Let him build with empty boxes, sheets, the couch - whatever. Creating his own world is a very good way to exercise STEM thinking and keep busy for long periods, then spend even longer playing in it with animals, dolls or vehicles. Try building indoor obstacles or have a scavenger hunt for everything he can find that's purple, do some cooking together, take his toys to the bathtub for a clean and let him be the owner of the pride that comes from doing the task, have an at home pamper/spa day together or turn out the lights and have a movie, if he is creative make some pictures or cards to send to family and friends, craft something from your recycling or just go out and get muddy and be set up to come back in and go for a warm bath right after...

Drop him off at the grand parents

home made playdough

We used to love collage pictures . When you are at the beach or park collect things like leaves and shells and when you have rainy days you can make artworks with them. .If you have a hallway you can make some skittles out of plastic bottles that you decorate or paint and have a game of ten pin bowling. I have a 4 year old granddaughter now and when she comes to stay I make sure to have a good supply of paper and colouring pencils for rainy days too.

It must be hard for you,but take him to the shops and let him pick out something for himself it maybe fruit meat and packet food, but let him pick it out for himself,and he might eat it because he picked it himself.

Movies , books

Normally drawing, playing shop, or building blocks, things like that. I have 4 kids and they range from 15 years to 2 years old, and she doesn't go to day care yet, so it's alot of imagination play and games, making learning the alphabet a game and drawing can also teach to write letters.

Some time spent with rubber boots on and splashing in the puddles.

Probably Best, Don't Keep The Kids Clean!! My son when was his little, (now 28 years) I dropped him off for one day only as I was doing Tafe studies, His Nappy was never changed and his little bum was sore for days One day of daycare never did that again :(Edited 07-May-23 20:55pm

I would play games with them and draw or paint or watch cartoons on tv with them

There are so many...people here listed a lot. Good playing together, but let him play alone as well.

You can also put on rainy day wear and go puddle stomping and for walks with the umbrella. Rain doesn't have to be a sentence to the indoors. Walk an indoor mall. They usually have little people areas to climb on soft big animals or ride a little train or carousel indoors. At least the malls in America have those features. Hopefully there too.

Age appropriate toys, videos, websites that are teaching alphabet and numbers through games he can do and will be enthralled by at his age. YouTube I'm sure has some great songs for little ones to dance and learn simple words to. You should try having a box if indoor age related games, toys, coloring books, paint books and crayons and push shapes into fitting hole type of activities that you only take out on rainy days, so he's not burnt out on them already. Also going to the public library or indoor wading pool for wee ones is are great places to visit on rainy days you want to be inside, but doing like family fieldtrips. Also, bigger bookstore outlets usually have scheduled story or craft times for that age and getting out even though it's raining just to get into an indoor place to change scenery always was a treat to my boys way back when they were that young. Have him help mommy with little things that need getting done around the house. They are wanting to start being little helpers at that age.

Playdough and reading books with lots of colour.

I don't remember what my best one was, it's over fourty years ago that I was a toddler. though playdough sounds familiar.

Any type of sensory play. You can put rice into bucket with some cups and spoons, play doh, slime, drawing,painting, make a tent form pillows, blankets, buidling blocks, magnetic tiles, tea party with his toys.Edited 07-May-23 16:30pm

We raised our youngest in quite a cold winter climate -4 some days I am talking 0ver 20 years ago but this is what I would do on a cold wet and dreary day. Run the bath put lots of bath toys in it and bubbles. Before he would get in the bath I would set the bathroom up with everything we would need for a 2 hr "Pool" play. Snacks drinks a cordless ph (Showing my age) a decent cuppa tea for myself and a big pool pillow to sit on, I would wear something that didn't matter how wet I got and we had lots of fun I would sit next to the bath and he would have the entire bath with all the toys and Mums arms to make waves. It was great for wearing him out and safe as I had everything with us so no distractions. Otherwise it was build indoor forts and endless hours of Thomas the tank engine trains and tracks. Remember its that you spent the time that they remember the most.

Play doh, duplo, toys cars, blocks, books (read with mum and dad), baking cookies

Drawing/painting/chalkboard Puzzles Playdoh Lego/duplo Car and ramps Train set

I didn't ever have to entertain my children when they were young. They had one day a week at pre-school and the rest of the time they entertained themselves. They had dolls to dress and undress, matchbox cars, blocks, jigsaws, at one stage I even taped rice into a matchbox as they enjoyed the noise. It isn't something we gave much thought to because children simply got on and played.

Check the library for children activities each day

Give them a wooden spoon and some metal pans to make lots of noise

Painting with potato shapes

painting on paper (hands and feet), or painting a toy with a sponge brush and then washing the toy after (water play).

Join a toy library. When it’s bad weather you can go and borrow toys of interest and return them when the interest wanes. Put music on. Children love singing dancing and running around in circles. They don’t want to sit still just because the adults think the weather isn’t great. Chuck cushions all over the floor. Children will spend lots of time and energy jumping from cushion to cushion, trying not to touch the floor. Cooking something together that they can get their messy little fingers into a great sensory and learning experience. Shaving cream. YES - spray that stuff on the table and let them squish and squash and drive trucks through it, and comb tracks into it, and hide things in it. It’s cheap and smells ok afterwards.

A rebounder is great for burning up excess energy .

I had four daughters. Read to him. Colouring in and drawing. Counting and building with blocks or Lego. Make a tent out of blankets. Play with a box 📦. Don’t mean to sound offensive but use your imagination. There’s heaps to do without having to go out or spend money

I don’t have kids and don’t want any either

I can't recall as both my daughters are now grown up with the youngest one living in Alice Springs so I missed their growing up.

