Find yourself juggling a new baby and an active toddler? Or has your toddler suddenly developed a need to constantly be on the go and won't sit still. As a parenting expert, here are some of my top tips to keep an active toddler entertained so you can finally enjoy a cup of tea in peace.
1. Get them involved in household chores.
Get them involved in household tasks and tidying up their toys. If they don't want to tidy up, choose one of their teddies and get teddy to ask them to do things. They will probably listen to teddy if not you!
Simple household tasks are perfect for getting toddlers involved, like getting or putting washing in and out of the machine (just beware of safety and washing tablets).
They can help with matching socks for mums or dads or siblings too.
2. Get dancing.
Just put music on and start dancing around the room. You will feel better and the children will love it!
3. Animal play.
After active play, suggest laying down like sleeping bears and say you will count and they can jump up when you reach a number.
Or why not suggest they be a snake or another animal, be creative and slither across the floor! Keep the game going with lots of different zoo animals!
4. Get walking
Whilst getting outdoors is great, you don't need to go outside to do this one.
Offer a suggestion of walking differently across the lounge to make things fun. For example...
Try walking slowly or on tiptoe, with big steps, tiny steps, in a straight line, try hopping, skipping, jumping, or even zig-zagging across the room!
Have fun doing this with them and even hold the baby at the same time or wear them in a sling.
5. Don't stop running.
Toddlers love to run and as I talked about in my blog post on how to stop kids running away from you we don't want to stop toddlers from running but we do need to do it safely. Here's one game they'll love...
Try tying scarfs to objects like dining chairs.
Then say:
“one, two, ready run. Run to the chair”
Repeat the same phrase for other objects.
If interested in colours, add in the colour of the scarf.
” Now run to the blue scarf”
Perfect if you are breastfeeding and they need entertaining, without having to leave the sofa!
Try sponge play, throw and catch them (or even aim them into a container) - they are nice and soft and won’t hurt the baby if they land on them.
6. Get crafty
Save some cardboard tubes, kitchen roll, and wrapping paper-it's good to have big and little so they are learning this concept as they play.
Choose some toys that will fit inside.
Show them how to hold the tube at an angle so that the toy will fall out the other side.
Say funny words as they put the toy down the tube, like
“shazam” Or “whoosh”.
Talk about big and little as they choose the tube. You could even add in a box and the toy falls through into a box. Watch your toddlers delight at seeing the toy appear.
Find your pack of playing cards, toddlers will love to post them. Make a slit in an old shoebox. Talk about posting them to different people, “post one to nanny”
They will enjoy dropping them off and picking them up again and again and should keep them quiet for a long time
While keeping them entertained, these games help:
increase their vocabulary
Improve their motor skills.
Develop their listening skills.
I do hope your little ones enjoy these and it keeps your active toddler entertained for much longer!
If your toddler's behaviour is also becoming difficult-especially with a new baby-do checkout my recorded 4 week behaviour course, full of strategies to use every day.
Review form a mum after completing my course:
"I felt I didn’t have the tools and I worried I was out of my depth but actually that’s not true and I don’t need to fix everything, sometimes he needs to vent :) using a lot of your techniques have been great! Getting him to do more for himself has been great and this week I’ve really tried to not say no/don’t/stop and just thinking about how I respond and not react is great."
Or book a 15 minute free call to discuss how I can support you further.