[GreenEggJimmyJam...]

I have a VERY active almost two year old who is booked in to have surgery very soon. No sure how long the wait time will be in hospital before/after the surgery but just wanting some ideas of what to do to keep her amused. She is still not very good at sitting still, I was thinking of some new books, maybe some things to do some colouring but not sure if she will be able to stay still.

Any hints, advice and tips would be greatly appreciated. TIA

[Kasey5]

Hope everything goes well for you.
There are lots of paint/draw with water toys such as the aquadoodle which my boy enjoyed at that age, which don't make any mess and are reusable. Also magnadoodle. You could probably do playdough on a tray or sitting out of bed. Kids computer or music playing toy with lots of buttons to press. i-phone games - we have some basic Dora games with animal sounds etc. Family photos on your phone to scroll through. Puzzles, pasting with gluesticks, stickerbooks, imaginery play with puppets /finger puppets.

If you are at a major childrens hospital for more than 1 night they should have toys and things to bring around for the kids which will help too. My DS was 9 mths, but they bought a box of toys for him to use. Hopefully by the time she is getting really bored in hospital she will be well enough to go home!

[laridae]

My 18 month old sat and watched the entire movie 'Babe' yesterday - i was quite surprised as she normally has no interest in TV - so maybe something like that?

[Octonaught]

My DD has major surgery last year at 3 she also had to stay 2 weeks after the surgery I collected a huge bag of things to bring out when she was bored. Before surgery she didn't need anything as there is a child set up waiting room at the hospital that kept her very busy but after I had:

New Dr. barbie set
New coloring books and textas, pencils and crayons.
Movies she had never seen before (and my laptop)
Those cardboard pop out and dress up dolls
New (cheap) socks with her favorite characters on them.
A small container of about 6-7 lip smackers (scented lip balms)
A small bottle of hand sanitizer
Books she had never seen before.

I had a few more things but I can't think of them but as you can see each time she got board I bought out a new thing, she didn't know about any of them so they were all a surprise to her.

[GreenEggJimmyJam...]

Thanks for the replies. It's only minor surgery but the idea of a general anaesthetic is freaking me out so anything I can do to make it less stressful for her (and me) helps.