I can't believe this, but....

I thought life could never be boring with twins, but we need some new stuff to do!!! I think we're all getting a bit stir crazy. I do have a playdate set up for this week, which should be fun (it's our first!). But I need some ideas for new things to do.....and especially, I'm thinking if this is happening already while the weather is nice, what's this winter going to be like? Some of the things we do already:

play with blocks
sing abc's & songs
set up pillows to jump on
go outside & play with the dogs
we go to the park sometimes, but our park is lame

I can't remember off the top of my head what else we do. They love to go out, but I can't exactly just run over to the mall to walk around.....we live out in the country a bit, so it's about a 25 min drive to get anywhere. And it's not just them getting bored - I feel like climbing the walls!! :crazy:

 

the playgroup will probably help this week........we try and get out several times a week, even just to the grocery. I understand your frustration though.....I think we are more bored than the kiddos though at this age. Maybe a new book or two would help. The boys have been loving our old cell phones (with antennas off) and they will walk around the house talking.....LOL.....when all else fails, a walk in the stroller or wagon is always good.

 

Take the ride to the mall when the kids are ready to nap... and take a good book with you. Then, you can sit and read while they finish their nap and when they wake up, you can do the mall.

Are you usually staying in the same area of your house with the kids most of the time? If so, try to make a point of going into different rooms to do things. Like, take them (and some toys) into your bedroom and let them play while you organize your clothes or something.

I get bored sometimes when we stay in the livingroom/den area too much. It totally helps to go to another part of the house and do something and the kids like the change of scenery too.

Good luck.

 

Coloring (washable crayons/markers)
Collages (a bunch of scrap fabrics, a bag of feathers, pieces of felt, etc.)
Sticker collages -- even better -- no glue!
Water table (or just use the bathtub)
Have them "help" you sort the laundry -- more work for you, but they can be occupied for awhile tossing clothes from one basket to another
Invite them to empty all your socks out of your sock drawer
Bring out a bunch of Mommy & Daddy's shoes and have them try them on

These are just some of the things we did when we were stuck inside last winter. (I actually haven't tried the collages yet, but they do it at daycare and I keep meaning to try it at home.) Also, ditto on going into different rooms of the house. It's amazing what a difference it can make.

My kids are in daycare 5 days a week and we still go crazy sometimes at home on the weekends!

 

well, here's some of the things we do from day to day:

Play with toys
Read books
watch a program on Disney or Noggin or the such or a dvd
go to the park
play in the back yard
have playdates with friends that are SAHMs
get together for meetups with a local moms with twins group (just joined this a couple of weeks ago)
do puzzles
build with blocks
sing songs
dance to music
Mommy and Me (we just had our first class today!)
Go to our local library (we also are starting a free 6 week program for toddlers there on Thursdays)
run errands (they love Sam's club because they have the double shopping cart and can sit in the shopping cart together)
Play with stickers (Arwen LOVES her Dora sticker/coloring book. It has over 700 stickers!!)

We just recently started coloring. I bought the big crayola crayons and I sit them in their booster seats (or you can do highchairs) and sit them at the table. The table is glass so it's ok if they accidentally go off the paper because it's so easy to clean up. I do tape the paper down for them so it doesn't move when they are coloring. They literally can sit there for a good 30minutes to color. After today's Mommy and me, I am going to start doing some arts and crafts things with them using glue sticks and various materials for them to glue to paper. I also bought vanilla pudding and food coloring and plan on doing finger painting with them as soon as I get to staples to get the big art paper. HTH

 

So as I said, I went to staples and ended up buying washable markers and glue sticks. Let me tell you...What a great time we had. Markers are soooooooooooooooo much easier for them to color with then even the thickest of crayons. I also have a ton of stuff from my teaching days so I pulled that stuff out and I had a huge bag of paper colored squares. After they colored with markers (and yes it was messy but so what, it washed off their skin and off the table) I put glue on the squares for them and let them stick them on their paper. It was so cute. I feel like they made little preschool type pictures. I'm so excited. I'm going to order some craft type stuff from Oriental Trading and try to do craft activies with them a couple of times a week!!!

 

Thanks!! I didnt' think of washable markers......the thought of coloring scared me since I'm still trying to get marks off the place I let my 23 mos neice color a few months ago.


What's a Mommy & Me?

 

I think the PP's covered a lot of the things we do inside. I'm pretty big on crafts and cooking with my kiddos. I get bored very easily, too so at night I like to plan activities for them.

As for outside, do you have balls? My kids love to move balls from one basket to another. We have a mini basketball hoop and a bunch of basketballs, but instead of shooting hoops, they love to put the balls in one crate and then move them to another. I also hung a tennis ball by a string from our deck (you could do i from a tree or anything else up a little high) and they love to "catch" and throw that around. I made a fish and fishing rod and let them go fishing in an empty baby pool. I just took some cardboard and cut out fish and glued magnets to one side. Then I took a wooden dowel, tied a string to one end and hung a magnet from the end. They weren't terribly successful at that until about 18 months old, but they still liked to try.

We spend a lot of time outside and mostly in our yard because taking three kiddos to the park alone is tough. Last week I let them paint a bunch of big rocks with washable paint. After the painted them, I drew a house on the driveway with chalk and they pretended it was a house for their rocks. Chalk is another favorite. We've been doing that for over a year... they love to draw on the driveway and on a big tree in our yard. It washes off with a good rain, so I can't imagine it's hurting the tree much. I took a bunch of their push toys outside and desinated them outside toys. They love to use them outside since there is much more room out there than in our living room.

