Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Age or Ability Specific Forums Pre-school Bored Toddler

Hi everyone,

I am new here and would like to introduce myself. I am still unsure about all this. I have one DD who is 26 months and we think she is advanced. I don't have much experience with kids, so it is hard for me to tell. I am here looking for general support because I have no one to talk to about her. I learned quite a while ago to keep my mouth shut to other parents with kids her age because no one wanted to hear me to "brag", although that was certainly not my intention. Perhaps parents here will be more understanding.

A few things I think make her unusual are she LOVES letters to an obsessive degree and started recognizing words at around 20 months. She now knows about 50 words - that I know of. She knows over 400 ASL signs (I stopped counting) She can count to 20, but isn't really into math yet. She loves jigsaw puzzles and can work 30+ pieces independently and has been working the jigsaw type since about 18 months. She also met most of the infant milestones early, like sitting supported at 8 weeks and walking while holding my hands at 4 months, although she didn't decide to let go and do it on her own until 10 months.

I sometimes think there's nothing unusual about this, then I take her to the Dr for a check-up and she tells me I may have a little prodigy on my hands... which I think is a bit extreme.

My question is she seems bored quite often. The "toy" that interests her the most is the ipad where she plays letter/word/color/counting games and puzzles (for hours if I let her) then gets bored and starts watching Netflix, at which point I usually take it away. I try to limit her time with the ipad in an attempt to keep her active, but she just learns so much. I need things to do with her to keep that little mind happy but any activities I find are very age restrictive and she would be bored by things for her age group. I sometimes find myself making excuses for her when she is around peers so that we don't get snubbed.

She is not in preschool/daycare and we plan to homeschool. I am considering starting that, but I have no idea where to begin.

Thanks for letting this confused and overwhelmed mom ramble on and any advice/support will be much appreciated.

Hi and welcome. We find we ignore "age appropriate" and go with what DS enjoyed. Around that age he loved pulling apart his matchbox toys with a screwdriver, Lego (small), reading... ( no iPad for us then). He loved fine motor stuff but we also took the time to encourage gross motor skills as well and spent plenty of tome at the park, riding a balance bike, balls etc.
It can be quite a journey, albeit isolating, and it is definitely great to be able to share here and know you are completely understood!

My son also started with Legos around that age. We did the duplos first, but as soon as he discovered "real" legos, he refused the duplos, lol. He also loved toy cars, motorcycles and planes/helicopters. I never paid much attention to the age guidelines (I assumed it was normal for kids to play with stuff marked for much older kids, lol.) We had a leapfrog book at that age as well that he enjoyed. I don't know what the leapfrog stuff looks like now, though.

Does she enjoy coloring/drawing? This was my son's absolute favorite thing to do. For a couple of months I swear all he wanted to do was draw circles on every sheet of paper in sight! I bought a box of copy paper at OfficeMax and let him draw as much as he wanted to.

Mr W was independent on the computer with a trackball mouse at age 2. He spent a lot of time on starfall and a number of other sites. Loved the leapfrog videos. Loves the educational videos on youtube.

We do not pay attention to the "ages" on games. If he wants to try it, we play it with him and teach him the rules, etc.

We do make special arrangements if his fingers are not up to the particular task. Sometimes I have to be his "robot" and put stuff together for him with him telling me how to do it. Or, playing card games, he cannot hold cards for long, so we follow the suggestions on this site. Or at museums I carry him around so he can see better.

Hi Mary,
I have a DD who is 28 months old, perhaps we can share ideas and tips as we will have some similarities. My daughter also likes the iPad and plays several games/puzzles on it, probably some of the ones your daughter plays.

Forget the age recs and just try things.

Ours does go to daycare which I think she finds very entertaining with the other kids. I'm in grad school and have a flexible schedule, so now trying to figure out where we go in terms of preschool etc. The daycare gives me some ideas as she often comes home with crafts she did, but I have also started getting more active in my looking for things.

This past week I made cornstarch color bags and oobleck (cornstarch goo) for her to play with, the first took a little more time to prep and the second is super easy but messier for her. I threw an adult t-shirt on her and let her play.

She's had play-doh for a long time, maybe since just over a year. We had to first make sure she wouldn't eat it.

Buy lots of stickers, paper, markers, coloring books and let her sticker, color, and draw.

I have been getting LOTS of books out from the library for her to read with me.

Melissa and Doug make wooden jigsaw (real) puzzles of varying piece #s

Get her a set of kids' wooden beads and string them. These should be supervised, we keep them out of reach when not playing this for both DD and our younger DD's sake.

Make or get a felt board, and then create felt shapes to put on them. A friend made ours for DD's birthday along with several themes (snowman, apple tree, itsy bitsy spider, etc).

There are similar options with dress up magnetic dolls.

Get a play kitchen with either wooden or plastic toy foods, we've had this for a long time as well after she played with one at 14 months in someone else's house.

