With winter coming (or here for some people), I was wondering what kind of activites some of you are planning? Here there will be a lot of days we won't be able to leave the house and I'm trying to come up with ideas that will help prevent us from climbing the walls.

Last year as an infant it wasn't so bad but now Ethan is a busy toddler who always needs to be doing something.

I would suggest the book "Slow and Steady Get Me Ready". It's got an activity for every day of their life from birth until 5 years old.

Wow! Thanks for the suggestion, Courtney :)

I had a book with games you can play with a child from age 6 months to 36 months and if I can find it I will let you know. I used it when she was younger. I would suggest having some play-doh, finger paints, paper, crayons in the house and lots of lego's. If he likes to watch t.v. maybe you can buy a couple of videos of his favorite cartoon.

This is a concern with me at this time too because my daughter (18 mos old) has little to no patience and it's very hard for me to get her interested in doing anything for more than two minutes, so I dread the snowy days only for that reason. I will most likely be taking mine outdoors a lot to play or going places with them. :)

I have lots of books, but a lot of the suggestions are for older kids even though they are geared towards toddlers. I have contemplated getting the Slow and Steady Get Me Ready since I heard it is a good pre-homeschooling tool. Lately, he just wants to watch videos and mark on everything :rolleyes: . Um, everything but his coloring books and paper that is :lol:

I just posted a ton of play recipes in the Toddlerhood and Beyond forum if anyone is intrested :)

WE have a children's museum less than five minutes away that I will take my DD to probably once or twice a month... There is an "indoor gym" sort of place not too far away as well that I plan to go check out, eventually. I have her enrolled in two playgroups each week... We do TONS of art time stuff together... painting, coloring, play-doh... and I'm starting to expand on my supplies so we can do more.

I am so "goal oriented" with my time I am starting to establish a "theme" for the day/week to "work on" with Zoe. I may pick a color and just paint in that color... Read books pointing out only that color... play with toys and gather together all those of the same color, etc.... Or a theme like "cold" or "snow" and make an art project with that theme... again, read books pointing out snow and clothes for the cold... etc... Can you tell sometimes I miss working? LOL.

Mind you... this will all be out the window for quite a while in about 4 weeks when DD#2 is due! Then I feel really sorry for Zoe. :( I have a feeling she will be doing a LOT of independent play. Poor baby. I worry about how I will manage to meet the needs of both girls... but I know we'll manage. It's just a matter of learning how to prioritize time and stay organized and flexible, right?

I am so "goal oriented" with my time I am starting to establish a "theme" for the day/week to "work on" with Zoe. I may pick a color and just paint in that color... Read books pointing out only that color... play with toys and gather together all those of the same color, etc.... Or a theme like "cold" or "snow" and make an art project with that theme... again, read books pointing out snow and clothes for the cold... etc... Can you tell sometimes I miss working? LOL.


This website has ideas for stuff like that:
http://www.letteroftheweek.com/

Excellent! YAY! Thanks so much for the link.

Thanks for that link....I am definitely passing this one on to all my friends with toddlers!!!

You're welcome!

We have a membership to the ann arbor hands on museum, which has a toddler room, so we go there, we also go to a couple AP play groups. Other than that we don't do much other than going to the mall...if we go during the day we usually have the play scape things to ourselves or there are just a few other kids who aren't way over the height limit, unlike at night when it is packed with giant kids who like to run and jump over my midget.

With that said, I had the flu for 3 weeks, and Janelle is still running a low grade fever off an on, and though the ped says it is from her infected molars (2 weeks till her first dentist appt to check on those silly things) I'm still keeping her out of public so she doesn't make anyone else sick....so we've been cooped up for awhile.