What keeps your eighteen month old absorbed?

September 11, 2015 4:13 AM

What quiet-ish activity does your toddler love to do?

I'm trying to get my eighteen month old engaged in any activity for at least 10 minutes so I can get a few things done around the house without having to keep such a close eye on her. She's quite active and distractible (like most toddlers!)

What does/did your toddler LOVE? We don't have a lot of toys, but I'm willing to invest in a few that might keep her quietly entertained for a bit. Toys she already likes are a baby stroller and a play kitchen. Outside she likes sand and water, but I'm hoping to find something inside. We don't let her look at screens -- though it is tempting!

Oh, and DIY is obviously terrific as well -- but I don't have a ton of time to make Pinterest-worthy complicated setups.

Would love any ideas -- thanks!

posted by EtTuHealy to Human Relations (27 answers total)

A pile of board books.

A cardboard box.

Blocks.

Some stuffed animals.

Do things during naps.
posted by zizzle at 4:29 AM on September 11, 2015 [1 favorite]

Wax crayons and a giant pad of paper

Set of coloured plastic beakers we got for a picnic years ago - keeps her occupied for surprisingly huge lengths of time

Going through the kitchen cupboards
posted by Catseye at 4:41 AM on September 11, 2015

My niece (19 months) loves going through her picture books and pretending to "read" them aloud to herself.
posted by Ziggy500 at 4:51 AM on September 11, 2015

Rice bin! Fill a large plastic bin (with a lid) with rainbow rice. Add some measuring cups, small cars or animals, etc. This kept my kids busy for hours. You can also make scented rice, but I just used the food coloring/rubbing alcohol recipe because that's what I had on hand. Spread out an old tablecloth or a shower curtain liner on the floor to make clean up easier.
posted by belladonna at 4:54 AM on September 11, 2015 [2 favorites]

Duplo blocks. But she has an older sister so she got her inspiration from her.
A box with lots of small stuff to empty and sort.
posted by Omnomnom at 5:23 AM on September 11, 2015

At that age, if we put our kid in a big shallow cardboard box with a bunch of toys, she'd play happily for a little bit. Why she liked that but hated the play pen, I don't know.
posted by SeedStitch at 5:24 AM on September 11, 2015 [2 favorites]

My kid's a little younger (13 months), but he is sooooo into these pop-up peekaboo books. They're a bit more durable than most pop-up books, though not indestructible.
posted by Metroid Baby at 5:39 AM on September 11, 2015

A couple of things mine liked at that age:

Scooping and dumping things like dried corn, birdseed, or rice

Shoelaces. We got a bin of big wooden beads at a yard sale, with brightly colored shoelaces to string them on. At a year and a half, my daughter was still a little young for stringing the beads, but she loved the shoelaces. She spent a lot of time holding them and manipulating them in different ways, wrapped them around things, ran around the house holding them while they trailed through the air, hung them over things, etc. (I suppose any long string-like thing could be dangerous as a toy, but at that age my daughter never wanted to be out of our sight, so we were always nearby while she played with them. And nothing bad ever happened with them.)
posted by Redstart at 5:56 AM on September 11, 2015

A lady her age is more interested in the experience than the toy. She wants to see how much she can change her environment (makes a huge mess) and find out what she can make things do (oh, that's what happens when you put bread in the vcr). It's really up to you on how much mess and noise you can stand. Allowing her to pull all of your pots and pans out on the kitchen floor for a weird drum room would buy you lots of time. Think controlled chaos and look for things that work for you. My best trick was letting the little one taste candy and then handing her an unopened snack size bag of it. She toted that bag around for hours trying to figure out how to open it. We also really loved playdough, once we learned that it wasn't good to eat or put up our noses. You can cover anything with a bedspread and make a tent, or put your baby in a large box. Fill it with wooden spoons and odds and ends from around the house. She will add to the collection as the day progresses. Throw in a box of tissue for her to pull out and spread around for added time.

And be kind to yourself when it comes to the screen. Sometimes mom just wants to poop alone. That is a normal, human need. Children benefit way more from happy, calm parents than lack of t.v. It's okay to use it sometimes.
posted by myselfasme at 6:01 AM on September 11, 2015 [9 favorites]

When my son was this age, I'd fill the kitchen sink half-way, put in a bunch of plastic cups and metal measuring cups, and let him stand on a kiddie stool and have at it. There was occasionally some mopping up required, but he'd happily play by himself for 15 minutes or so.