Hope these are a few ideas for today. I'm happy to keep talking with you.

I have a very similar girl (26 mo too!).

We:

-Go to the Science museum (Museum of Nature and Science) at least once a week. She is very into space/astronauts/planets ect. and the people on staff there are wonderful and actually take the time to talk to her and answer her questions. They also don't seem to cut her off by age and will include her completely in any activities or presentations they are running in the Space area.

-Have older friends over (ideal fun ages seem to be 3 or 4). This can be a great break for you too as they play together without needed help.

-We read Magic Treehouse (I know its for older kids but I find she is really into it and asks for them) just a few chapters at a time then she wants to act it out.

-Like SUNDAY DRIVER said, we love playdough. I make it with her, letting her pour and mix, and add the color, then I cook it over the oven. We get small items she can stick in it then I just let her play

-I get two bowls of water and let her pour back and fourth and wash things

-We go to a class at the Botanic garden's once a week

-Beading is starting to be a big hit.

-She likes to trace things

-She likes to play with a Melissa and Doug wooden barn and horses and the Plan Toys doll house and dolls

Will write more later but I have to run an errand!

Magic Treehouse was a big hit for DS at that age as was The Faraway Tree series Enid Blyton. DS was also into space - museums are great .
He loved cooking, tiny beads (threading), pouring and videos on neok12 (circuits, insects,car engines...)
We tried to have play times with older children also. His best "friend" last year was hg and a year older. He is at school now though so we don't see him as much

Lots of great suggestions so far, especially about art and reading. To the art suggestions I'd add painting, too. Also, considering your nickname, it's a good idea to get DD involved in baking. My DW is also a chef, and she enjoyed following a recipe with DD, letting her measure ingredients, etc., before she was three. DD also decorated her own cupcakes, gingerbread cookies, etc.

If you're looking for a way to get started in homeschooling, my DW and DD almost fell into that naturally. They started out doing art projects together, which DD loved, and eventually reading and math worksheets were also known as "projects."

bobbie: good to know about The Faraway Tree, we will have to try those at some point! I have to say it's funny when your just turned two year old pretends that her crib is the Magic Tree House and calls herself Annie, the dog Jack, and apparently I am currently the old lady Morgan (reading Dolphins at Daybreak).


Dude: I like the cooking idea, my DD doesn't get the opportunity to cook much because honestly I'm not that into it, but she loves it.

Mary: I bet your DD would love to join in cooking especially since you apparently love it. That would be a good place to start homeschool actually. With measuring, ect. Google homeschooling preschoolers/toddlers and there are some really great blogs out there. My DD just started going to Montessori 2 mornings a week but we still do plenty of the activities we find on some of the homeschooling blogs just to keep her busy.

Other ideas/toys:

-Who Lives Where? is a toy (ages 3+) that DD is enjoying, we got it about 6 months ago and she really has always liked it

-Candy Land I have heard is a great first game where they can get the concept of taking turns. I can't say anything about it yet though because DD is getting it for Valentines Day. Will let you know!

-There are some gifted kids websites that lists some toys by age... I can't remember where I saw this but googling some time back

-Some games we make from montessori materials intended for Primary (3+). Google "free montessori printables" and some will come up. DD likes matching right now. Words to words, letters to letters, ect and Montessori has a lot of this. Seems like your DD would like this too since she can recognize lots of words. You do need a lamination machine though but you will need one anyway if you are planning to homeschool. Get a nice pocket laminator (ours was about $150 but totally worth it).

-Get the "DO A DOT" paints so she can dot the lines of large letters. DD loves this.

-Any game w small pieces DD is just interested in. I have to watch her because even though she knows not for mouth she is still just about to be 26 mo. so I feel it would be a bad decision to leave her alone w them.


Question for you: Which puzzles? Any suggestions? We have had a hard time finding durable jigsaws.


I really hope some of these suggestions help (along with the earlier list I posted). Please ask if you need even more ideas!

Thank you so much everyone for your responses! I was out with her a good part of the day today and picked up a set of Legos. We'll see how those work out.

I wish museums were an option for us on a regular basis. There is one that I know of but it's too far to frequent, although it would be a nice special outing.

Part of my problem is (and this is really embarrassing) I have no friends. None. I go to a play group every couple of weeks, but that's my extent of being around other parents, which means I don't have anyone around to learn from and my DD rarely has the chance to play with other kids. At least I have the internet, right?

Anyway, we have tons and tons of toys. Mostly books, art supplies and puzzles. She also has a doll house that she loves and a trampoline. But what ever it is can't keep her attention for long until she starts asking for the iPad. I think somehow I will have to break her addiction to that before I can get her really interested in other things.

I have tried baking with her and she pretty much hated it except for smearing icing on a cake - but at least that's something. And by the way, I'm not actually a chef, it's just a play on my real name.