during those afternoon hours when life of mum is busy and children are gagging for attention.

I am typing this as my boys watch playschool, i contemplate trying to keep the house reasonable till dad get home, and look at the mess I didn't tiday today as a nap seemed so much more appealing during the childrens nap time today.

so i guess i would love some ideas for mess free engaging activities for a 18mth old and 3 year old with minimal parental involvement.

we have the play doh activity centre - I put a plastic tablecloth on the carpet or tiles (xmas one in fact) and DD will sit amd play with that for a good half hour or more - expecially if i wander over every 10 mins and change the colour or commend on how great those snake/balls/eyebrows are!

In desperate times, I have a stash of stickers and coloured paper - DD will sit there for ages putting stickers on paper.
The other thing she loves is a pile of old magazines and a pair of Crayola my first sissors - though this does make a bit of a mess.

Oh I hear you! Mess free distraction is soooo hard at this age.

I'm with PP, my DD will sit quietly (on a good day, not necessarily the day I 'need' the break hahaha) and do stickers for a good length of time. I've even got her to the point of putting the paper backing in a little bin on her table - yay!

I found an art shop that sells tubs of stick-on foam animals, insects and shapes for only a few dollars (they are normally sooo exxxy) and DD really enjoys using them. I give her a pile of coloured paper so she can choose the background colour and let her stick away. She is also able to be trusted with her crayons etc to add to the picture.

I'm also keeping all the sticker covered artwork so that when she is a little older and able to use her scissors she can then re-use them for cutting and pasting type activities.

Great question OP - I'll keep an eye out for other great tips too, so thanks for asking

I don't care how messy the house gets in the am, I have an hour to clean upduring naps... but the afternoon gosh how I dislike that time of day! they always want lots of attn...maybe I just need to learn the art of the slow cooker0000


another idea some one told me was hide and seek stuffed animals.. while sleeping hide the toys let them go on a toy hunt....

water spray bottles... if you have a contained deck.

chalk board/ chalk

I give Alex a shopping bag and he "shops for me...brings out items tat i have asked for 9 a puzzle piece might be a botle of mile of bread....

fridge magnets.. just got a thomas set and both boys enjoy it

music and pices of material for dancing...

Cleaning... Give a a damp cloth or fill sink with water and put a towel under them while I cook.

they both liek helping cook s we

Hmm dinner who has Ideas there lol

I know my DD2 is alot younger than 18months but I do the dancing thing! Crank it up, let DD1 get over her afternoon crazies and DD2 loves watching her! I give her balloons, streamers etc which are easy to put away or I get the puzzles out for DD1 and DD2 goes in the bouncer near the back door to watch the trees..

I try and get them outside, they have their little tramp, the golf set, bikes, scooter, the outside trucks, hula hoop.... they bring out their cash register and play toy shops.

Other than that we get the textas out, and they colour in. If I am in a good mood (though they are getting better) I get out their glue pots and paper and let them glue all the pictures I have cut out of the junk mail....

Or they get a bucket of water each and a paint brush and they pain the house with water.... though not soo good now the weather is getting cooler.

Or my fav, an early afternoon bath, they can play and play and get clean and I don't have to do much .

thanks for the ideas, I've got exactly the same situation in my house. I was just saying on the weekend to DH, that DS watches too much tellie but it's easiest for me trying to get things done.

I'll defintely be giving the cutting, pasting and stickers a go. I'll have to get to the shops to buy some goodies. Art shops hey, like those Riot Art ones?

It's hard, isn't it... you want to keep them amused whilst you put laundry away, sort dinner, have 5 minutes peace and tidy the house. It's nice to have it done before your DH gets home, so then both of you can focus on dinner, bath and bedtime, before realxing after they go to bed!

We have most of DD's toys in small to medium plastic boxes that you buy from Big W, Target or a cheap store) that have the activities in them. That way you can just get one thing out for her to play with, and it's is fairly easily tidied up, rather than a whole room to tidy.

We have small boxes... a playdoh one, a paint one, a Barbies/ dolls one, a Little People one, a baby doll one, a drawing/ activity book one, a music one etc. They contain everything she needs, ie. to draw, without any stuff in there that needs supervision.