Closing in on two, Magna-Tiles were a reliable go when I needed to get a chore done.
posted by ryanshepard at 6:16 AM on September 11, 2015 [1 favorite]

Surprise box:

Go to dollar store. Buy one of everything non-pointy, stabby or slice-y, such as bouncy balls, bags of cheap combs, pill boxes, mirrored lipstick case, jiggly worms and/or lizards, folding travel brush with pop-up bristles, eyelash curler, cotton balls, cheapo bandages, barrettes/hair clips, etc. Place in large hat box, box with hinged lid, garden-variety organizer from Staples, whatever.

Place box on floor. Wait.
posted by TryTheTilapia at 6:22 AM on September 11, 2015 [1 favorite]

My lower kitchen cabinet was full of tupperware type containers. My son loved to take them out, play with them, stack them, put them inside one another, put little toys in them, put them back in the cabinet, take them back out and repeat.
posted by maxg94 at 6:26 AM on September 11, 2015 [3 favorites]

- A soft hairbrush

- A 5 minute DIY toy that I made for my son that absorbed him forever at this age was: take a nut canister with plastic lid. Cut an X in the lid. Round off the pointy bits of the X. Give kid a pile of large fuzzy craft pom poms and show them how to poke pom poms through the hole.

Also helpful: We keep the play kitchen IN the kitchen. We also keep the kids' plastic plates and cups in low drawers in the kitchen. This way they can be nearby if you're in the kitchen, but not drive you batshit crazy.

NB: Doing something you don't want the toddler to accompany you with is the absolute best possible way to ensure they will glue themselves to your knees. They're like sharks. They can smell it if you want them to GO OVER THERE. It's just the nature of the beast. :) Sometimes I have success with giving our toddler mini items so she can "help" me. Windexing the table? Sure. Have a paper towel. Sweeping? Here's a mini broom. And there's no time like the present to start teaching them to do chores. Get yourself a pocketful of socks and have her put them in the laundry basket one at a time. If there's actual laundry scattered around the room that you're trying to deal with, give her that.

Oh, and to the person who suggested crayons: our toddler LOVES LOVES LOVES LOVES crayons. The only problem is that she knows you color on paper. You know what's full of paper? EVERY BOOK IN THE HOUSE. We have to keep the crayons locked up and watch her like a hawk. So, maybe not the best choice for unsupervised activity. Your toddler may vary.

*All product links are just for the photo to show what I'm talking about. Nothing special about the actual products.
posted by telepanda at 6:42 AM on September 11, 2015 [1 favorite]

My kid loved these blocks: Melissa & Doug Alphabet Stacking blocks
posted by lyssabee at 6:45 AM on September 11, 2015

big box + crayons

no toy will ever compete
posted by French Fry at 6:49 AM on September 11, 2015

stacking cups - they roll, they go inside each other, they fit on top of each other. What's not to like?
posted by crocomancer at 6:59 AM on September 11, 2015 [2 favorites]

Water and ice. Put a towel down in the kitchen then pull out some big mixing bowls and metal spoons. Put some ice in a plastic cup and let her have at it. She can stir the stuff or just drop it from container to container. Then when it melts, she'll have some water to splash around in as well.
posted by dawkins_7 at 7:00 AM on September 11, 2015 [1 favorite]

My nephew is about the same age and my sister's had luck with a big pile of coins and a piggy bank. But if your child is likely to eat the coins (my nephew can generally be trusted not to do that), YMMV.

Now that my son is a little older (he's two) he is happy to futz around with his wooden train set for a long time, but needs someone to show it off to from time to time.
posted by altolinguistic at 7:09 AM on September 11, 2015

We got a bunch of cheap, wooden toys from Ikea when my son was that age. A stacking tower, a peg board with a hammer, and a train set were hours of entertainment for him. We also got one of those small backpacks with a leash. He never let us use the leash, but loves wearing the backpack, putting things in it, and taking them out. I also use food to keep him occupied. Sometimes the only way to keep him away from hot stuff in the kitchen is to sit him in the highchair with a snack.

I am amazed with how many people said crayons. He loves to color, but the one time I left him alone with crayons for 30 seconds he had pretty much destroyed his bedroom.

Do you have just a safe space for her? The kitchen and living room of my apartment require supervision (due to climbing), but if I shut the bathroom door and let him play in the other rooms there isn't really any way he can get into danger. Sometimes he just wanders back there and plays for a while and I know I don't have to worry about him.

