[BRB]

I feel like I'm in a rut with my 20month old. We seem to do the same things, play with same toys, read books, park, play dough or draw.

I need inspiration. What are u "teaching" your toddler and what sort of activities do you do with them at the moment

TIA

[kpingitquiet]

Not sure about specifically "teaching" her anything, aside from a visit to starfall.com just to play with some alphabet, once or twice. Most days we just go about the business of life!

Examples:

If I'm vacuuming (and I do that a lot with two dogs and a muddy yard!) she gets out her pop-pop push toy and "vacuums" too. If I'm cooking something elaborate (ie, can't be done when her dad gets home) she stands on a stepstool and "helps" but mostly we just play games like "What fruit is that?" "What's that veggie called?" and she'll munch some raw veggies.

Most days, I put on music (spotify rocks!) and we dance like maniacs for at least an hour. Sometimes we go outside, on the rare occasion the backyard isn't a swamp heh. We have a playground across the street but it's always swamped in winter, too.

We read a lot of books but I always rotate what's out so she gets to hear different things and I don't get sick of reading the same stories over and over. I hide the rest! Half the time, she reads to me (she's memorized a couple of her faves, by the pictures)

We do drawing, too, but not terribly often as she gets a bit tantrum-y when it's time to put the crayons and markers away! No playdoh yet as she still is too fond of putting things in her mouth.

The rest of the time is pretty quickly eaten up by cuddles, breakfast, lunch, and naptime. We might watch a kids show or a movie or something, too. Her dad does various activities with her when he gets home, and we go to the mall and animal parks and family's on weekends, so she stays pretty busy. It is rather repetitious, at times, but that's how tiny kids learn.

[CherryAmes]

I know these threads happen a lot, but I think they're great as everyone needs fresh ideas sometimes!

My bub is 18mths. Each day I try to keep in mind: books, music, fine motor, gross motor, art & craft. On easy days, I do all the above, on hard days (me having a hard day, or we are out a lot), I just do books and music.

Books: reading to her. you can also look through photo albums.scrapbooks, go through catalogues and recipe books (my bub really enjoys this!) and give her old mail to 'read'.

Music: singing action songs, including fingerplay, big movement songs, and listening to CDs and dancing. I like the playschool CDs.

Fine motor: puzzles, shape sorters, threading. I was always hopeless at this sort of stuff so I try to do this with my bub, hoping she'll take after my more spatially aware partner!

gross motor: going outside/to the park, when it is fine. Lots of rough-housing with my partner!

art & craft: drawing (washable crayons), painting (I use yoghurt & food colouring), playdough (I make my own and supervise or she'd eat it), $2 shop stickers to "scrapbook", playing with strips of cheap contact (it's less sticky).

I play a bit with her, then give her time to play alone, then play a bit with her. She is pretty good at playing alone with her toys for periods of time which is lucky as baby no 2 is coming along soon.

[BRB]

Thanks so much. Great ideas

[Miss Cookie]

We now attend kinder gym and a supported playgroup. My 20 month old has lots of energy to burn. We do little kickers for the same reason.

At home we blow bubbles, throw water balloons, and paint. We go for walks and pick flowers. We play chasing games, cars, trains and lots of ball games.



We now attend kinder gym and a supported playgroup. My 20 month old has lots of energy to burn. We do little kickers for the same reason.

At home we blow bubbles, throw water balloons, and paint. We go for walks and pick flowers. We play chasing games, cars, trains and lots of ball games.

[Jenflea]

My 2 yr old and I go to the local library for toddler stuff(singing mostly) which she sometimes likes and sometimes is bored by.
I'm going to try story time next as they do craft (drawing coloring) afterwards. I must say, I hate the mess of craft at home. I spend more time setting up and cleaning up than she does actually DOING it.
We do playdough after dinner, sticker books, colouring.
I have music in the car (play school CD's). Read books at bedtime and during the day.
Go shopping, to the art gallery and places kids like.