activites to do with babies & toddlers

[Pompey_Princess]

thought it might be nice, if it's ok too make a thread and share what we do with our baby and toddler's, so we can exchange idea's and helpful for other new mums, as i no when i first had maddi i always wondered what to 'do' with her!

some of these things are perhaps for more toddlers, but you get the drift

* swimming (from 8week's old, we take classes once a week, though taking them to the pool is lovely, doesn't have to be a class, though remember a hat this time of year!)

* soft play - indoor areas, all different around the country, took mads from crawling

* colouring - since she was a year

* baking - pop her in her highchair and at the start she played with a wooden spoon, now enjoys stirring and decorating cakes

* walking/park - she loves the swings, mummy get petrified on the slide

* zoo/farm visit's

* lots of playing signing and dancing at home, and trying to teach her numbers, colours etc

add your own... i sometimes feel we're in an 'activities rut'!

 

[Terrie]

good idea!

music & dance time - getting the instruments out and popping some music on
singing time - nursery rhymes/songs & actions
duplo
baking
soft play
roleplay - kitchen,dolls etc
dressing up clothes
puzzles
helping make lunch lol
walking on the beach/to the park
feeding the ducks
painting - potato prints/finger painting
tv time

im sure theres more.. ill add as i remember them

 

[Pompey_Princess]

excellent, thanks tezzy can't believe i forgot dressing up! she loves doing this!

 

[Sam's Mum]

We do lots of the same things as you, although I haven't taken Sam swimming for a while because I think I'll need help if I have 2 of them there! He does love it though, but he's never had lessons.

- When the weather's nice we go to the park or go for a walk to feed the ducks.

- We do lots of drawing with crayons (when I say 'we', I mean Sam chooses a colour, gives it to me and tells me to draw a big frog with it... if I draw other things he's not happy ). We have a chalkboard too and he draws more on that, although it is covered in frogs at the moment too.

- Roleplay - loves pretending to cook and makes me eat his pretend food. He also likes to help me in the kitchen and his favourite thing at the moment is putting the washing machine on (what are the chances of that still being his favourite thing to do when he's 15?) - pretty much anything I do he wants to be involved in. His other favourite thing is helping me put the shopping away - but he then wants to get it all out again to start again.

- Reading books - he didn't ever want to sit on my knee for long enough to read until a few months ago but he LOVES books now so we have a few different stories (and the same ones over and over again) every day.

- Colours, counting etc. He now grabs my finger and points to the things he's counting as if he's trying to teach me to do it

- We used to do lots of singing but he likes 5 little ducks and there are only so many times I can sing it If I do anything else he says 'no mummy' and asks for it again

- Hide and seek, or hiding toys around the room, asking me where they are and then finding them again.

- Soft play (love the fact that I feel as if I've spent a day in the gym after we've been to one!) One of the local ones has mirrors and little lights on the ceiling too so even Toby enjoys it!

- While I'm feeding Toby Sam usually reads a book with me or watches a bit of TV.. he never used to show any interest in it at all but I think he's happily sit there and watch it all day now if I let him!

- Sometimes (usually after a messy lunch ) I'll give him a bath just to play with the water - he used to go in the paddling pool lots in the summer and loved it and this is as close as he's going to get to that while it's snowing outside!

I'm sure I'll think of more - we always seem to be doing something!

 

[Pompey_Princess]

aww sam sounds adorable hon! maddi likes helping with the washing too!

 

[Sam's Mum]

Only problem is every time I mention something is dirty he wants to put it straight in the bin or the washing machine (and doesn't always get the right one!) He picked up Toby's bath sponge this morning and I told him it was dirty just to stop him trying to suck any leftover bath water out of it and he said 'bin' and ran off to put it in there

 

[Pompey_Princess]

oh bless sam! maddi goes round taking peoples tea towels and cleaning the floor with them people must think i have her working at home

 

[Mervs Mum]

I LOVE this thread!

 

[Toonlass]

With Jacob who is 7 months we do:

Water play- he loves splashing in a bowl of water

Tickle time- strip him down and basicall munch on body parts while telling him what they are eg. pork chop legs, spare ribs, chicken wings (arms) and rump steak. Sounds daft but he laughs so much

Floor play- help him/watch him move around the floor and get him into new positions

Walks in the park

Songs and stories

TV time- he loves waybaloo and big cook little cook, we chat about it while its on (or i chat to him)

Exercise time- jumperoo, swimming, or basicall flinging him around

Its so hard to fill a day with a baby but we do ok xx