Fun activities for my bored Ds

[poshBecks]

Hi ladies ( & gents)

Does anyone have any good ideas for some fun activites/games for my 19 month old ds.
He seems to be getting a bit bored with his toys. I sit down and draw with him & play with a tray of water & cups etc...... but i'm just not sure what kind of things to do for his age to keep him stimulated for more than 5 mins.... he generally has a great attention span I think he's just getting a bit old for the things we've been doing & playing with.... he loves the water play & crayons just need some more ideas!!
Thanks guys....

[Chickadee]

I guess I've been lucky that DD has loved puzzles and still does. She has about a dozen wooden puzzles that together will keep her busy for up to an hour (and not needing me!), though at 2 years she's bored with the ones she has but not quite ready to move up to interlocking pieces.

DD loves drawing with her crayons too. Variations would be chalk or paint. I'd recommend the big sidewalk chalks, and you can get a sheet of blackboard for about $20 at a hardware store or just use the driveway/pavement. She'll paint for as long as I'll let her, generally 40 min or so.

She also never tires of her sandbox.

He might be getting into the age of enjoying copying you and playing at pretend. We got DD a baby doll at around that age that she could give a bottle or dummy too, she also liked putting one to bed or pushing it around in a stroller at daycare. She loves helping me clean and if I give her a dry cloth will wander around "washing" absolutely everything.

[catnapjack]

Hi there,

I was around at my sisters house this morning. She has a 20 month old daughter who is the same. My niece enjoys her ride on cycle, you know the kiddy bikes ? My sister is lucky enough to have a verandah with sliding doors near the kitchen so the little one rides up and down for a while as my sister is in the kitchen.

The other thing my sister does when she needs a break, is put her little one in the highchair in front of a DVD and gives her finger food. She supervises her of course but it enables her to have some free time as her daughter loves the wiggles and eating !

Good Luck :)

[poshBecks]

Thanks guys for the suggestions - A BIG HELP......

Keep them coming..... :D

[rynosmum]

Hi Becky,

My son is almost 18 months and I've found that he's reached the age where his toys aren't anywhere near as fun as grown-up things. He is having a ball at the moment with pots and wooden spoons, banging together saucepan lids, filling up a bag with little bits of fabric. Playing with a balloon and chasing it around the room and his sandpit - once again with things from the kitchen - measuring cups. I've also given him a big box of Christmas decorations and shiny fabric and he's loving that.

His toys are seemingly forgotten and he hasn't quite grasped the concept of drawing so that's no good.

Fantastic though for Christmas - if he gets an ice cream container and a stick, he'll be rapt ! :D

[em's mum]

Hi!

Have you tried getting a stamp pad and some stamps. I just bought my 18mth old some stamps and while she is more interested in sticking her finger in the ink pad, she is slowly working out what to do.

Also have you thought of getting a scrapbook and going through magazines and cutting out pictures and pasting them in? I'm going to start doing this with my DD and set up a page for each letter of the alphabet.

I have also put a post under "activities for a 10mth old" with a few painting ideas.

Hope these help you.

[Chickadee]

Yikes! I'd be a bit scared to give DD a stamp pad for fear of the entire house being stamped. But with supervision that's a great idea. DD loves sheets of stickers though at first she needed help getting them off the sheet. You can get cheap books of stickers at some dollar stores or discount stores.

[Elfin]

We just did in the dirt in the garden with our shovels and tonka trucks. Pull out weeds. Plant some seeds together in the garden. Get some paint brushes from a junk shop (like house painting brushes) fill a bucket of water and paint the concrete or bricks or fence. Draw with chalk on the concrete, I think MarthaM already mentioned this.

Collect things like sticks, leaves etc from the garden and sticky tape to paper. Water play in a clam.

Just wanted to add he might be able to manage some clag gluing and pasting bits of paper, foil, string or whatever to paper.

[BlessedWithBlue]

Some great ideas!! I may just have to steal some of them lol (of course if you ladies don't mind??? ;) )

With my ods, he is 27 months now. I fill my kitchen sink with water and shampoo or dishwashing liquid to make bubbles and scoop out the bubbles and put them in a bowl. ds and i then go outside with his bowl of bubbles and a bowl of water and various toys, mainly cars and soap up and rinse his toys (only the ones that can dry off later lol) keeps his amused for a long time lol but the bowl of water usually ends up all over him!!!

He's fascinated with cars and trains at the moment so he's always laying on the floor playing with them.
We also draw with crayons, df got some butcher's paper from work so we spread that on his plastic table and it covers it all.
Haven't been brave enough to try finger painting yet :eek: but i know he would love it!!!! tried playdough and he kept pouring his sippy cup over it and squishing it between his fingers ;) so i put that away.

[Chickadee]

Rachel, great idea with the bowl of bubbles. I think I'll try that tomorrow. We went to Bunnings and DD insisted on me buying a little duster thingy (I'm so easy) which she now loves cleaning the house with. Today she helped me pull weeds today. Or rather I pulled weeds and she piled dirt on her stuffed bear :rolleyes:

The squishing of playdough is funny. Must have felt pretty good between his fingers. I'd be tempted to get the playdough back out for more of that actually, outside though. My DD doesn't do much with playdough without lots of help from us.

[BlessedWithBlue]

Martha, ds gets df's socks from the laundry and tries to "clean" the windows with them:eek: i like that one! i may have to give ds his own cleaning cloth instead of using daddy' socks lol.

Ds is getting a sandpit, slide, pool and swing for xmas so i am very sure he will be busy outside for a long time to come in summer!!! he LOVES being outside and we have a small backyard so there's nothing he can get into. I think the playdough can come out again but def only outside and away from 11 months old yds, last time he had it out he also gave it to yds who loved the taste of it:eek:

He's also now just getting into books, he has never liked looking at books til now. The only kids i know who would trade his beloved cars for a book (he even takes his car to bed:) )

[Elfin]

This is probably slightly off topic, my ds' teacher told me that playing with play doh is great for fine motor skill development which helps them to learn pencil control and writing later on. She has observed that children that do a lot of play doh usually write well.

I persist with it only for this reason, as it is so messy. I seem to find it all over the house and squished under my shoes. DD 3yo the other day thought it would be a great idea to put it in her pocket:rolleyes: I am still picking it out:rolleyes:

[poshBecks]

I seem to find it all over the house and squished under my shoes. DD 3yo the other day thought it would be a great idea to put it in her pocket:rolleyes: I am still picking it out:rolleyes:
Hmmmm sounds like lots of fun LOL!!!

Thanks heaps guys there are heaps of great suggestions there!! Looks like CJ & I are in for some real fun!!:p