what do you do all day?

2u2wow

ideas?

i'm running out..... 

ds seems bored! 

 

kagl08

My kids are a little older so they've reached the phase where they can entertain each other. It's really nice. 

Activities that we do on any given day:

puzzles, read books, play dough, play in their play kitchen, blocks, play catch, play musical instruments, color, watch TV, play cars, play with the train table, side walk chalk, play on the chalk board. When we can we go outside and they play in the dirt, literally. That's their favorite "game." 

Some days they do a couple of things above, and other days they try and do it all.  

sosoph

When I SAH, we did morning outing, lunch, nap, walk,  free time at home (usually outside) and an activity I picked.

I keep a master calendar of possible outings for each day of the week. It includes things that could be any day and things with a specific day/time, free or not, and events/places that are not on the regular rotation but good for once in a while, such as story hour at a further library. Each month I look at the published "around town" calendars and put those down as possibilities.

Toy rotation. I found that if she saw something everyday, she was "bored" with it, even if she wasn't playing with it.

On long days, an extra bath with extra bubbles always works.

 If we can be outside, we are. You never know when you're going to have a stretch of bad weather that makes being outside hard, so we take advantage when we can.

kcisthebombdotcom

We make it a rule to get out of the house everyday or we all go stir crazy.

When DD was a newborn I loved story time at the library. I would do the one in our town and then the one in the town next to ours so we had that two mornings a week. When the weather permits (ie it's 40 or over) we play outside. We go for walks in a local park--I would wear the baby in a carrier so I had my hands free to tend to my DS. If it were cold out, we would walk around target for a while. We'd go to the toy area and let DS look at toys. We also have a few kids consignment stores that have toys out so we'd go there. I'd browse while DS played and the toys were cheap enough he could have one everytime we went.

We joined the Y 6 months ago and I really wish we started even earlier. I know that facilities vary greatly but our local one is awesome. It's a newly renovated building with a gigantic kids play area--they have an indoor bouce house with slide, tons of tables to play toys on, easels for coloring, a 10ft train table, lots of climbing and building apparatus, etc. In the summer the have a pond and splash pad for the kids and there's tons of hiking trails. It keeps my kids busy for hours, they get much needed physical activity when it's too cold out (which helps immensely behaviorally!) and gives me time to work out. I would look into something like that when your second child is 6+ weeks old if you can swing it financially.

WhitePicketFence

I'm a SAHM so I make sure we get out of the house for a few hours every morning or else we all would go crazy. We go to library storytime, Kindermusik classes, classes at the zoo (the actual zoo part doesn't open until spring so they only do classes this time of year), the Children's Museum, the indoor bouncy house, and the nature center. During the warmer months, we also go to the beach and the playground.

In the afternoon after naps, we do art projects, play outside in the snow, go for a walk (if it's not freezing out), play with Playdoh, play a board game (well, with DD1 anyway), have the kids help me bake, make forts out of pillows/couch cushions, etc.

lindsay.lou

We have an awesome backyard and property, swingset, etc. but everything is snow covered and it's so cold out. I don't mind bundling up DS1, but I can't nurse DS2 outside when it's this cold, which makes it so tough. To get out of the house we do storytime at the library, walk around the mall, a music class, a drop in gymnastics class, etc.

jgoetz1

sosoph:

When I SAH, we did morning outing, lunch, nap, walk,  free time at home (usually outside) and an activity I picked.

I keep a master calendar of possible outings for each day of the week. It includes things that could be any day and things with a specific day/time, free or not, and events/places that are not on the regular rotation but good for once in a while, such as story hour at a further library. Each month I look at the published "around town" calendars and put those down as possibilities.

Toy rotation. I found that if she saw something everyday, she was "bored" with it, even if she wasn't playing with it.

On long days, an extra bath with extra bubbles always works.

 If we can be outside, we are. You never know when you're going to have a stretch of bad weather that makes being outside hard, so we take advantage when we can.

Great suggestions!

MrsW80

I SAH, and I agree...it gets very trying some days because its winter.  DS2 is pretty much happy doing whatever, but with DS1 we usually do flashcards on the kindle, read a book, he will free play while I check emails...clean up the kitchen from breakfast etc.  Then we will choose an activity like play doh, or painting or blocks.  Then usually DS2 wants to eat so I'll turn on a dvd or disney jr for DS1 (gasp!) while I feed DS2. Then we do snack, naptime etc. rinse and repeat.  Little boys need a LOT of activity or they get bored quickly.  Even just rolling a ball or playing cars with DS keeps him very happy.