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Winter activities for toddlers?
Does anyone have ideas of fun winter/indoor activities for young toddlers? We have a routine of going to the playground after work/daycare and I think it may be too dark starting next week. 
Going home and playing with the same toys every day gets old after a while.
Going home and playing with the same toys every day gets old after a while. This discussion has been closed.
Re: Winter activities for toddlers?
Where are you located? Our weeknight routine is pretty much the same as yours, and we don't really have time for "organized" activities until the weekend. Locally we have an indoor sports place that runs a kids' program called Soccer Bugs (Dulles Sportsplex in Loudoun County). Otherwise, we use the dullesmoms.com website to find fun things to do on the weekends.
I wish I had a magical answer. The only thing I've thought to do is arrange our living and playrooms into "stations" and encourage switching activities. So, there's reading, drawing, train table and cars for stationary activities. For physical activities, Nerf-type soccer ball with a small goal, rocking horse, and I'm thinking of getting a mini-trampoline for bouncing but that's for two and up. Other ideas are turning on music and dancing, tickle fights. When all fails and he's got energy he runs laps. I feel your pain, because the more outside time we have, the better his behavior.
We walk home from daycare most nights so that is usally the extent of our activity on weeknights.
But here are a few ideas for weekend winter activities: library, museums (Air and Space, Natural History, National Building), trip to the pet store to look at the animals, acquarium. We are also probably going to start swimming lessons later this fall.
Yeah, winter sucks. My only thought is to rotate the toys - we do this for lack os space. We also have the holiday Fisher Price toys. We get home so late with them that we only have enough time to eat, bathe and get some books or playtime in before bed so our problem is mainly the weekend when the park is a daily routine.
Sing songs - my kids like both CDs and Youtube Kids123tv - Phonics song 2 is the biggest hit ever with Molly right now. Make one night a week a dance party - have it in the kitchen or a bedroom to change things up from the living room.
Any building toys were popular at that age - it is hard because they aren't really old enough for crafts or helping cooking. Maggie liked to run around the dining room at that age in constant circles.
Do you have a YMCA near you? Can you join a place like Romp N Roll? There's a Montgomery County Guide book out there - I think you can find it at the library - that lists various activities (now for winter). We have a place nearby that offers a lot of kids activities throughout fall/winter including swimming, music, etc so you can try to find a place like that. Otherwise, go to the library, the mall, play in the toy aisles at Target or let LO run around.... we have friends that let their LO ride the tricycle in the house. LOL