Oh and flash cards! He loves books, but they eventually end. Flash cards on a ring just keep going and going.
posted by galvanized unicorn at 7:18 AM on September 11, 2015 [1 favorite]

I came to recommend the tupperware. I'm not even all that good with kids but this is my favorite toddler trick. Throw in a bonus set of nesting plastic measuring cups.

It's apparently a neurological developmental thing, their brains are very into acquiring spatial recognition skills at that point. They're doing science!
posted by Lyn Never at 7:24 AM on September 11, 2015 [1 favorite]

A kitchen colander and a bunch of pipe cleaners (check how pokey the ends are first). Toddlers will spend ENDLESS time threading the pipe cleaners through the holes.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 7:27 AM on September 11, 2015 [4 favorites]

Toy-wise, Playmobil 123 was adored. It was in constant use from age 1 through 4, 4.5. It is very well made and easy to re-sell as it looks pretty much new at the end.

The truck with garage was one of the more entertaining sets. Bonus points if you can score sets with figurines who look at least a little bit like members of your family.
posted by kmennie at 8:08 AM on September 11, 2015

We had a designated cabinet full of plastic bowls and so forth that the kids were allowed to get into.

My kids also loved playing with plastic animals--bugs, wildlife, farm animals, dinosaurs, whatever. They would line them up, sort them, make up stories, etc. I think at this age, the simpler the toy, the more they will play with it.

Maybe for when your child is a tad older, but my kids loved the wooden train sets and played with them for years and years.
posted by tracer at 8:19 AM on September 11, 2015

As much as possible, I really prefer to just invite my son to "help" me do things around the house. My son is almost 2 now, but since he was 18 months or so he has had a truck that he vigorously pushes around the floor whenever we vacuum, miming us. He loves to pull the dishes out of the dishwasher and hand them to us (he is quite gentle, so this isn't good if your kid is rough). We ask him to hand us pieces of laundry from the basket to "help" us fold things. Yeah, chores take longer (dodging him with the vacuum, waiting for him to hand us stuff instead of just grabbing it ourselves), but he clearly feels Very Important and Helpful and is SO HAPPY to be involved. It's much easier for me to just take 10 minutes to fold clothes with him "helping" than to do it in 5 minutes by myself while trying to make him engage in some toy. My hope is that he'll get more useful as he gets older and it will simply transition into him having his own little chores to do.

For the times when you truly need to do something "unassisted", like an important phone call or cleaning the bathroom with chemicals, etc., the TV is a nuclear option that works wonders. If you don't like the idea of TV shows, we get a bunch of OnDemand kid shows that are basically animated nursery rhymes that he will clap along to for long enough for me to finish whatever I need to do. You can also find a million things like that on Youtube. Wooden puzzles, MegaBlocks, board books of animal photos, and those VTech SmartAnimal! track things are all favorites that he'll play with for several minutes at a time.
posted by gatorae at 8:43 AM on September 11, 2015 [2 favorites]

My son loved the wooden train set from ikea with the magnetic train cars. He'd play with that for 30 minutes + at a time starting at a year old.

Do you have family/friends you can Skype with? I'd set up an old laptop and my mom and sister would (still will) watch my son play for hours. It's nice because even if you're in the same room, you can let the person on Skype handle the toddler interaction.
posted by betsybetsy at 8:45 AM on September 11, 2015 [1 favorite]

We filled an old wallet with all kinds of plastic cards (expired membership cards, frequent flyer cards, etc - we had way too many of those). Our daughter would spend a long time turning it around in her grubby little hands and fishing out every single card from the tight little pockets. (And studying them, yelling "meow" when she found the one with the tiny cat in the logo, and gleefully throwing them all over the floor).

Obviously, don't use any cards you're not prepared to lose, because some of them will disappear without a trace (only to turn up years later when you're moving and take apart your Ikea furniture).
posted by sively at 10:56 AM on September 12, 2015 [1 favorite]

This is something my aunt used to do at birthday parties for young kids (might be better in 6 months):

Take a "prize" and tie/tape a light string or yarn to it and "hide" the prize. Then run the string (lots of it) around the room and at the other end of the string, tie/tape it to a popsicle stick. Teach the child to wind the string around the stick to get to the prize.
posted by plinth at 7:26 AM on September 14, 2015 [1 favorite]