It’s okay to have a nothing day indoors!

· by · in Baby & Toddler. ·

I’m aware that I write a lot about our days out, painting a picture of constant outdoor adventures. But we do have lots of ‘nothing’ days too. I’ve never really written about them before. But then I thought, why not, they are a part of our life, these nothing days. You know those days when you just can’t be bothered to go outside. Sometimes I just want to lie down on the sofa and veg out watching America’s Next Top Model. But how do I do that with a toddler? Well I have many ‘go-tos’ when I’m in one of those lazy moods!

1) Make a train-track – a ginormous, enormous train train – first thing in the morning.
This is my favourite, we have a box of wooden train tracks with bridges and tunnels. First thing in the morning, even before breakfast and even changing his nappy (I know, bad!) we get the box out and mummy makes the best train track ever. I love making them, it’s such a satisfying job when I’m done. Then the boy happily plays while I can veg out on the sofa 😀 Here are some of my creations (I stood on the sofa to get these shots):
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2) YouTube – best babysitter in the word
This is for those mornings when I can’t open my eyes. We have a Smart TV, where you can put YouTube on and it automatically plays the next video. The boy likes to watch train videos. You know those videos that train-spotters make, like ‘Trains at Speed UK’ – there are hundreds out there! So I stick it on in the morning, put the boy’s milk and toast on his table, he’s on the sofa watching his favourite thing, and I lie down and get another half-hour/hour’s sleep 😀

3) Painting
This keeps him occupied. Admittedly I can’t be too lazy with this activity, and I have to put a fresh sheet on each time he’s finished one of his masterpieces. But this can pass a good hour  or so of time 😀
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4) Cooking with buttons
Buttons! My boy loves buttons – it’s mad! I got a massive pack from The Works for £2. He likes to pour them all on the floor and ‘cook’ them. This can occupy him for ages! 😀
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5) Make a traffic jam
The boy has hundreds of cars. Well it feels like hundreds. He’s a bit of a neat freak too, likes to put things in neat lines. So I like to play the ‘Let’s make a traffic jam’ game, where he lines up ALL his cars on his car mat to make a traffic jams. It takes him ages, and passes a lot of time 😀

6) Peppa Pig on repeat
Thank god we have Sky and Nick Jr, this show is on all the time. He could watch this show for hours and I can zone out. He likes me to laugh with him when it’s a funny bit, like he literally laughs IN my face, I have to laugh with him. But it’s a pretty easy and lazy activity 😀

Well that’s what we do on our ‘nothing’ days. I do feel bad sometimes, but it all balances out as usually the next day we’ll have a fun day out. The boy is happy and that’s the main thing. And don’t worry, he’s still fed, I’m not that lazy haha! What about you – do you have ‘nothing’ days at home? What do you get up to? I’d love to hear.

Sabrina x

LarabeeUK

Mummascribbles

31 responses to “It’s okay to have a nothing day indoors!”

  1. I love this, especially the part about America’s next top model – this is totally me!! Your at home days sound very very similar to our days, in fact right this minute Elliot is on YouTube whilst I lounge in bed for an extra 5 mins! X

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    • Hah I’m so glad it’s not just me! Tyler’s on YouTube now too, he’s watching some guy who’s collected every single Thomas toy in the world. So many strange collectors out there! And I love Americas next top model haha! Now shall I get out of bed or not, hmmmm. Xx

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  3. Thankgod I am not the only one! If we have these days I do feel guilty! But then I try to get the balance like you! x

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  5. These days are a must for us. My boys love having no schedule and sometimes ask not to go out at all. Great post.We all do it and kids having unscheduled time is very important for kids. #Twinkly Tuesday

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    • That’s it, I like waking up and deciding on the day – sometimes we want to go out, sometimes staying in and playing with toys – I think that way is much less stressful! xx

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  6. I love the honesty of this post! Pregnancy and arrival of #2 induced an increase in lazy days at home. Which is healthy for the kids, I feel. After all, our houses are rammed with toys, why wouldn’t it be a great place to be?! I’m sure dragging kids her there and everywhere, 3 play dates a day is as exhausting for them as it is for us. I’m all for days indoors 🙂 x MMT #twinklytuesdays

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    • Thank you! Exactly, it’s a good day to play with all the toys they have already! Sometime Tyler finds toys he has forgotten about, and it’s like a new toy again! And we all need time to recover from our days out – it is tiring! xx

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  7. Oh I can’t wait till Evie’s old enough for nothing days indoors! She gets so fussy after a few hours I have to take her out every single day. I love playing at home with her and we do a lot but I can’t wait for these days when we can just stay indoors and play and chill out. 😀 It sounds so great xx

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    • Ahh, don’t worry, that day will come! I think Tyler started to like these ‘nothing’ days at around 18 months, he’d started to watch Peppa Pig then hee hee! xx

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  9. We have Frozen on at the moment…..

    I love making train tracks everywhere its fantastic, I feel the need to take photos as well when I’ve made a spectacular creation.

    We are stuck indoors as I’m sick. Sigh. #toddlerapprovedtuesday

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    • YouTube, I love it – I don’t have to do anything, it just plays the next video! Oh yes, I had no idea Tyler loved buttons before! I had actually bought them for a sewing project, but he went crazy for them. Toddlers! xx

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  11. Wow! That is some train set, I think my little man would LOVE it! It’s lovely to see some of your ‘normal’ activities 😉
    Thanks for linking up with #toddlerapprovedtuesday x

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    • I am soo glad! Haha I have Nick Jr to thank for teaching my son to speak! Although I feel he talks to me in Peppa Pig riddles! Oh yes Play-doh, that’s another good one 😀 xx

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  13. Thank you, I’m glad its not just me! A mix of days out and days in is fine, otherwise we would all be soooo shattered! And you’re right, it’s good for their imagination at home! xx

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  14. Great little list there to remember hehe! We both work full time so our weekends tend to mostly be full of some kind of adventure! On our nothing days though we usually paint, play in the garden and watch lots of sooty – and one of us is normally cleaning hehe – hence we don’t have nothing days very often and our house is always a mess!! Thanks so much for linking up with #TwinklyTuesday

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    • Ahh, my husband works full-time and he always get REALLY jealous when we have a nothing day! Hold on – did you say Sooty – how very retro! Our flat is a mess too, and I have nooo excuse! It’s got worse since I started blogging – oops! xx

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    • Haha I know the feeling! And has your child memorised the episodes too? Tyler suddenly tells us a Peppa story in the middle of the night! And yes, get some train tracks – they pass so much time! xx

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