Hellobee Boards

Story hour at the library?

Is 15 months old enough for arts & craft yet?
http://www.hellobee.com/2012/02/23/diy-playdough/
http://www.hellobee.com/2013/04/17/toddler-activities-art/

Local children museums might have "free" days?
I know locally there are websites that lists free activities each day in the area.
Or if you even look up local meetup groups for where they are meeting up bc they are usually at locations with free activities!

"swimming" in the bath tub?

ETA: we have a free online family living magazine that publishes a monthly calendar of things to do. Do you have something similar? Of course all activities are during the week!

@MungBean: I'm in a small "city" so I bet you do! It's all updated by other moms! Nothing fancy. There's 2 sites I check regularly. I just google "Kids activities in____"

Lorelei likes to help me cook. I give her a small bowl not very full of water sometimes (if you are worried about spills or mess, you can put down a towel and do it seated on the floor) and a scrubber (or several-- the more "tools" the better) to wash potatoes for me. She will sit happily and do this forever! Show her how, and then let her go. Then I will cut the potato and have Lorelei put the pieces in a bowl for me. Then she can dump some olive oil on them, and sprinkle on some salt and pepper and mix it all together. It can get a little messy, but I just strip her down to her diaper ahead of time and the clean up is usually not awful at all. If she doesn't always put things in her mouth, you can do shaving cream art in the tub or shower. Buy cheapo white shaving cream and use food coloring to mix and make different colors. Give her paint brushes, foam shapes, or anything that might make a neat texture or pattern (get creative and grab stuff out of the kitchen or anywhere in the house). The other morning we filled a tray with lentils (or use rice, or some other cheap grain/seed/bean) and put toys in there and used spoons, funnels, etc. Lorelei enjoyed practicing using a spoon. Set up some pouring activities for her in the tub. Give her colored water and different types and sizes of containers to pour into and fill. Let her do some sticker art. Make a fort with cushions or chairs and have a non-messy snack inside. Lorelei and Ellie both love to use Crayola window markers to color on our bay window. Then I give them a spray bottle filled with water and some rags and they can "clean" it themselves. Make something cool out of a cardboard box, or just play in or with one. We like to do activities with a muffin tin. Use something small but safely edible, like yogurt melts, or cereal, and you can count them, fill up the wells using a spoon (or fingers), move them around, dump them... and eat them!

@Mrs. Twine: how old is Lorelei? I would love to try some of what you suggested. But M is 13 months and still puts everything in her mouth.