Activities for 22 Month Old.

Hi. There is a website that I have signed onto that gives you activity ideas for different age groups. You might have most of the items they suggest on hand. They have different ideas for each area of development. You can even have them emailed to you daily. This has helped me out a lot. The website is productiveparenting.com. Good luck.

roll a ball back and forth with him. build a fort w/ some sheets. stickers ? kids love 'em... I like the basement idea to get some activity on a bike if he has one. We actually have a small slide in our family room as we speak... Keep warm : )

i would say turn on the music and let him dance...build an obstacle course with pillow boxes etc and let him run around. get a sheet out and put small pillows and animals on it and wave it up and down like a parachute. put soap and water in the sink and let him wash dishes and play with spoons etc. put shaving cream on the table and let him paint. have a scavenger hunt....

Re: baking, we will spread an old blanket on the kitchen floor, fill up a kid's bowl with rice, another with beans, another with seeds (you can also use flour, salt, etc.) and give my daughter a spoon and let her "cook."

We also will run across the floor with her (some people disapprove of running in the house, so this may not fit for you) in different ways: galloping like a horse, going zigzag, hopping, etc. This is nice because it is active!

We play hide and seek. Can't remember if this would be effective with or scary for a 22-month old (my daughter is a year older).

We blow bubbles.

If he has stuffed animals you could play stuffed animals, where one or both of you makes the noise of each animal, or you could pretend to have a zoo or a farm.

I like others' suggestions of dancing, which we also do, b/c it is active.

I used to throw the ball up the basement stairs and she would go get it, kind of like a puppy. Sounds lame but she thought it was hysterical. She outgrew it but for a few weeks in winter when she was that age it saved my sanity.

Good luck.

Buy a mini kids trampoline for your living room for those "get the sillies out" moments and see if there is an ECFE type group in your area. ECFE has been a life saver for me since my girls were born. I am from Minnesota so I know cold, but I am taking my girls to the local community center to swim today. We are all going stir crazy this winter! Good luck.

Here are a few creative, non-traditional things we do with our two year old. Relays: setup clothes baskets and balls in different parts of the room and have him run to get them and drop them in the basket (can work in counting/colors/ready set go), water color paint books, making valentines (we cut out shapes using a potato and used as stamp), If you have an old Twister mat my LO loves to play on that and it helps with teaching colors/left/right. Build forts, get a play tent/tunnel with balls (cheap on amazon), songs/music/books are big ones for us.

Buy a clear plastic bin used for storage and fill it with dry beans or oatmeal and add cups and spoons. It's easy to clean up and store away with the plastic lid.

Try this book:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Toddlers-Busy-Book-Creative-Activ...

You will not be bored again!

A few things I did with my little man at that time:

-build a fort or mountain with couch cushions, chairs, blankets, etc (fort to hide in, mountain to jump on)
-sensory bin with dry rice or pasta or beans or flour or anything else you have on hand (use tupperware or measuring cups and spoons for him to get the hang of scooping, pouring, etc)
-dance up a storm!
-make your own muffins/crackers/pancakes/cakes/etc and freeze for later (your little man can help with a lot of the steps)
-sing action songs
-read books
-he can help with laundry

I have a 27 month old and have the same frustrations with what am I going to do each day. Here are a few thing we've done:

1. I get a baking tray (the deepest one you have) and give small plastic cups, sponge, old spice/seasoning containers, spoons, and let my son pour and play with water. If you want to get messy: add corn starch to make gloop or just add flour to make some dough to play with.

2. Freezing. Fill up a deep baking tray, put in some cars, plastic small insect toys, or anything you want, and leave it outside to freeze. Let your son use a plastic hammer to get the toys out. I save a lot of cardboard milk cartons and empty plastic containers. I fill them up and freeze them outside and then my son takes a bath with them. He loves to watch it melt. Muffin tins are good too. Put in some fruit like blueberries and your son can eat them when he finds them. We count ice cubes, freeze juice, etc.

3. A set of cardboard blocks has been so helpful for us. We build it up real tall and my son uses a plastic hammer to knock it over. We build tunnels for cars and trains too. There so much you can do.

4. Productiveparenting.com has some good ideas as well. It's all divided up by age.

5. Bring the snow inside. Fill up a big plastic tub with snow and let him use some kitchen utensils (big spoons, spatulas, etc) to scoop. I do this at our kitchen table and spread around a lot of towels on the floor, but we've also just taken the snow to the bathtub.

Have fun! Come on, spring! Hurry up!

Play with toy trucks/cars.
Drape a blanket over a table and make a fort for him.
Listen to kids' music and dance.
Sing songs with actions (hokey pokey, etc.).
Paint.
Bake (he can dump things in for you and do some stirring).
Play hide and seek.

Unless it was below zero. I still tried ot go outside. I didn't enjoy it much but myson loved it! Once I bought snowpants, I liked it better too. We go to the park, walk in the woods, try to make snow creature. We used the sand toys in the snow. He loves the shovel. Even went sledding on our tiny hill, but perfect for him.

I hear ya over here in MN. Especially with one kinda young. Here are some ideas we do:

Puzzles - they have easy ones for 18 mo +
Coloring
Activity Books are good for ideas
Do you have an unfinished basement? We do trikes/bikes in the basement.