Entertain my baby!

[jillywilly]

So after finding out that being a toy tester is an actual option, and after being cooped up inside all weekend with a cranky baby and sick husband, I thought it would be fun to see what everyone does to keep their little ones entertained - especially since I'm sure there's lots of us cooped inside because of winter! So with attention spans the same as a fruit fly's (at least, that's my baby's attention span), how do you keep them busy/happy when you're at home?  Any super fun toys, or super creative ideas?

[jillywilly]

We just bought DS this activity cube:

www.amazon.com/ALEX-Toys-Busy-Activity-Center/dp/B004LL0VV2/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1453219111&sr=8-6&keywords=activity+cube

And so far it's a hit! He loves when we help him stand up so he can play with the beads on top. On the simpler side of the spectrum, he goes nuts for a stacking cup set he got as a stocking stuffer for Christmas, he likes banging them together (and putting them in his mouth of course).

[Deleted]

We just sit on the carpet together with all the toys and I let him roll and freestyle. Or we get in the stroller and go for walks. He loves to be outside so I can't wait for spring so we can freestyle in the back yard.

[kemdupuis]

+1 for my LO loving it outside. B can be screaming bloody murder, and will calm down if I bring him outside.

B loves the "blanket game". DH invented it, I guess- it's basically just peek-a-boo with one of his Aden and Anais blankets. Usually he's laying on the floor, and we just stand over him and let the blanket float down on top of him. Then a second or two later, lift it up and let it float down again. Kind of like the parachute from gym class.

Right now, he is loving his Fischer Price stacking rings, balls of any kind (we just roll them back and forth with DH and I), and this thing (we have a Melissa and Doug version): www.stylisheve.com/awesome-baby-toys-from-ikea/awesome-baby-toys-from-ikea-20/

He also LOVES books and being read to. He loves to eat them, especially.

[belle0720]

We play a lot on her activity mat. She has a little einsteins bouncer that she'll go to town in while I'm cooking. I read to her and sing like all day long lol, everything is a song. She loooves when I dance so I dance for or with her. And she just switches off playing with all of her different little toys.

She loves storytime at the library and has a music class once a week. She reallllly responds to music, I want to get her some baby instruments for at home.

[erbear]

We play on the floor with her toys a lot. She loves playing peekaboo and the wheels on the bus and pat a cake and this little piggy and the itsy bitsy spider. Her favorite toys are her sorting blocks, her lovey, her singing Daniel tiger, her musical storybook, and her little Einsteins piano and guitar. She also loves empty plastic bottles (bonus - they roll and she'll go get them) and paper to crinkle (& eat, oops).

She also loves outside. We will stand in front of the door when it's warm enough and look outside.

She loves when we play music and dance and sing. We make up songs for her often because she loves hearing her name.

Mirrors are also a big hit!

[Widget123]

Not very creative here but... LO wants to try to pull up on things and practice standing up, pretty much all day long... so a lot of that with an activity table. Or jumping around like a wild man in his jumperoo. He will sit and play with toys for a little while but clearly that is inferior to any activity involving standing up. He has also been teething like a mad man as of recent so if he can't chew on it, he's not interested.

I like the refrigerator magnets idea budders; that might entertain LO.

[tjanca22]

We're a lot like JBC, I just dump out all of his toys either on the floor or in his crib and he will be content for a while. He loves to look outside and watch cars drive by the house. He's really into his sit/stand activity walker (dis thing)
We also played with the door to his bedroom last night for close to 30 minutes, so I'll add that to the entertainment lineup for the next week or so

[billyhorrible]

He loves his music/activity table. That keeps him busy for a while.

The ball pit - he likes sitting in it and playing with the balls, throwing them out of the ball pit, throwing them in the ball pit.

Blocks - He "plays" legos with LBB. If LBB wants to play with him they both use the Duplos. If not, LBB uses the regular legos and I set BH up with the Duplos or wooden blocks.

The Tupperware cabinet in the kitchen.

We play choo-choo train with the laundry basket.

He is obsessed with LBB's Little Live Pet mouse. He could watch that thing run its track for hours.

Baskets.  Fill them with anything.  He'll sit for a good period of time just happily taking things out one at a time.  (We use both the little plastic baskets as well as those cloth bins)

Balls- mini inflatable beach balls, his ball drop, the whacky balls.

Sunshine Symphony

Other ideas we haven't done with BH but did with LBB
- "painting" - fill a ziplock bag with finger paints and tape it to the window for them to "paint" with by pushing the colors around with their hands.

-Sensory tubs/tubes

- water beads

- playdough (I used edible dough at this age since it's definitely going in the mouth)

[jillywilly]

Jan 19, 2016 11:10:35 GMT -5 kemdupuis said:

+1 for my LO loving it outside. B can be screaming bloody murder, and will calm down if I bring him outside.

B loves the "blanket game". DH invented it, I guess- it's basically just peek-a-boo with one of his Aden and Anais blankets. Usually he's laying on the floor, and we just stand over him and let the blanket float down on top of him. Then a second or two later, lift it up and let it float down again. Kind of like the parachute from gym class.

Right now, he is loving his Fischer Price stacking rings, balls of any kind (we just roll them back and forth with DH and I), and this thing (we have a Melissa and Doug version): www.stylisheve.com/awesome-baby-toys-from-ikea/awesome-baby-toys-from-ikea-20/

He also LOVES books and being read to. He loves to eat them, especially.

DS also prefers eating books to actually reading them. It's actually a battle trying to read to him without him ripping the book out of my hands!