Oh, this was a suggestion from another TS'er, I think. Give them a bucket or plastic cup of water and a paint brush and let them "paint" the driveway, deck, etc. My kids still love to do this. I use sponges too - they love to soak the sponges and then squeeze the water onto the driveway.

I hope those things help. I know that getting outside, especially when it's nice out, helps us tremendously. There's something about the fresh air that makes us all feel better.

 

Maybe these have been covered but here's what I did at that age:

Have a bath during the day instead of the evening...and do lots of water play pouring, blowing bubbles etc. My girls would be in there for at least 45 minutes. It also made the evenings less hectic.

Bake something easy!!! Do some prep work so it's fun. Focus on the process, not the outcome (which may sometimes not even be edible).

Crafts in their high chairs so they are contained and can't run around with paint hands/crayons and other messy stuff. My kids actually ate crayons until they were almost 18 months old, so try different things and see what works best for you.

Children's Museum - that way they can make a mess and you don't have to clean it up.

Kitchen activities--Mine loved magnets on the fridge and they had their own play cupboard (tupperware, pots, pans anything not breakable) so if I did have to do something in the kitchen they were occupied.

Reading--I used to do this in the high chairs too so I had a "captive audience". We had lots of pop up and lift a flap books with very simple stories and lots of pictures.

You really do need a long list because their attention span is so short at this age, and some things will go over well one day and flop the next. There are a lot of good ideas here. Have fun!!

 

some ideas that work for us, walk around the block/town, go to the library, go to the mall just to walk around. if your town or surrounding town might have an indoor playground my girls loved that. but the park is there favorite still today

 

QUOTE(Jooles73 @ Sep 19 2007, 11:40 AM) [snapback]414795[/snapback]
if your town or surrounding town might have an indoor playground my girls loved that. but the park is there favorite still today



Ditto this. I scoped out all the surrounding town's Parks & Recreation pamphlets and made up a quick list of different rainy-day activities we could do just to get the h*ll out of the house (my sanity as much as theirs). I keep the list on my frig so when they (or I) start to meltdown from cabin fever a 30-second perusal of the list is all I need. In a 15-minute radius I found:

*4 different indoor toddler drop-in programs. It's $2/child around here...which for me is CHEAP to keep my sanity.
*5 different (free) toddler story times at library branches with different story days.
*There is also a kids club at my gym. For $2/hr/kid they get to run off steam and so do I...kid free!

 

QUOTE(naomi02 @ Sep 19 2007, 01:10 PM) [snapback]414623[/snapback]
Thanks!! I didnt' think of washable markers......the thought of coloring scared me since I'm still trying to get marks off the place I let my 23 mos neice color a few months ago.
What's a Mommy & Me?


So, again today they wanted to be in their booster seats (they are obsessed with sitting in these. I guess sitting at the grown up table is making them feel so grown up) and color. The love those markers. I think I'm going to have to get a couple of more boxes. The only thing that is a pain in the butt is having to open and close the markers for them everytime they want to choose a color but I'm trying to keep it under some control because I don't want it to get too out of hand. I have found it's also a good way to start teaching them the colors. I put the markers in a cup and say "which color do you want? You want the yellow marker?" Today, Lorien was saying yellow!!! I wouldn't leave them alone with the markers because it does get a little crazy. I sit there with them during the whole art time. Today I put special thick platic covered bibs on them to protect their clothes even though it says that it will come out. We'll see about that. I think I might buy them art smocks. I would use a t-shirt but the marker will go right through that.

Mommy and Me (actually I think it's full name is The Original Mommy and Me) is a program that is full of music, singing, instruments, free play, story time, arts and crafts and the such. The kids are in a group that is age appropriate (I think it's 12 mos. to 2 yrs) and all the songs and activities are age appropriate. It's a bit pricey but they do offer a twin discount. I think I paid $275 for one child and $175 for the other. It is a 16 week program and each class is an 1 1/2 hours. If you miss your class, they allow you to make it up on another day. You get 16 classes no matter what. We just had our first class and it was a little overwhelming for me but as the kids get to know the routine of everything a little better, I'm sure it will be much easier for me and for them. I like that I have at least 1 planned thing that will get us out of the house once a week. I also like that my kids are being exposed to other kids who are around the same age and I get to be around grown ups!! If you just type in Mommy and Me in a google search, I'm sure you can find out more info and see if there is one around where you live.

You should also check out your local library. I had no idea how many wonderful workshops and classes they offer that are geared for toddlers! And the best part about that is IT'S FREE!!!! They also have a childrens section in the library that has tons of puzzles (even the ones with the knobs) and a huge section of board books and other toys there. On friday I am going to my first Stay and Play session at another library that is open to anyone. I am going with my local twins group that I joined. It's just a huge room full of toys and you can go for up to an hour and half so I'm looking forward to that as well.

 

Wow, thanks!! I especially like the idea of having places listed on the fridge.....sometimes I feel like I just don't know what to do when things get chaotic & I think that would help. We haven't really spent a lot of time outside, b/c this is our yard. (password candy corn) It's full of star thistles & that nice green bush on the side is a giant blackberry bush. When it got really hot, I'd fill the wading pools by the garage, but it's rapidly getting too cold for that.

 

Oh, btw, if you look up your local library they may have a calendar of event listed on line. That's how I found out about the toddler programs. Our library's website lists all the event at the library and gives a description and what age it's for.