Entertaining a 3yr & 17mo Old in a Hotel Room!

[ahammons]

on how to entertain a 3yr old and 17mo old in a hotel room?

We moved out of our house yesterday, so we'll be in a hotel until Monday. DH has been gone since 6am, and won't be back for at least 2 hours (work function). I guess I've done okay so far, but I'm running out of ideas and they're getting restless. I thought I'd go do some laundry, but DH accidentally took both room keys...not sure if they'll give me another one since the base booked it in his name only. I packed some coloring books for them, but guess where they are - in the car that DH is driving! lol I can't wait until tomorrow - we'll be out running errands all day, but at least we'll be out of this room. I was so bored earlier that I actually took a nap with them! Man, I'm so tired of eating out - that's all we've done for the past week. We went to a buffet style restaurant lastnight, and I only ate fruits and veggies - maybe that will make up for all the bad stuff!

 

[ahammons]

Okay, so my 3yr old has found several ways to entertain himself. First, we played a rousing game of "what about that?" lol For those of you who don't know what this is, let me explain He kept opening the door to the fridge, so I told him to shut it. When he finally did, I said "Let's not touch that anymore". So he starts walking around the room pointing to every single thing (and I do mean everything! lol) asking "What about that?, what about that?, what about that?..." It was tons of fun Then he got a major case of the giggles - I'm not sure what was so funny. Later, he put on a pair of DH's shorts and ran around the room saying "I'm just like Daddy!" lol He just turned the lights off a second ago and said "Shh mommy, we're on a mission"...I'm still not sure what the mission is! lol My 17mo old just follows him around, so I guess he's staying amused as well. I'm so glad he has such an active imagination (sometimes)!

 

[chefann]

How about the "The carpet is red hot lava" game? You have to walk only on furniture because the floor is made of red hot lava and will burn your feet.Simon Says

 

[ahammons]

Thanks Ann, those are good ideas! Unfortunately, my 3yr old is quite clumsy so I don't know if I trust him to walk on the furniture! lol I'm sure he'd like to play simon says though.

 

[chefann]

And you can always end with "Simon Says go to bed." LOL

 

[gilliandanielle]

Do you have two beds? You could make a fort with the comforter from one to another, or over a table? That stuff entertains my kids forever!!

 

[ahammons]

Exactly!! lol
Hopefully he goes to bed easier tonight. I think he's still trying to figure out what's going on - lastnight, we were ready to go to bed and he said "okay, let's go home!" poor guy

 

[ahammons]

Do you have two beds? You could make a fort with the comforter from one to another, or over a table? That stuff entertains my kids forever!!

Yeah, we two beds - I'm kind of surprised that he hasn't tried that yet. He loves doing that at home! My youngest keeps trying to hide between the bed and night stand, and he gets stuck!! lol

 

[Teresa Lynn]

If you had a way to get back in the room I'd suggest

bubbles we went camping over the 4th and as a joke I bought my 14 year old daughter Shrek bubbles from the Dollar Tree they were the best bubbles they were huge and very colorful. We ended up buying scented bubbles at Target and we all blew bubbles each evening while dinner was cooking.

A slinky

Dollar Tree also has the glow in the dark sticks (12 in a pkg) and they connected to make a round ball. fo my daughters bday party we hung these all around our pool and gazebp they were so cool. the 4th we tossed them around then hung them in the trees

Pipe cleaners & let him build or design things we used to take wiki stiks until one afternoon we left them in the seat and floor of our van when we were at Disney... then we switched to pipecleaners.

since you can't leave ......
let him have a LONG bath

teach him how to play tic tac toe or the game where you make a grid of dots and you take turns making a line to connect if you make a box you write in your initial. (if they have stationary)

shadow puppets

go for a walk around the lobby they may offer something to get rid of you & the extra key !!


Teach him the song from Lambchop this is the song that never ends!!! or Barney's I love you!! so when daddy gets back he can sing them over and over to him I betcha he'll remember to unpack the coloring books & leave you BOTH keys.
Sorry, been a long time since my kids were toddlers and preschoolers.

Teresa

 

[MandyK]

Okay -- this is very telling about the kind of mother I am. Do you have any washable markers? Take turns drawing on each other -- it kills loads of time becauce when you are done you get to model then you get to hop in the tub for a scrub!

Of course, my 4 year old likes to draw, so he created this game -- the first time he did it alone with permanent markers. Can you explan to his church-based preschool teacher why he drew all over his private parts in PURPLE?

No we play with washable markers and "keep it above the belt"

 

[susan g]

I also thought of the tub right away. Usually you can create some toys from things in your room like the plastic cups, straws, shampoo to make bubbles,etc. Call the front desk and ask about your key situation-no reason to be trapped if you don't have to be! Teach your son a short song or poem, make something for when daddy gets back, make costumes from towels, read Bible stories, the hotel menu and pretend to order then let him cook the food, be your waiter, etc.
Really, call the front desk, Im sure they would help out someone with 2 little kids-they could at least bring more cups!
Good luck!

 

[katie0128]

Just saw this today... did you survive? What did you all end up doing?