Any suggestions for a partly disabled grandma to provide activities for a 2 year old?

I think a montessori set up would suit your situation perfectly because you set it up in advance and then they child explores it independently.

Look on pinterest for ideas

Quite cheap & easy to do but brilliant for kids play & development but involves minimum exertion from yourself

This is also good and will pass lots of time

www.elc.co.uk/learning-and-activity-books/my-complete-learning-pack/146168.html?cgid=e139#start=1

The Early Learning Centre website has lots and lots of ideas

Also found this

Teaching your child to measure

PRACTICE WITH MEASURING CUPS

Set out bowls, measuring cups, and spoons for your child to explore.
Practice measuring with a variety of substances. Cheerios, rocks, dominoes, flour, water, dirt, sand – whatever you feel comfortable allowing your child to use. Substances that can be level (like water, flour, sand) are great for teaching the skill of line reading and making measuring cups level to accurately measure something.

Bubbles are ALWAYS a hit with my grandchildren Can be bought online so no need to go to the shops

from this company

www.bakerross.co.uk/pocket-money-toys/new

Balloons also a good past time that children love

Hi Salis you could make play dough

Instructions

..Mix together the flour and salt.

..Mix together ½ cup of warm water with a few drops of food colouring. (food colouring not essential)

..Slowly pour the water into the flour mixture, stirring as you pour.

..Stir until combined, then knead with your hands until the flour is completely absorbed.

Toddler groups where, as OldMeg says, you can stay.

Wind the bobbin up
Wind the bobbin up
Pull, pull, clap, clap, clap etc

Always a favourite with mine
I'll try to find the actions on YouTube
This is the version we used, they do vary.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=0O4yu35xd-g

If you can get her, and yourself, to a ‘Play and Stay’ group you might both benefit by getting out of the house. Many are run by church groups, but not all.

You can often grab a seat and talk to other adults while the children play together. Most of the ones I knew had a communal coming together for a few songs at the end and then a snack for the children and adults.

There were a couple of grannies with mobility issues and they coped well and had support from other adults.

The other thing is at 2 plus kids love being useful so what to us are horrible chores can seem like a game to them, folding things, tidying the drawer with you , putting away she,ll love running around for you, if you ve got a timer that pings or an old egg timer you can time her she ll love the competition of it all, drying up ( not the knives or best glasses?) it won’t be work to her but an exciting game
You really don’t need much at that age

On a sunny day, take her in the garden and give her a large paint brush and a bucket of water to "paint" the fence, walls or patio. My kids spent hours doing that!

Clapping games are good - A sailor went to sea sea sea - YouTube again for inspiration and demonstration.

Our's adored "the tray game". Put five or six small objects on a tray - e.g thimble, spoon, cotton reel etc. Get her to look at it for a little while, then she turns around and you remove one item. She has to say what you have removed. Harder than it sounds for little ones.

Also do you know 'Two Little Dickie Birds"? With paper stuck on fingers and you make them fly away. You can see how it's done on YouTube. Choose the video by Pamela Sunshine. YouTube has lots of nursery rhymes with actions.

Giving dolly a bath.

Sorting a bag of buttons into colours or sizes (watch she doesn't put them in her mouth).

Sorting Granny's cotton reels.

Making paper lanterns

Tracing with greaseproof paper.

Making rice crispy cakes in bun cases.

I expect you already sing together, in both English and French.
My GC have always enjoyed using puppets, glove puppets or just cuddly toys, to have conversations and re-tell favourite stories. Puppets can also be quite quickly made from wooden spoons, dish-mops and odd socks!
One of my GCs loved me making old fashioned strings of paper dolls for colouring, another got me involved in complicated acting out of stories with plastic farm and wild animals!
Anyway, enjoy!

We made some lovely collages in the autumn from differently coloured autumn leaves - you can wander around the garden, the neighbourhood, picking up leaves, then having fun making pictures.

Local library for extra books - if dad could do the book changing for you.
Looking after pot plants.
Singing and nursery rhymes.
Threading beads or buttons.
Home made play doh in lots of colours.
Dressing up clothes - your scarves, gloves and hats?
Playing at hairdresser - she will love doing your hair, some old rollers will add to the fun.
Listening to audio stories (library again).
Making paper shapes, aeroplane, bird, fortune teller.
Writing down stories and drawing pictures to do with them - yes even at 2 and a half.
Looking at photos.
Have fun.

If you can find a cheap toy cooker and pots and pans you can get endless mileage out of them. My three are all boys between 11 and 5 years old and they will all still get mine out and play with it.

You’ve had lots of great suggestions so I won’t add any , just to say I have limited mobility and I found as long as what I had planned could be done either sitting down or get her to do the running around. She’ll enjoy doing things with you that she doesn’t doanywhere else !

Have fun!!

Some of the games my DGD age 2.8 loves are play dough, washing up, duplo, tents, hide and seek the teddy, drawing round her hands, feet and body on large poster paper with crayons, painting, bubbles, cars and diggers, singing wind the bobbin, row row row the boat, in your windy spider, hickory dickory dock and wheels on the bus.

massive thank yous everyone. In fact my 29 year old son recently complained to me that I never played with him. He was right, I never did. His father used to play lego with him all the time, but I was at a loss and we lived in almost complete isolation in France, - no internet in those days. He was sooooooooo happy to finally get to school! Don't want to repeat it with GD, so I am absolutely delighted with all your thoughts. A list of stuff well worth remembering and to pass on to others. Thank you. xxxx

Make /play musical instruments - if you can stand the racket
Garage with cars - the girls loved this as much as the boys
Making mazes out of building blocks
Pouring - water [if outside perhaps!] or rice & other pasta indoors through cardboard tubes, into toy lorries
All exhausting but never forgotten

Great ideas for all grandparents here.?. I think I’ll have to save them somehow.
I would have done lots of these with my own children, but had forgotten most until I read this thread.

I bought my DGS a toy cooker and all the utensils etc and even now when my pain is bad I can sit with my feet up while he sets up his "restaurant" and feeds me.

I've not read through all of the replies so I think you might get some repeat ideas here.
At 2 years of age my now 6 year old gs used to love to play...
*at the sink with water in it and plastic pots and pans and a few bubbles.
*a cheap plastic teaset I got in tesco was very well used
*a huge cardboard box became a shop. spaceship. computer.
*home made playdough and a kids baking set . Lasts a lot longer than shop bought playdough
*he loved baking thumbprint cakes. (Little cakes with a thumbprint hope filled with jam)
*spider hunt in the garden
*hiding a treat and having to find it
*helping nana do the dusting or use cobweb brush
*make a hideout with blankets and clothes airer

Cross posts - 3 in a row for Treasure hunts

There is all the difference in the world between plonking a toddler in front of the TV and leaving them to it, and sitting, cuddled up together, watching, say, CBeebies, or a nature programme. With the former you can watch her favourites, act daft and get her to name all the characters for you and explain what is happening. With the latter you can learn something new together.

Another favourite with our wee ones was a treasure hunt, where they had to find big jigsaw pieces, or coloured pencils, semi hidden in the room and when all were found use them to make the jigsaw or colour in a picture.