayons will come off of the walls if he just so happens to go off the drawing board and onto the walls. all you need is a magic eraser. i also got him some puzzels to try to work his brain. try playing in a sprinkler with him. he will love it cause he will get to play in water and he gets to be outside.