Even the most original, creative dad sometimes needs a fun playtime prompt. When a Life of Dad user asked for fun ways to pass the time recently, we put it to the Life of Dad Facebook community for ideas. Here are fun activities for kids and dads at home.
In addition to these awesome tips, dial up the resources on PBS Parents, where I wrote a slew of at-home, easy to do activities for dads and kids to work on and learn together.
"I'm a father of a great two-year-old boy. I am home with him during the day since mom works days and I work nights. I'm…
Posted by Life of Dad on Monday, March 13, 2017
DelCarlo Carolyn: Physical activity should be part of your routine: outside, park, run, jump, swing, slide, play ball, catch, climb, etc.
Charles Mull: It’s like jazz, improvise. A young boy has “this much” attention span, work accordingly. Remember his distant ancestors as boys was hunting rabbits by hand and fashioning tools and working into the social hierarchy. If that child needs downtime pay attention to them.
Biff Tessman: At that age they want to do what your doing, I liked to clean with music on (they would help) and taught they how to make sandwich and toast.
Vaughan McGrath: Take him out in the garden and name the plants and insects you see. Explain how they grow and where they are found, the way they live, and similar things. Point out flowers or fruit at different stages of growth, and then the next day show him again. You can encourage him to start gardening with the easiest vegetables and fruits to grow. My boy is 3 now but has been avid about anything related to the outdoors since he was a bit before 2. He regularly gets me to check our tomatoes and beans for growth and change in color, will plant things for me as well, and loves to help with anything I do outside. This is only one activity, and it will keep him occupied for hours on end (at no expense except for your time!). Additionally, incorporating this list of easy-to-grow plants can help him feel a sense of accomplishment and inspire further exploration in the garden.
Brendan Stanwell: Buy a roll of brown paper / lining paper and a box of crayons. Start at one end and draw a race track for the cars, scenery and all! Later this can be used with Lego for full on stories with cops and robbers. Head out to a car wash (the ones with windows to see the what is going on). Ring your local ambulance station who might be in need of a new mobile medical truck from Craftsmen and ask if you can pop over to see them. This will fit in to ‘people who help us’ type activities.
Thomas Maidment: Check out the The Dad Labs page on Facebook. My 2 year old son loves doing the experiments and learning about the world.
Andrew Smith: Get out and explore your city. The best thing about a two year old is that almost everything is néw to them.
Ross Rinaldo: Read to him. You can even read a magazine and let him look at the pictures.
John Weiss: Let him learn to play alone. He’ll pop in and out to see what you’re doing but learning to entertain himself is an important skill too.
Joy Maganga: If you love fishing, teaching how to fish. If you love cooking, make a mess in the kitchen with the kid. If you love football, etc etc. Whatever you love doing, teach the kid and make it fun and messy for him and yourself.
Me: Watch kindie rock music videos together, write your own silly songs, sing and dance!