As a mum of two under 2. I often find that it helps to take both boys to a playgroup, soft play or baby and toddler groups for some messy or sensory play or engage them in physical play.

I was handed a leaflet of Surestart events in my area and although I was able to take Tim to baby groups. I couldn’t take Joel because it was for only babies under one and Tim is over 1.  The other events open to both babies and toddler were at times when one of the boys had to nap.

Some days I would do a google search the night before and look for events in the area in preparation for the next day only to find it in the morning that it was no longer available. I remember ringing a group on a  Monday morning to find out if I could take both boys to their session while I was getting them ready but they were full. I found another group at the dying minute but got to the venue an hour after they had started. The group leader came out to meet us at the reception desk to say sorry we are fully booked, but when she saw the boys, she offered for us to stay for the remaining period to see what they had to offer and she could add us to the waiting list.

I found the experience stressful because Tim only had 5 minutes to play wasn’t interested in lunch like the others and didn’t want to leave when it was over. On my way out while chatting one of the mum’s mentioned the HOOP app

About HOOP

Hoop is a free app that helps parents or carers find things to do for their children from 0-11yrs. It was set up by parents, a group of Dad’s to be precise and is now in use by more than 370,000 UK families.

This app is available for both IOS and Android, and I must say makes the search a whole lot easier. It has helpful filters that help me narrow my search to specific locations or age.