2 Year Old Broke His Leg--Need Activity Ideas to Keep Him Happy

I would like to suggest Deltasand from http://www.allamericansandcompany.com/ It will provide a fun and creative time that will leave him wanting to do more. Deltasand is safe and will never dry out. Get the starter kit and a few additional polybags of sand that comes in 6 colors.It's a bucket of fun without the mess.
dallas and rita

If you know someone that is good with creative engineering - I wonder if you could adapt a baby walker somehow? Since he is only 2, he might be small enough. If there was a sling or something for his leg, the walker would give him enough balance to walk with his good leg just while he is in the house? You could get an old one at a resale shop - the engineering part would be to raise the height for him. I don't know - that was just my first thought. Good luck!

That breaks my heart! Why don't you make some touchy-feely boxes for him? You could get some shoe boxes and put different textured objects inside - then cut a hole so he can stick his hand in and feel the different things - i think i saw it on a website for kid's crafts. Does he like play-doh? We also got our 22mo. son a GeoTrax train set - it's great because some of the trains have remote controls -- that way he doesn't have to get up - my son loves it and suprises me that he knows how to use the remote to move the train.
Good luck! And buy a magnadoodle!

Etch-A-Sketch also makes models designed for 2-year-olds now, and when I was 4, I also was given a Spir-O-Graph (I think it was my favorite toy...EVER!!) I had been in a serious bike accident with my older brother, and was in a wheelchair for 6 weeks+, with my right leg elevated 100% of the time (talk about NO FUN!!!)

You can also get out the coloring books or manilla paper and big crayons, construction paper with safety scissors (and your supervision, of course!) and glue sticks....the list is endless! And don't forget lots of picture books that you can get at the library.

Sorry to hear your little one is going through this....but 6-8 weeks will fly by before you know it!!

Hi! Good luck! Mr. Potato Head, magnetix or magnetos(really huge ones that are way cool from Learning Resources), books, puzzles, play dough, crash- ups race cars, magna doodles, color with markers(safe guard area first), line up cars or make a zoo with toy animals or dinosuars, help you cook, stroller ride, go to movie. Good luck again!

Hi I hope this will help!! There is all kinds of craft projcts on the web for young children. What is your sons favorite character?? EX: spiderman. Do a search for spiderman coloring pages and crafts You will be surprised what comes up You can do this for each letter of the alphabet aslo. Playdough is a great way to keep him accupied. Shaving cream in a cake pan and add food coloring let him play it is only soap and it washes off. I hope this helps!
D. Patterson Owner of CP Prep School www.cpprepschool.com

Get a box of bendable straws, cut a small slit half way down the long straight part, let him build stuff. Just be patient with him and show him he can put these together anyway he wants to. Most boxes are multi-colored, that makes it more fun. this is good with any kids, sick, or on a rainy day,etc. Give it a shot.
Also, if you have soft balls he plays with indoors, use a coffee can or oatmeal box to make a basketball bucket to play with. Paint it or decorate it with glued on macaroni,stickers or whatever. Don't cut the bottom out, it will be storage for the balls, when not in use.
Good Luck!
Ruthie in Mesquite

We have to be creative also and think of things our 2 1/2 year old can do in the car while we travel every couple of months for 3 hours one way to see his Nana. Right now, he is enjoying some chalk that has a book with a mini chalkboard in a book format. I got this at Borders bookstore before Christmas. He is enjoying that. We've used those doodle boards where you have the pen and put water in it to draw things, those are neat.

I would get a tray or lapdesk for him to put on his legs and he could do some small puzzles, if he gets tired and needs to rest his legs. Maybe try some of those wire bead toys where they move the beads all around. They make small ones. If he likes music, you could rent some music tapes from the library. I would go to the library and get some neat books that he would enjoy.

I've seen in the library activity type books where you can make different things out of foil, various materials that most likely you have at home. I think the title is "101 things you can do with a Toddler". They give a lot of activities for you to do.

That's all I can think of right now. Hope this helps and Good Luck

A favorite at our house is Color Wonder markers. They will NOT mark on anything but the color wonder paper. I believe they now have poster sized papers so he could even play in the floor with them and get some freedom from the couch. When my son was recovering from his tonsilectomy he played with sticker books, and his Leapster (which has some PreK learning games, and his Thomas trains on a tv tray. We also had every member of the family send him cards till he was better. It made mailtime a blast! Good luck!