I don't have kids

Watch Waybuloo or In the Night Garden on YouTube.

Make cookies…..get them interested early……lol

Toddlers are easy to keep busy. When my grandaughter was a toddler, I had a plastics drawer and it kept her busy for hours

My girls loved their Barbies, so put on a concert with them. Or they would actually make up plays and/or sing some songs.

finger painting

Do what is fun for all, even if you feel silly doing it-enjoy. So many good suggestions, how ever no matter what you do, things will be difficult and to you may also get boring. Long as you can find a few hours positive time with your son luv it while you can

Playing with their toys, building blocks always kept my children busy or dolls or teddy bears etc. Reading story's to them, when reading a book to them I always got one to point to the word as I read it and it then got to the stage they were actually able to tell me what the word was.

read to them help clean the house light duies bake

Reading, arts and crafts are always a winner for my grandchildren.

Play with them, read to them. Doubtless some one will write in and say that "The Government shoiuld do something"!

Read to them and play! Be screen-free.

puzzle and games and a bit of tv

Puzzles are great!

At my age there are no babies under the age of 3 left in our family. I seem to remember lots of running around but can't suggest any games now.

Normally on rainy days for my daughter it is stay inside and watch tv or play games on the computer, and hopefully she falls asleep.

Games...there r many out there...google that:)

Don't ask me. I am almost a great great, grandparent & forgotten what it is to bring up young ones.

Making cookies if you feel he could do that. If not, maybe Playdoh creations?

Sorry, it’s been so long since there was a little one was at my house I can’t recall what we did. Perhaps send him to Gramma’s for a while?

A train set is very distracting. Lego helps too.

common playroom in our building

In between what he normally does indoors you can watch the raindrops falling down the window and joke that's is like a giant car wash and you are protected just as if you were inside a car .... after that big long explanation I'm sure he'd be happy to escape to his own little world and play with his toys!

Omg I signed up recently to help care for my grandsons and they aren’t allowed to watch tv! So yes, what do we do?! Edited 07-May-23 08:34am

I always kept all my plastic ware (in those days we were Tupperware tarts!) in one cupboard, and the children could play in that cupboard - sometimes I could barely get across the kitchen for plastic bowls etc! There were no "devices" to occupy children with so we had to make our own fun. I still have my old recipe for play dough (home made) if anyone is interested - it's so superior to that hard commercial stuff.

My son was premature,and had delays due to birth asphyxia. So alot of things he had difficulty with. He loved music,I ordered instruments that were age appropriate thru an educational catalogue and he played them with music I had back then on disc you can stream now. Also loved the water trough. Unfortunately at that age every activity has to be monitored,as everything goes in their mouth or they get bored. Of an activity quickly. He also loved the brush pan and shovel,guess it was something he saw me use alot. Large magnets for the fridge and loved when i blew bubbles,he would chase them round the house

Make a hut!!! Use sheets, blankets, cot mattress... anything that can create a little cave. Then do some baking together and have a little picnic inside your hut. Also kids indoor tents are available to buy and are quite inexpensive. My kids love them

Dominoes, marble runs and block buildings are our go to as well as a favourite book. Baking is also fun for them if you let them have a go mixing, kneading, rolling or adding ingredients etc. and it fills the house with cozy, delicious smells. Making gingerbread and letting the kids shape and decorate is fun.

Lego - big blocks, not small-not suitable until 3 years old.

finger painting, easy baking, play doh or modeling clay, reading a story, watching Sesame Street

Reading a book

Doing a small puzzle and baking treats, my daughters always loved that.

Puppet shows

Make pancakes! 🥞 They can help stir the mixture, and choose their toppings .. or cookie cutters come in handy to make fun shaped toast . Chocolate crackles don't need any baking,, Put some seeds ( herbs or flowers ) into wet cotton balls to germinate and leave on a windowsill.. then they can be planted into a pot that little one has painted or put stickers on ..etc Those crystal kits used to be fun ,grow them in jars,, or if you can find Sea monkeys in the local toyshop they're cool to grow too .

play doh. Can't remember the exact recipe, but I do remember it was very easy to make - good colour options with just food colouring, and it is safe to um... ingest if your kid is into that. Online search should do for getting a suitable recipe. Just use kitchen gear for shapes, textures, etc. play- scissors, grater, rolling pin, ice cube trays for shapes, cookie-cutter stamps etc.

la la land

sort the plastic cupboard out, paper chains

videos

Depends on what your child likes doing. You have to have heaps lined up ready to go as one day they love it the next bored with it.

Do you watch Play School on TV at all. I don't know how much TV you let your son watch but you might get some ideas from watching that. I know you can only do it for so long but does he like you to read books to him?

Firstly, I'm really sorry about all my comments on the hurricane yesterday; it kept saying it didn't go through so I tried shortening and rewording to make it acceptable. I won't do that again🤪 On the rainy day activities question I say cut and glue. Get the colourful pads of paper, cut pieces of different shapes and sizes and let your 2.5 place them on a larger piece of paper. It's fun and really builds the self-esteem when you praise their good work and put it on the fridge or wall. Another activity is to colour with washable markers or fat crayons. Use the large picture colouring books for little ones and don't worry about colours used or going outside the lines. They're having fun and you get to praise their imagination. I have a niece who used to love to colour with black. My sister was worried. She turned out all right.... working with juvenile offenders and making a difference with her caring heart. NOTE: keep an eye that the glue, markers or crayons don't go in the 2.5's mouth, and keep the scissors out of 2.5's hands.

was never a parent - not a clue