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She goes to daycare two 4 hr mornings a week. She loves it and this year she's the youngest- it works well for us.

I'm also in MOPS which is 1x a month, but that's more for me.

We go to story hour- it's 3x a week at our library we go 2x a month.

We have done swim lessons.

There is an indoor playgroup here in town that I will start in the fall.

We have a play date or activity every weekday morning.

We go to a few parent & child classes, throughout the week. We're lucky in that our small school district has a tot campus with some great classes. DD (2.5) and I attend a playgroup, and also drop in on science, art, cooking and music classes. We plan to start soccer and ballet this summer, when she turns 3.

Our library has a preschool storytime on Tuesdays, a craft hour on Wednesdays, and "Tales for Tails" program on Thursdays, where kids can read (or, in DD's case, make up stories and share pictures) to shelter dogs. We've met great families through all these programs.

DH sah and we just signed F (3 years old) up for swimming lessons twice a week and joined the Y, so they'll do childcare there 2 hours a day while he works out.

I SAH with my 2 year old, and we do a cooperative preschool twice a week for two hours. I work one of the days and drop off the other day. He really loves it and has gotten to know the other kids.

We also go to the park (or the indoor play gym at the community center) and the gym daycare several times a week.

In the past, we also did Gymboree classes/open gym, story time at the library, and a regular playdate group.

We do various story time or music things at the library or whatever, but she doesn't Really play without other kids there as much. Then we do an organized playground thing through the school system where it's the same people in class all year. And our local gym has a "gym and swim" drop off program-2 hours once a week, so that's her only thing away from me. She loves it, it's good for her to have time away from me and it's really good for me to have time away from her.

I joined a moms club that has a few events/play dates each month and we do informal play dates through that too. We are in a Music Together class as well. In the fall when she's two she will start a 90 minute drop off dance class. Dance and the moms club are just as much for me as her, we don't have any help so 90 child free minutes a week sounds amazing!

We do swim once a week and starting music class next week. Im SO excited for music class because DS loveeeees music and loves to dance. Its adorable! (he's 8.5 months)

Before we moved I used to sign DD up for one off classes run by a free centre, sensory, art and movement stuff. We did lots of museum play dates so I felt like she got lots of exposure and socialization.
Now we live somewhere much quieter, so she will be starting preschool for two mornings a week after the Easter holidays. I will look to sign both her and the baby up to a class too. There is a little scientist class I like the look of for DD.

We are starting "pre-preschool" this fall when my son is 2 years old. It's 2.5 hours in the morning twice a week. It starts off with parents and slowly "separates" them. So for example, a week in the classroom the whole time, then a week at the school but in a separate room on standby, then finally just drop off.

Also, I recently started taking him to church and dropping him off in the toddler class. It's actually structured a lot like preschool and is 2 hours. It has helped a ton already with socialization and following directions.

Currently at 18 months he does a gym class and a swim class, both with me.

Yes. My oldest goes to preschool 3x a week (2.5 hours a day) and is enrolled in swimming lessons. My middle child is also enrolled in swim and will start preschool when she turns 3.

P is doing preschool twice a week and i really want to sign him up for a sport or day camp thos summer bc school will be on break til fall. He will be four in july.

D is 19 months and he will start preschool at 3 like p.

Both boys go to speech weekly so i count that as an activity

Mine is still young enough that it's parallel play, she gets so excited to play with other people's toys so it's easy to distract her with something if the host kid has a preference. We usually can chat quite a bit, it helps if you/the other mom(s) are cool with just letting them sort some stuff out themselves too. Occasionally there is toy snatching and if no one is too upset we just roll with it.

Snacks are fun and a good way to break up the play date if they are consistently struggling with sharing.

We do a lot of outings with friends too, sometimes just to the park (we have a super awesome toddler friendly one so you don't have to be right on top of them every second.) Things like the zoo are fun for the moms too because we get to chat during the times they are actually OK with being stuck in the stroller!

@Happygal: T is only 13 mo so play dates are easy. Sometime I meet friends at a play gym. Mostly it's a chance to visit with my SAH/WAH friends and drink coffee (or wine ) it's as much for the moms as kiddos. Helps the days go by fast. A walk or park can be a play date too, IMO it's whenever you get together with other people. We do one every morning we don't have another activity.

MOPS is good for me to feel checked in with my community. I've got to know people I already know better. It's nice to see familiar people around town.

@Happygal: Playdates have gotten really stressful for us when the group is too large. LO is just not at a good age for sharing and overall handling the intensity of a lot of toddlers who can't communicate on her level quite yet.

Right now we have really enjoyed having one friend & mom "couple" over, or meeting them at a park. But I found that the best way to make these friends is to start with larger formal playdates. My mom group was amazing when we first moved here!