Advices and Ideas Needed for Indoor Activities..

Hi L.. My son will turn 2 in May and we spend a lot of time indoors during the day since I work from home.

One thing he loves to do is color. We have a little Thomas the Tank engine desk that's just his size and he will sit and color with his (washable) crayons for the longest time. He especially like it when I draw things for him to color, like Elmo, or a dog, or things he's familiar with. Crayola also make those wonderful Color Magic markers that only color on the special Color Magic paper. It's a bit expensive, but will save your furniture, walls, etc.

Mega-Bloks are also great at this age. They're big enough for little hands to hold, put together and pull apart without much help from Mom. He likes to build huge towers and gleefully knock them over. You can also get these pretty cheap at garage sales.

Wooden puzzles. I can't say enough about how cool these are. We probably have about 6-7 around the house and he loves taking all the pieces out and putting them back again. A good benefit is that he's learning his numbers and letters early while putting them in the puzzle one at a time.

Dancing is also fun with a 2 year old. Whether in a Kindermusic class or just you and him in the living room. The best part is that my son doesn't care how badly I dance (and I dance very badly) and it gets his excess energy out.

I could go on. :) Magnets on the refrigerator, riding the tricycle around the living room, giving his toys a "bath" in the kitchen sink, but those are more supervised activities and with 2 month old boys, it sounds like you have your hands full!

I have 2 & 3 year old girls. We have their bike & scooter in the house during the winter. They ride them everyday round & round the house. It does get kinda crowded & I trip over them sometimes, but I know that it is great exercise for them while we can't get out in the cold.

L.

I work in a mother's day out program...I have the 3 year old class but the 2 year olds are next door and they do about the same thing. One thing they love is to play with shaving creme...not the gel kind but the regular cheap kind. They Love it and it will shine your kitchen table great. They also like playing with play do of course especially with cookie cutters and a rolling pin...wooden blocks are great helps with hand eye coordination and builds their imagination...legos are fun too we color with chalk some and you can paint with just about anything (spaghetti, ice, toothpicks, straws) and you can ball up socks and throw "snowballs" into the laundry basket.

Hope these help....T.

I have a great book called "The Toddler's Busy Book" that has helped me often. It has activities that include many of the items most of us already have around the home. It was written by a lady named Trish Kuffner. You might want to check it out and see if it looks like something you can use.

Here are some websites I get free printables, online games, and holiday activities for my 2 year old and I to do together. I can help him with a lot of lower level preschool activities and he does well. Also, check out your local library and ask if they have toddler classes. Many have a weekly reading, cooking, and holiday class.

funbrain.com
coreknowledge.com
nickjr.com
preschooleducation.com
kinderprintables.com
childcareland.com

L.,
Playdough is awesome. It's not toxic! Keep it at the table give him plastic cookie cutters, something to roll it flat with. A little creative thinking and this could be your solution to everything. It is mine. I have a 2 year old daughter that is into everything! I just say " Instead of touching mommy's stuff. Let's go play with Play dough, YEAH!" She gets so exited. I hope it work for you!
E.- Single mom of 2

My son will be 2 in May and we do have the same problem right now. I will tell you the one thing that has been a lifesaver. THOMAS THE TANK ENGINE!!! My son is completely obsessed and will sit for hours in the floor and play with his trains. Thomas stuff can get expensive if you let it. I bought a "non-Thomas" track that the cars fit on pretty well. Another good idea is find someone with a son who has outgrown his train set and see if you can acquire it. I don't know of a little boy who hasn't loved Thomas (thats probably why he has been around for 60 years...lol).

As long as your little one's not napping, let the two year old bang on things to make "music". There's a high-quality affordable set of instruments on Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Melissa-Doug-488-Band-Box/dp/B00005...

My kids love to play with toy animals. We've had a Fisher Price Animal Sounds Farm for years and they still play with it. Thomas the Tank Engine is great, plus toy cars. My kids love to sit at the kitchen table and squish play-doh (although watch your 2 year old at first to make sure he doesn't try to eat it! But it tastes bad and they usually won't eat it twice.)

On rainy days we get out a folding play tent. It pops up by itself and the kids pile pillows up inside and put blankets over it and go in and out, play with flashlights, etc. There's a Thomas the Tank Engine Playhouse on Amazon for $19.72, which is a great price.

We also turn on a CD and dance and play musical pillows (softer than musical chairs!) and freeze dance. Laurie Berkner's DVD is a lot of fun to dance to. And there's a great game called "Hullabaloo" that makes you dance and skip around, it's good for when you're stuck inside.

My kids are also really into play food right now. The grandparents bought them a play kitchen, but even just a bucket of that cheap plastic food can be fun to pretend with.

Good luck!