Entertaining Your Toddler

A lot.

People on here will tell me not to play with him so much but I am a SAHM
and these years will fly by. One day he will be a teen and want nothing
to do with me. Plus one day I will have to go back to work and he will be
in school.

I try to play w/him in the morning, get him interested in a toy to play by
himself, go do a bunch of housework, make lunch, play w/him briefly,
do laundry, run errands, make dinner, play w/him, read a story, bath.

Then we all sit together as a family & watch a funny show for about 30
mins.

I take him to parks, the library for reading time, indoor play yards, stores
w/toys set up etc.

I play with him, more then I don't. I can't put a number on it, because I don't keep track. We play more then we do anything else.

I had so many plans for the things I was going to do with my son! However, the reality is that he is very active and doesn't want to sit down and color or paint or listen to music or play with a puzzle. He does all those things, but only for about 5 minutes and then he wants to run around and get into things he shouldn't, lol! He's very active so taking him to the playground usually works. I finally decided now that he's a little older (2 and a half) that he needs more stimulation than I could give him at home, so I put him in preschool a month ago. The first two weeks took some adjustment, but now he loves it and he's learning new things everyday. I think being around other kids his age and having more structure made him more interested in doing activities. My point is don't beat yourself up if you're not sitting down for 8 hours a day doing structured activities. Some kids respond to those things at home and some don't. Just be there for him, pay attention to him and don't ignore him while your off doing your own thing. As long as he knows you're there for him when he needs you he"ll be fine.

I never really "played"with them at that age (or any age!)
I would read with and to them several times a day, snuggle, maybe watch a little TV, the rest of the time my kids were playing while I was doing my thing, housework, hobbies, other chores, whatever.
Sometimes I would sit down for a while with a game, or puzzle or craft, but not all the time. Usually I would just set up an activity and they would go for it.
Even when only one was home they were pretty good when it came to being creative and/or entertaining themselves.
Of course I also talked to them constantly, and frequently involved them in what I was doing. They loved to "help" me in the kitchen and in the yard. And we went OUT, a lot, so they got plenty of time to run around and play with other kids at the park, pool, zoo, beach, play place, etc.
I know a lot of moms really enjoy playing with their kids (which is great!) but it was never my thing, and my kids were pretty happy most of the time so I think it's really a matter of personal choice. There are many ways to bond and connect with your child besides playing with them :-)

I will play games with my little one, but other than that I really don't "play" with her. She is very good about entertaining herself which is great too!