When raising tiny humans in the COVID era, you probably are looking for activities to keep your toddler busy and entertained. Unfortunately, we have terrible weather on the east coast, typical from November to March. That means we find activities to keep her entertained, stimulated, and less cranky.
Our little girl is up for about 15 hours with a 1.5-2 hours nap in the middle, which means she is active for 13-14 hours a day. Shower eating takes about 1.5 hours, leaving 10 hours a day to find activities for an active toddler.
There are 100,000+ activities you can find online. As we both work full-time, I find activities
- that is simple to set up,
- causes less mess (as we live in a condo and she plays in our living room),
- It takes up less space upon tidying up.
Also, I wouldn’t say I like too many complicated games where I have to order multiple supplies at Amazon and get them ready for her to play. My parents or my husband often take care of her and prefer one or two simple items. They are not going to follow my rules to build a game.
Reading – She is part of a few book clubs (Literati, Bookroo) that send her 7-8 books a month. She loves to read those books by herself, and we read them to her as well. Reading is her favorite activity, and she does that for an extended period.
Photo from Literati (Not sponsored)
Playing – Although she has many toys, she plays with blocks the most. She got (None of these are affiliated links)
- Blocks
- Truck
- Piano
- Singing Books
- Alphabet Puzzles
- Soft toys
- Playdough
- Love every (it got boring, so we canceled after nine months)
- Trike
- Sensory Bins – I got a mixed review after sharing these at my Instagram stories. A few (2-3) complained about wastage, but most mums raved about how it helps develop fine motor skills. This is used at daycares and schools (my husband did a lot of these back in his days).
She plays with them for a while. Although, remember a kid will not play for more than 15 mins with a toy. Please check my last post, toys, books recommendation.
Painting – We bought her finger painting and crayons. Finfer paintings cause a huge mess which drives my husband and mum crazy (lol), so we stick with crayons.
Cooking – We have a small galley kitchen, and we are afraid to spill hot liquid or food on her. So we keep her outside the kitchen. But she does play with dry goods, utensils at the door.
Dancy Party – she drags all of us to dance with her. It’s an excellent exercise for all of us.
All these activities help her watch less TV, although we play educational shows like – Curious George. We sit with her, and we explain the activities to her. It allows her to learn a lot of the science stuff by seeing.
These activities (all together) come in handy when she can’t go outside, although nothing beats that. So we take her out when it’s 35 degrees and above.
