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How do you keep an 'uncrafty' 2 yr. old busy all day?

sdrakesdrake member
in Toddlers: 24 Months+

i think it's the cold weather keeping us in but I wake up almost every day worried about keeping my 2.5 yr. old busy all day. We watch maybe a 30 min. show in the morning, play a bit, do a puzzle, another 30 minute show later, but I just feel like everybody's bored around here lately. I see a lot of people saying they're doing more 'crafts' but my son does not like to color, cut, etc. so I don't really know what kind of crafty things I can be doing with him anyway.

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Re: How do you keep an 'uncrafty' 2 yr. old busy all day?

  • anna7602anna7602 member

    DD can spend hours playing with her play kitchen and her dolls. Today, she probably spent close to 2 hours "cooking" for them, then sitting them down and placing bowls with "food" before them, then feeding them and finally getting them all to "take a nap" after their lunch.

    When she gets bored of entertaining herself, we find little projects around the house, like going through mommy's jewelry box (I have a specific box of costume jewelry just for this purpose, but DD thinks she's not allowed to play with it except for special occasions), unloading or loading the dishwasher (DD LOVES to do this), getting the laundry together and taking it down to my building's basement for washing, etc.

    DD is also very into yoga, she has been going to a toddler yoga class for over a year. So rolling out the yoga mat and pretending we're having yoga class is usually good for a 30 minute chunk of time.

    When all else fails, I make a last-minute play date. If it has been cold and dreary enough out, I usually know at least one other mom with cabin fever who is more than happy to either come over to our place or invite us over.

    With a combination of all of the above, we get away with very little crafting or TV.

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  • smash_effectsmash_effect member

    My busy body son never plays with the same thing for more than 20 minutes. He can get bored quickly. I'm totally used to it and just plan having a few things ready to go each day. I wouldn't say my son is crafty but we do color and do play doh (this lasts about 10 mins or so). I let him take super long baths mid morning or we run errands and make a stop at Barnes and Nobel so he can play with the train table. I try to read with him a couple times a day, push him around in the laundry basket, hide and seek, draw on the magnadoodle. He also watches a few shows a day. Among all that, he "helps" me do daily tasks like laundry, etc.

     

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  • randa603randa603 member
    I get a lot of ideas from sites like Productive Parenting.  I like PP because you can set it up so that they send the day's activity directly to your email...like a friendly reminder.  On days with inclement weather we go to or have playdates, go to indoor kids facilities, toddler activities at the local kid's museum, library, etc.  I don't know how much space you have but I try to keep dd active even if we have to stay in...so, I try to set up my own indoor playground with a tunnel, tent, slide, etc.  HTH...good luck:)
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  • EStar628EStar628
    Like PP mentioned, Productiveparenting.com has some good ideas.  Some of the ideas are just common sense, but others are helpful and I feel like I am actually helping DD learn. For example, doing play-dough, but allowing her to use kitchen tools (butter knife, spatula, etc). Also, my DD loves doing a 'shoe sort' where we pile up a bunch of shoes and then she goes through them and matches them all up. I like the activities that are really quick and easy to organize. 
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  • redhead2466redhead2466

    I also wanted to suggest building forts.  If your LO isn't crafty, they may get a kick out of something novel that you built one day and isn't normally there.

    Also, just because you don't think they are crafty doesn't mean they might not like baking.  I get DD to 'help' me bake, and now she loves to come 'help' with everything.  When I bake something and have her help, it's a special event for her.

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  • alli2672alli2672 member

    one thing we do is take all of the cushions off the couches, put on kids music, and have a dance party.  My boys can keep themselves amused with this for about 30-40 minutes while I cook or talk on the phone. 

    My boys (13 months and 30 months) also love helping to cook.  My 2 year old particularly loves to have control over the stand mixer. 

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