[jillywilly]

Also, here is the most special snowflake of questions - when people talk about babies pulling up on things, are you putting them near sturdy furniture to let them try to crawl up on it? DS isn't crawling, and while he can sit really well on his own, we have to put him in the sitting position, he doesn't really get himself from position to position. So, he likes to stand, but we have to be right there, and get him leaning against something. I think that's part of our problem - he gets bored with something, but then doesn't have the capacity to move/change what he's doing really, so he gets frustrated easily, and DH and I are just in this constant pattern of moving him from "toy station" to "toy station" through our house.

[gigi3126]

jillywilly Before Jude was able to move around and get himself into different positions, that's basically what we did too. He's always liked to stand, so one of the activities that we always did was helping him stand and hold onto something--the couch, table, toys.
Most of our time at home is spent trying to keep Jude from injuring himself...lol! He loves his activity table and anything that makes noise/music. He also really likes this little pop up tent that I got from a local sale site. He and the dog will roll around in there for an hour before they get bored. It's not cold here, so we try to take him everywhere. Sunday, we went into the city and just walked around. He loved all the people and cars and whatnot. As long as he's in the lillebaby, he's happy.

[billyhorrible]

jillywilly, The way our living room is set up, BH is always near a piece of furniture, or within scooching distance. So before he was crawling, he would basically turn himself around to the couch/coffee table/activity table/bathtub/train table/shelf/ottoman and place his hands on it, then push up until he was semi-standing.

[jillywilly]

Jan 19, 2016 13:58:19 GMT -5 billyhorrible said:

jillywilly , The way our living room is set up, BH is always near a piece of furniture, or within scooching distance. So before he was crawling, he would basically turn himself around to the couch/coffee table/activity table/bathtub/train table/shelf/ottoman and place his hands on it, then push up until he was semi-standing.

This is kind of what I assumed. He's just never seemed to even be motivated to try - guess I have a lazy baby on my hands

[billyhorrible]

Jan 19, 2016 14:30:05 GMT -5 jillywilly said:

This is kind of what I assumed. He's just never seemed to even be motivated to try - guess I have a lazy baby on my hands

They all get there.

Next year you're going to be chasing after a toddler who is constantly trying to throw himself off the nearest cliff, and wondering why you ever wanted him to do anything but lay still and stay in one place.

[ashbash]

DH built a montessori pull up bar with pvc pipes that he loves

Playing in the sink

I fill a large bowl with rubber spatulas, wooden spoons, plastic cups etc. he dumps them out and chews on them, its a fav

Loves outside

Exersaucer

Stacking cups, balls, the caterpillar with gears (melissa and doug i think), banana teether

[wegrowsheep]

Shredding newspapers, and smashing paper bags.

[ashbash]

Jan 19, 2016 16:49:30 GMT -5 wegrowsheep said:

Shredding newspapers, and smashing paper bags.

+1 for things that crinkle - papers, plastic bags, magazines

[gigi3126]

Jan 19, 2016 17:38:44 GMT -5 ashbash said:

Jan 19, 2016 16:49:30 GMT -5 wegrowsheep said:

Shredding newspapers, and smashing paper bags.

+1 for things that crinkle - papers, plastic bags, magazines

And chewing on paper towels.

[candylandycane]

Jan 19, 2016 16:28:14 GMT -5 ashbash said:

DH built a montessori pull up bar with pvc pipes that he loves

Playing in the sink

I fill a large bowl with rubber spatulas, wooden spoons, plastic cups etc. he dumps them out and chews on them, its a fav

Loves outside

Exersaucer

Stacking cups, balls, the caterpillar with gears (melissa and doug i think), banana teether

V loves the catepillar with gears too!

[carolyngrace]

Jan 19, 2016 14:30:05 GMT -5 jillywilly said:

Jan 19, 2016 13:58:19 GMT -5 billyhorrible said:

jillywilly , The way our living room is set up, BH is always near a piece of furniture, or within scooching distance. So before he was crawling, he would basically turn himself around to the couch/coffee table/activity table/bathtub/train table/shelf/ottoman and place his hands on it, then push up until he was semi-standing.

This is kind of what I assumed. He's just never seemed to even be motivated to try - guess I have a lazy baby on my hands

Mine is lazy too DH and I totally move him from place to place to keep him entertained. And he loves standing, but only if I put him that way and assist him in lunging after things and then stand him back up! It's really tiring lol.

[sabrinaml]

ashbash, would you mind sharing a pic of the pull up bar? I think my DH has a new project for this weekend.

[pghtruelove]

Juliet and I chase the pets around a lot. Our kitten and our dog just love her and always play with her. I make a ball pit for them all to play in, they enjoy me dumping the balls on them. Of course Juliet's favorite toys are cat and dog toys...

[paintdadanta]

We joined our local Hike it Baby chapter and walk several days a week. But when it's cold usually an array of toys on the floor or the jumperoo.

[sabrinaml]

C loves to stand at his activity table, only problem is he also likes to let go and is constantly falling backwards.
We like anything that lights up and/or sings to us.
Stacking cups and rings are a big hit as well.
Mostly I just sit him in the floor and take out a bunch of different toys for him to choose from.

[littlemissgrump]

Dash's favorite toy is a beach ball and has been for a good few months. He also loves playing with big cooking spoons, bowls, and cups.

Right now he's into being on the move and standing, he's almost able to push the Sit & Stand by himself.

He just got a baby doll that he enjoys playing with. Oh and a pack of 10 balls that are different colors and textures, *Infantino I think, I saw a picture of another baby on here playing with them.
Edited to say the balls are Infantino not FP

[musicfrk2002]

This is our play area. He likes sounds and lights, and anything he can chew on. I pick everything up at least once a day, but it always turns back into this.