Your Baby – July 2019

YB BABY FILES: TODDLER

72 | JULY & AUGUST 2019

1

Pick up the phone, and call a friend.

Often all a toddler needs to be happily

entertained is someone else to play with.

Kids – together – will think up all kinds of

games that you couldn’t possibly imagine.

And if their mom comes along too, then

you have someone to have a natter with.

2

Build a fort (with old blankets) or pitch

a tent (we’re sure you have one lying

around from your single camping days?).

These bring such novelty to playing, and

you’ll see how new life is brought to all of

your kids’ toys once they’re painstakingly

taken – one by one – into their new

“house”. And if the weather is not

freezing cold, consider pitching the tent

in the garden.

3

Go for a walk, and stop to smell the

roses. Toddlers love to dawdle, and if

you let them, you’ll have fewer hours to fill

before bedtime. If you have a safe park

nearby, pay a visit. Jungle gyms and other

kids take the edge off any day.

4

On that note, work that imagination.

Make-believe games are easy to invent,

and you really can follow your little one’s

lead on this.

5

Hunt for toys. As long as you remember

where you put them – especially that

favourite toy – why not hide your kids’ toys

all over the house, and even the garden?

It’s great practice for next year’s Easter-

egg hunt and should keep them busy for

a while. When you’re done – get them to

hide the toys, and you can get Dad to look

for them when he gets home from work.

ideas to keep the

kids entertained

6

Paint the house – with water! This is

a great game, especially for the

younger toddler. Fill up a bucket with water

and haul out an old painting roller. Do it

outside – and you might even land up with

slightly cleaner walls.

7

Bake. Biscuit ingredients are cheap and

simple, and your toddler will just love

mixing them and rolling the dough. If you

have cookie cutters, get them to make the

biscuits into fun characters too. Great for

fine-motor-skill development.

8

Kids love water, so fill up pots, buckets,

ice-cream tubs, watering cans, plastic

cups and fill and empty, fill and empty.

Younger toddlers usually love this, and

you will be amazed at how many times

the dog bowl can be filled and emptied.

Never leave your child unattended around

water though.

9

It’s probably getting close to nap time

now, so why not put a mattress and

a duvet on the floor and make a reading

ring? Toddlers love books, and if you’re

short of new and exciting ones, it’s still free

to get these from the library – as long as

you remember to return them and don’t run

up a hefty fine. We know baby brain never

really goes away!

10

Play dough is also fantastic for

keeping the kids entertained. And you

don’t have to buy those expensive tubs that

don’t last – make your own with half a cup

of salt, half a cup water, one cup of flour

and food dye, and you can have a fresh

“batch” for every day of the holidays.

11

Hit the ball. If you ever had one of

those ball ponds, with a bag of 100

balls in it, then now’s the time to line them

up and get your future golf pro hitting

them. Once he’s gone through all 100,

encourage him to collect the balls and line

them up for his brother. There’s a reason

why gold stars were invented.

12

Play hide and seek. Kids love the thrill

of hiding and being found and can do it

over, and over, and over again. If you’re the

one hiding, you can use the “quiet” time to

catch up on your emails on your smartphone.

13

Dance. We’re almost certain you have

at least one playlist of nursery rhymes

to jump around to, but the good news is,

lots of babies love all kinds of music, which

means you might even be able to crank up

one of your own playlists and get moving

to it – just like the old days!

14

Dress up! Little girls love to dress

up, and you don’t need to buy

fancy props. Fish out scarves, shoes,

feather boas, sparkly handbags and

cheap jewellery – you name it – and your

princess will have a field day. Old skirts

work wonderfully as dresses. Little boys

love playing pirates too. Make him an

eye-patch, and find an old roll of wrapping

paper – believe it or not, these work great

as “swords”.

15

Have a tea party under the trees.

You can get those plastic tea sets

at next to nothing from the Crazy Store

or Pep. Otherwise, you can just pretend.

Little girls love to sit on a picnic blanket

and feed their babies tea and cake. Little

boys have been known to make a great

cappuccino too.

16

Watch TV. While this is a contentious

issue, there really is only so much

you can do. As long as the screen time

is limited, it can be used as an exercise

in concentration too. A DVD swap with

friends is a great idea, and also a check

of your local library to see if it doesn’t

stock movies – many of them do.

17

Create a classroom. Get some glue,

old magazines, paper and crayons –

and we’re sure you’ll be able to come up

with an arts and crafts centre. See what

things you have in the house that can add

to the fun – glitter, stickers, crinkle paper,

foil and paint. You can even download

and print fun pictures off the internet

to colour in – there are loads of sites

dedicated to this.

18

Build a ramp. If you have an old piece

of wood lying around, and an elevated

area somewhere, your son will think you’re

the best thing since Jake from the Neverland

Pirates if you make him a ramp for his cars.

He can race them up and down and see

how far they can go. Just make sure he

doesn’t try it out with his scooter.

19

Get out your nail polish. Your daughter

wants to do what you do, so paint her

fingers and toes, give her a head rub, and

hopefully you will squeeze in a mini mani

and pedi for yourself too. May we suggest

that you paint your own nails though...

20

Find a spot where the grass isn’t

growing and make a sandpit just

like the one at school. You can get cheap

building sand at building outlets like Mica

or Builders. YB

AS THE OLD saying goes, “Time flies

when you’re having fun,” so fill up the

long hours of the weekends and spare

time with these cheap home-based

activities. Not only will they keep your

kids happy and busy, but they’ll keep

you sane(r) too.

With the cost of living sky rocketing every day, it’s

become the norm to stay home, making it easy to fall

into the boredom trap. Tori Hoffmann has some tips

to help you avoid this

20