Entertaining a 17 month old

Let them pour!  It's great for building some fine motor skills too.  I just gave Owen two cups, a bowl of water, and put it all over a beat up pan so that he wouldn't make a giant mess.  He did this for over 30 minutes.  I have also put Cheerios in an empty ice cream bucket, gave him a measuring cup and an empty bucket, and he scoops the cheerios from one bucket to the other.  He'll easily do that for 30+ minutes too.  Bonus, Isaac likes to do that too, so it keeps BOTH of my boys busy! :)