I would get anything that he can put his hands on. Play doh, board games he might be able to do something like candy land maybe the lacing shapes that he can lace. Get him stuff to color. You might also try Familyfun.com they might have some good Ideas for your wee one.
And at thank goodness for noggin!! It might not get him moving but at least it offers something

Hi M.,

My son broke his femur when he was 23 months old. He was in a hip spica cast which went from just below his chest down to his heel with only his little toes exposed. It was a tough 9 weeks, but we survived. I hit some garage sales and picked up some fun 'new' toys to occupy him, lots of things he could manipulate with his hands, puzzles are always a great choice! Fortunately we had a jogging stroller that I could get him into so we went for LOTS of walks. We even took him to the zoo in it!! I actually took him to the park one day and got him stuck in a 'baby' swing!! LOL! One of the other Dads was able to hold the swing down while I jimmied him out!! That's was a trip. Eventually he was able to 'army' crawl around and then even get up and kind of hobble around. They find a way to be mobile!! I am happy to report that now at 4.5 yrs old it is a distant memory and he is quite the active little guy with no residual issues at all!

Take care and feel free to email me if you have more specific questions (____@____.com).

H.

Hi M.! I haven't gone through having to deal with one of my boys having a broken leg, however, I have gone through something quite tragic. I am a mother of 2 boys. They are 5 and 1 and in September my oldest was ran over by our neighbor. He is doing fine and is actually a miracle, from what the doctors have said! But he did have a broken colar bone, so when we got home from the hospital I went to Wal Mart and bought him two of those video games in the toy section that you just plug into the front of the TV! They are only $20 and they have different levels for each age group! For instance, for a two year old, they have Scooby Doo and Dora. My son loved them and it will keep your son busy since he is very active! Hope I could help! Have a blessed day!

M., I'm so sorry about your son. I agree with all responses below in terms of activities so I have some different advice. My daughter broke her wrist 4 weeks before her 2 year birthday. She had a cast all the way up her arm. She is VERY active so this was not working for her. The main thing to tell you is that when he gets frustrated, don't make a big deal about it and don't act frustrated with him. Just sort of play it off and laugh about the cast and move on to something else. My daughter got so mad when she couldn't use both of her hands to catch a ball, or to do other things that she normally did so i just taught her to figure it out with just one hand. In a few days, she completely adapted to having the cast and it never seemed to really bother her the entire time she had it on. When we went to have it removed, she wanted it back!! Go figure. He will get past it soon if you just down play that bad side of it. Hope this helps. Good Luck. M. K.

Hi. Im so sorry to hear that! Here are a couple:

1. get a metal pizza pan and use the magnetic marbles and sticks set to play with. My kids will sit for hours with that.

2. Put some cheapie shaving cream on top of your kitchen table and let your child swirl his fingers around in it and draw pictures in it. afterwards, the shaving cream is great to clena your table, just wipe off with a paper towel and you have a very clean table afterwards. (you can also put some food coloring in it...but then u would need to use a metal baking pan and not put the shaving cream on the table.

3. Get a shallow metal baking pan and fill it with salt...have your child draw pictures in it.

4. Make some home made play doh or home made slime. you can find the recipes on line

5. Give him a pair of kid scissors and some old magazines and have him cut up all he wants. then he can glue them on a piece of construction paper.

6. puzzles are great

7. legos or bulding blocks

8. coloring, markers, etc.

9. cut out some pieces of old fabric and have him glue them on paper to make a collage

10. Google preschool activities for disabled children...I know he isnt disabled, but they will have a ton of things on there until the cast is off.

If you are close to an indoor pool, take him swimming. They now have a "sock" that goes over the cast, and it doesn't get wet.

Good luck!

What about playdoh, painting with water, even helping cook things that he can sit and stir (easy muffin mixes, sprinkling sugar on store bought cookie dough, etc.). Play ideas that will allow him to sit: Aquadoodle, Little People toys, Magnadoodle, Mega Blocks, Magneatos, puzzles, etc. If you don't have these toys, maybe you have friends who would let you borrow them.

Good luck! I can see how this would be frustrating to everybody involved. I hope he heals quickly!!

My little girl who is two loves to "bead" shoe strings. Melissa and Doug has a great one that you can buy at Toys R Us. It has several large, colorful, animal-block beads and some shoestrings to bead them on. Just tie a knot on one of the ends so the beads don't fall off. My daughter will sit and string beads for the longest time, and do it over and over again.