We also have larger one with the Little People house etc., one with blocks, and one with miscellaneous toys. We also have a couple of larger ones with her old 'baby toys' in them, which make for great amusement, as we don't get them out very often, so they are very exciting to her!

We also have a dress up's bag. That stuff often gets dragged out and makes a mess, but very easy to shove it all back in once playtime is over.

She also she has a couple of baby dolls, and baby stuff for them. Likes to take them in the pram to pretend places,a nd feeds them/ changes them etc. When she asks to play too, it might be a matter of helping her change them, then she goes off by herself again for a while.

DD is really into books again, but in a phase where she won't sit and look at them by herself, because 'I am too little to read.' But maybe some simpler kids books with lots of pictures, or noise making ones might help?

Another possible thing to amuse them is games on the computer, but most of those require your help anyways. Some sites (Sesame Street, Wiggles, Disney etc.) have story telling and games where the toddler just has to press a button to play...

So, these are not really non-mess making games, but mess minimising ideas... I am not sure no-mess is possible!! Even when watching TV/ DVD's, DD still manages to make some sort of mess, pulling the cushions off the lounge, playing other games at the same time, wanting food/ drinks, and making a mess with that!! I think the best solution is a nice glass of wine for mummy and daddy after the kids have gone to bed!

Oh, and yes, the slow cooker is a great way to cook, esp. now the weather is perfect for casseroles, curries and stews. You prepare the meal earlier in the day, when you tend to have more time/ patience! Then in the evening, you can feed your kids their meal from it and leave it on simmer/ warm, so either of you can eat at whatever time you like (can manage it) too.

Dixiebelle you are SO organised! Will have to get some of those storage containers soon.
These are all great ideas. Cant wait to use them.

Yes, and I have them colour co-ordinated with her room too (pink ones!) and even labelled them the other day!!!

We have a tandem tennis set up with outside toys like a trike a pastic rocker, the cheapest sand pit ever, (a cement mixing box from bunnings with sand pit sand total $10)a ball and a laundry basket.

Put together with a plate of fruit and biscuits.

this gives me about an hour to clean the house with out the kids

DD's been playing with this fishing game she likes, even though she doesn't use it properly, it keeps her occupied the longest atm trying to figure it out. The fishing rod is a stick with a little rope with a magnet on the end and in the container - that has a sealife background, there's different kinds of fish, octopus, seahorse, starfish etc. It's really cute.

There's some great ideas here. Thanks ladies!

We like making cubby houses under the coffee table. All they need is a big sheet and some pillows, maybe few toys. Just drag over a couple of dining chairs and bobsyouruncle a secret hide out to keep them quietly busy for ages.

It can get a bit messy - but at least it keeps them busy. You can just limit the amount of treasures they take into the cubby to make the game less messy.

Oh, and for your 3 year old, what about puzzles? My DD likes those basic wooden, toddler puzzles... keep her busy for a while without a huge amount of pieces to pack up...

My 3 year old DD loves her dvds and ABC Kids but I've found a good alternative is to put some Wiggles or Hi5 music on and she bops around to that. Or just sings along to it and plays. It's great in the late arvo to keep her happy before dinner.

Also, puzzles are great. She loves her Lego. Oh and Playdoh - she'll sit and play with that for an hour

Simple, yet effective!

I like to get outside as much as possible, even when it's raining. In fact, it's more interesting when it's raining!

We also just lie on the bed for an hour and read books - a rest for me at the same time.

My daughter at about 3 loved playing with felt. I got some felt peices (A4 size) in different colours to make different backgrounds. I then got some different shaped felt pieces like farm animals, african animals, under the sea items, stars and moons etc. then all she had to do was sit down at her little table and make her own 'scene'. Hardly any mess, just have to shove them all back in a box, and it kept her quiet.

*edited* I think I got the felt sheets from my local discount store, I also think that places like the warehouse or riot art should have them. I got the shapes from target when they were on special for about 79cents a pack (bought about 4 packs but you may not need that many).

I know its not a big suggestion but maybe this helps? Don't know whether my DS would stay still for this at his age (20 months), maybe when a little older.

Chris
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