Activities - Sandy, UT

Having a little one is very hard, especially in the cold weather, but if you bundle up the little one in the stroller you could go to your local planetarium, or childrens museum, or we have a fun indoor aquarium here that my daughter loves. I think it is important to get yourself out of the house at least once a week to do anything really. I usually do something like this every wednesday for my little girl and she loves it.

Other than that I would just try to play different games or, they have music classes that 2 1/2 year olds can go to for 30 min. It might give you a nice break, just check with your local community and they will have an activity calendar.

Hope this helps.

A.

My 2.5 year old recently enjoyed finger painting with white chocolate jello pudding, with added food colors to make all the colors of the rainbow. I put various colored spoonfuls on a baby food tray and let him make pictures with it. We didn't have paintbrushes, so we used toothbrushes for a while, but once he realized he could eat it...he was more than happy to use his fingers :)

Because of the age they don't have a whole lot of an attention span. I use to sit on the floor a lot. Sit your son between your legs, get a ball and throw it against a wall or a door and bounce it back to you and your son, he will love this and it is very entertaining for him. Then roll it back and forth with him. Get a board that is smooth, put one end on something that can slant and give him a little car to roll it down. A box from the store is always fun for a child to sit in, put thing in, eat on, and many other things use your imagination.
Good luck, I hope this help's.

Here are some of the activities I have done for his age group.

Playdough, puzzles, felt board,coloring or anything for older children scaled down.

After a fresh snow I use a baby bath tub and bring it inside to play with.

Using blocks we build cities, a zoo, race track, farm etc.

Anything with shapes and colors.

A shoelace and big beads are easy to thread or you can glue a picture to cardboard and punch holes through it to lace.

Get a cheap package of band-aids and let him open them and put them on his "owies" (great for small motor develpoment)

The "Signing Time" CD series is perfect for his age. It has helped my 1 1/2 to 2 year olds with their speech and their pretty good at signing and saying what they want.

And finally, you can never READ to many books to a child.

My 2.5 year old loves to dance and run and jump. We pretend to be animals. We also play with blocks, color, play with playdough. She loves to help me "clean". She also likes to glue. I give her a glue stick and she likes to stick what ever on it. She likes to paint. One way to paint is with pudding. That way you don't have to worry if they try to eat it. You may want to have one of your old tee shirts as a paint shirt or just take off all your child's clothes because it can get messy. We have also let my kids do the "dishes" I fill up my kitchen sink with soapy, bubbly water and give them non-breakable dishes to "wash". My kids love it. Give them things to sort. They aren't too young at this age to dress up either. You could even start having play dates (if you haven't already). You may want to set up a play group and rotate houses. Just make sure the parents stay. It helps keep the peace. Another idea is to take a laundry basket and have your child try to throw their stuffed animals (you could use rolled up socks too)into it. Go for walks when you can and talk about the things you see. I hope this gives you some ideas.