Having an 18 month old myself, I know how hard it can be to entertain your toddler. I seem to revert to the same old activities which not only bores her, but it bores me as well. There's not much worse than a bored toddler. This article provides 10 activities to help you entertain your toddler.
Get Artistic:
My little one loves to color. I cover our coffee table in a large piece of craft paper and get out the crayons, pens and pencils and finger paints. She loves to draw and my table is protected. Just keep an eye out for eating the crayons.
Play-doh:
Fairly self explanatory. Make sure to cover your floor to keep your carpet clean. Again keep an eye out for eating the play-doh.
Slide:
Either go to the playground or you can buy a small tiny tikes slide and put it right in the living room. I bought one at a garage sale for 5 bucks. The best money I think I've spent.
Tent or TeePee:
We got a cloth teepee at the county fair this year. I thought she was a little young for it, but she loves it. She takes pillows and blankets in there and runs in and out. We recently acquired a "play hut." It's made out of tent material, has a couple larger rooms and tunnels connect them. She loves it. We don't leave it up all the time, so when it does come out it's exciting.
I-Spy:
Whether you spy ears, bellybuttons, or sheep or dogs. I-Spy gets toddlers involved in learning new words and begin to learn to individuate items. For example, my little one is learning that sheep are not dogs.
Kitchen Play:
Fill a bottom cabinet, away from the stove, with different sized plastic containers. They can bang them together and start stacking them inside one another. Helps keep them entertained while you are doing dishes, or making dinner.
Dance:
Dancing is such fun. Just turn on the radio or a CD and get silly with your little one. Mine dances to just about anything. I love to see how she dances differently to different kinds of music. Be silly, Have fun, dance like no one's watching.
Go to the park:
Get some fresh air, swing, play with other kids.
Play dress up:
Get some old t-shirts, dresses and even older siblings hand me downs, and dress up. Get them to use their imagination, pretend to be a princess or a farmer.
Make a "favorites" book:
Look through old magazines together and let them find things they like. Cut the pictures out of the magazine and paste them onto construction paper. Wrtite what they are on each page then tie the pages together. Now she has a little book of her "favorites".
Hopefully this gets you started and will help get your imagination going as well as your toddlers. With a jumpstart of ideas it's much easier to start thinking of more and more ways to entertain your toddler.
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