What to do with a toddler?

We all want everything what is the best for our children and we all want to entertain our little ones in the best way we can.
Sometimes however we may feel we don't do enough and we feel our child is just bored.
Giving your child tablet, phone or leaving him/her in front of TV is the easiest solution but we all know that too much time spend looking at the screen does not do any good for our child.
I would lie if I would say that my little man does not watch TV or use tablet at all, however I try to reduce this time and I try to arrange more creative and fun things to do. Our activities depend from weather, health, mood etc.

Tings we do at home

• Coloring - my little man is to small to do any serious coloring but I give him crayons and paper and let him explore. I have to watch him though as sometimes he likes to taste crayons :)
• Play-Doh - same as with coloring I have to make sure he is not eating it :)
• Blocks - for most of the time I build and he destroys :) he stared being more interested in building as well
• Reading - this is hard task with baby so active as my little man, however I try and have hope one day he will be more interested. Usually he just likes to flip the pages:)
• Playing with flash cards
• Playing in a pop up castle - I bought one online and when it came I was a bit surprised it was quite big but on positive note when we have guests or family with children they all love it . You can also hide there quite a lot of toys and whatever my child decides to put in there!
• Playing with his toys (he loves cars)

• Pretend plays (he loves when we pretend we are animals - cats, dogs, lions etc.)
• Dancing and listening to music (practicing nursery rhymes)
• Get him involved with household tasks (pretending cleaning, hovering, doing laundry etc.)

Little man helped me to take out all washed clothes out of the washing machine :)

Still helping? or exercising?

• Get him involved in cooking (giving him safe cooking equipment to play)

Things we do outdoors

• Going for walk to the park (I let him walk and explore, feed the ducks etc.); we recently bought him tricycle so I am waiting for spring to come so we can take it with us to a park.

• Going to playground (I've found few different playgrounds in my neighbourhood so I try to take my little man to different one each time)

• Attending different play groups in children centers. I would advise you to go to few different ones in your neighbourhood and find the ones you and your little one likes the best. We started going there when little man was just 6 month old. It is good opportunity for your child to interact with other children and for us moms to speak to other mothers and share our experience.
• Swimming pool. Once a week we try to take him to the swimming pool and he loves it!
• Going to animal farms. We live in London but I found two city farms near our home and we went to one twice. I am definitely planning to go back there again soon. It is nice experience for toddlers to see different farm animals, especially when they grow up in a town and did not see cows, horses or sheep before.

• Soft Play. If your toddler is an active type this is very good place for him/her to use his/her energy and have fun. Recently I discovered free soft play in our area, they have a lot of toys and big space in a sport hall.

Being a mother is a full time job and I have plenty of things to do at home (cooking, cleaning, washing etc.) but I try to organise something for my little man at least few times a week. There is time for watching cartoons and there is time for active play. When I see myself being a bit lazy/tired to play I try to do it at least for 15 minutes and when I see how much he enjoys it I know it is worth it! Seeing smile on his little face is just so precious!

Let me know if there are any other things you suggest to do with a toddler and do you have any advice to encourage baby to read as we are struggling with this one :)

Take care!

Kc