Fun home activities for siblings do together (age gap 3+)

[Anonymous]

My 1 year old is really interested in her older brother (4.5), and she is entertained & fascinated by him no matter what he talks & does. She can sit & play on her own (eg look at the toys he plays or grabs the toys he plays)next to him for an hour (without me present ) & he plays on his own. She often crawls to him wherever he is, but he rarely involves her at any play. Most of the time, he grabs back the toy what she holds at hand. For this 3+ years gap, what can they do together at home that is also interesting to my son?

[Anonymous]

Your son needs to learn there are times to share.

[Anonymous]

Play doh assuming your 1yo doesn’t put stuff in their mouth.

[Anonymous]

That is a tough age just bc 1 YOs don’t have a lot of “play” skills that 4.5YO will find fun. Maybe he can build block Towers for her to knock over? Edible play dough. Bubbles when it’s warmer
My kids are a few years older and it will get easier once the little one is bigger. Mine are 4 years apart and they will play happily together for an hour at a time without arguing (on a good day lol)

[Anonymous]

Play dough , kinetic sand

[Anonymous]

I don’t think it’s appropriate to expect a 4.5 yo to play for very long with a one year old. His skills are so far ahead of hers. Things at a table where they can parallel play while she’s in a high chair and can’t mess up his work, like the play dough suggestion, or coloring might work.

[Anonymous]

My 18 month old loves to smash stuff. So when the 5.5 year old is in the mood, she builds something for her sister to smash.

[Anonymous]

3 year age difference - at those ages, the smashing was a big thing, as was playdough and coloring (we bought molds that turned my older child's broken crayons into chunky toddler crayons for the younger one).

My older child also used to like to push the little one around in her push cart (we had a very solid wooden walker that they could sit on) or ride on toy. Or, in a pinch, a laundry basket.

Older one used to also like to dress up the younger one in superhero masks and capes. Lots of giggles there.

[Anonymous]

PP here - now they're 4 and 7 and play board games together!

[Anonymous]

Follow an instagram account called The Busy Toddler - she has lots of awesome ideas I've used that my kids have loved (sensory bins, sorting games that can be edited by age, etc)