My 18 month old is a typical active boy, but I'm struggling with how to help him burn off energy inside now that the weather is colder.
He likes to run behind his push walker and rolling cars around, but he can get a little rough with it. He also climbs to furniture, which is still not safe. We don't have a very big house, so he tends to bop around from room to room and leave a mess.
Any toy suggestions? Ride-ons, play tent, etc?
pear / 1986 posts
Last winter we did bring our outdoor plastic slide into the family room and it was a huge hit - DD was ~2.5 last winter. We would pile pillows at the bottom and she would slide down into them. All her vehicles and dolls liked the the slide, too 
. And it even became a fort with the addition of blankets. Yes, it took up a lot of space, but it was worth it to get some energy out.
wonderful cherry / 21504 posts
He's probably too young, but we just got a mini trampoline (little tikes) and my 3 year old jumps on it a ton.
persimmon / 1281 posts
We've been frequenting indoor play gyms. We have a lot available to us in my city and even though they make me cringe (germaphobe) I just make sure to wash his hands as soon as he walks out of them. He's a bit young for them (15 months) but he's a huge climber so I figure it's good to get him used to these places since we have about 8 months of rain (love the PNW!)
pear / 1750 posts
@Mrs. Goose: sadly I don't think I'd have any room for one of those.
@GreenThumb: that sounds so cute!
@Foodnerd81: cool, I'll look into that.
@Portboston: yes! My town has one that's cheap but the hours are limited. Sometimes the nanny takes him to the one at her towns park district. We've done McDonalds a few times and I think I'll be doing the library and gym childcare pretty often, too.
persimmon / 1445 posts
@GreenThumb: We keep our plastic slide inside too. It comes apart easily (2 pieces) so I can stick in the closet. DD absolutely loves it.
We also listen to a lot of music so she can dance off some energy and practice her gymnastics moves. She learned how to do a somersault before she was 2 so you may be able to teach your LO over the winter.
pomelo / 5220 posts
We go to MyGym (indoor gym class), which helps and we usually do swimming too. Or we bundle up and go outside anyway! Toddler boys have so much energy!
blogger / pear / 1509 posts
We have this and the tent that goes with it.
http://m.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/art/90192014/
It does take up a bunch of floor space, but also folds flat for storage. Our two (11 and 14 months) love it. They get wild in it, pushing the tent over while inside, but we keep it on the carpet sof no one gets hurt. And most of the time we keep it in the closet so it's novel when we do get it out.
pomelo / 5573 posts
@Foodnerd81: We have this trampoline as well, it's great! We got it for my son at 2 and he loved it so it might work at 18 months.
pear / 1547 posts
I would like to second the tunnel! Collapses easily so when you don't want to trip over it you can shove it in a corner. We also have a cheap plastic slide that folds up that we can use indoors. But also we go to the library weekly and when the weather is bad utilize our Children's Museum membership a ton!
pomegranate / 3973 posts
May not be doable depending on your house, but we have one of these door jumpers...
DH bought new heavy duty straps for the top and has it tied to a hook in the ceiling joist (so it will hold a lot more than when just hooked onto a door - wish I had a pic of our set up)
DS LOVES this still at 23 months, he will jump for a half hour and spin himself dizzy, or we can swing him. We've just been moving the straps up as he gets bigger/heavier.
wonderful pear / 26210 posts
Do you have a garage? is there any way you can put the car outside and let him use a trike in there? We do that sometimes, on the bitterly cold days.
pomelo / 5720 posts
We have a small indoor trampoline and we also try to get out of the house as often as we can. When the weather doesn't allow for us to play outside, we go to indoor play areas, gymnastics classes, and swimming lessons.
nectarine / 2951 posts
We have an indoor trampoline. We try to let him run around our basement when it's too cold outside. But honestly, we go outside no matter the weather. I invest in good rain and snow boots.
cherry / 186 posts
We have an indoor trampoline that my 2 yo loves.
I was out with friends and one of them said she is getting a gorilla gym for one of her kids for Christmas, it may be an idea:
https://gorilla-gym.com/product/kids-package/?gclid=CIyu8a28hdACFQckhgod95cN7Q
Good luck!
nectarine / 2173 posts
We go to the play area at the mall (free!) as well as an indoor kids cafe (cheap) a lot on rainy days.
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