Keeping kids busy

I have 2 at home, a 3 and 4 year old. They are a Handful !! we do "HomeSchool" not because I want to home school but because the 4 year old was bitterly disapointed that she was not going to pre-k 4 this year. So we have a large box with supplies that they can only use when playing of school game.

They practice writing their names. They seperate and count fruit loops, then string them on white string for necklaces. They get extra praise for creating patterns. I will also start a pattern and ask them to continue it or finsh it. They practice cutting pictures out of magazines. And sometimes we have races where they cut down the middle of a roll of crepe paper ( the stuff you make streamers out of) We have color time but instead of simply random colors if I want them to focus then they have to do it by numbers.  We do holiday or theme coloring. Right now we have a Tree in the Entry way made up of cinstruction paper. Each of the 5 kids has to write the things they are grateful for in a leaf then it is put up on the wall. We date the back and they sign them , after the holiday I put them away until the next year. We get out the measuring cups and I have them pour and measure water by giving them a piece of paper with say 3 and 1/2 cups drawn on it. They have to figure out how many they must do to get there. We have tea parties and they must set the kid's table , they pretend to cook and then they giggle for an hour or better as they have their party. We do a cleaning day , where they must organize babies and bears on their bed while listening to children's songs on the cd player. We role play , I have one closet dedicated to costumes and dress up outfits. Everything from princess stuff to old ladies. It is inexpensive to buy old lady hats and shoes at the local thrift shop.  We put together construction paper gardens, they use the pieces I have cut out for them and make flowers and plants. We have play time with dance music and all of us dance and laugh until we are exhausted. There is reading hour where they pick out books and read to themselves and I pick out a couple to read to them. Take a king or queen sized flat sheet and a table and you have a tent or fort they can make towel beds and take their babies in to play.  We have tricycle rases and I use chalk and draw out roads and stops , even parking places. We do manis and pedis and brush hair and teeth as if we have a beauty palour.  They help me wash dishes and make dinner. A favorite is soups, I open everything and they are in charge of draining and stirring.  Another game is "Find It" I draw a couple of common things and they look through a magazine to find them, for example a dog, a flower, a balloon, a cake, a dress..... then they can cut them out and paste them onto a piece of poster board......

Yes I spend a ton of time with my grandkids, and I did the same with my kids who are all grown now.  Keeping a child busy is easy and sometimes the best part of a day !

Best of luck in keeping your little ones active

Bonita of Bwanaaa

I used to have my three nieces a lot when they were younger and I also hated how addicted they were to the TV.  Like little zombies.  One of the games they used to love to play was "store".  I used monopoly money or pennies and they shopped and one was the cashier.  They would get a can of beans or anything from around the house and you get the idea.  It helped them with their numbers and even when they were too young to be really good at the math they understood the concept and they got much better at their addition by playing this game.

Elias likes reading and to be read to...he is really a self motivator tho so TV wasn't that bad an issue...he'd rather play with cars and his imaginary friends Kai Lan and John haha! The one thing he ALWAYS liked tho was to pretent to cook so he loved my utensil drawer and a pot and he'd be good for hours!

Lily at that age..playdough...coloring...painting suncatchers...color wonder stuff...light brite...she was very crafty...using kid scissors...stringing beads to make me jewelry etc.

When I was a kid we love rollerskating, building forts, reading....but anytime MOM joined it it was 10x better.  For example we got bored of wandering the neighborhood but if MOM would take us on a walk it was awesome!  Anytime Dad helped us build a fort or treehouse we were occupied for days b/c it was so much better than what a little kid can do.

My aunt used to take us on "nature walks" where we collected different leaves, acorns, flowers...

The little girl I nannied for, she LOVED sidewalk chalk.  She would do that by herself all day if I let her.  

Craft-type stuff would be my best recollection.  I remember doing sewing projects with my mom.  She would take an old pattern and scraps of material and we would make stuff together.  My myself, I was a Barbie and lego girl.  Riley would stay glued to the TV if DH kept it on.  She gets to watch one 1/2 hour program a day (Jack's Music Show).  The rest of the time they play hide and seek, she colors, plays with her books, blocks, etc.

I had two older brothers so they monopolized the tv so I...

Had a dressup box and would create whole worlds where I was a different character, played with my brothers cars and trains, held tea parties, colored and, my favourite, building whole cities out of cardboard punch-out sets.

I also spent a lot of time outside building snow forts, tobogganing or jumping rope.

We used to play outside and build forts/playhouses out of sheets and lawn chairs and big boxes....

I was a bit of a show off so dress up was one of my favorite things.  I would dress up and make up dances to music and put on shows for the family, lol!   I still remember the time my Mom taught me how to play Ball and jacks.   I was about 3 or 4 she got down on the floor and played with me.  I dont know why I remember that so well cause I cant remember what I did this morning, lol.

 Get an old catalogue, some sticky stuff (a glue stick, some tape) some safe scissors and a scrap book and let her do cutting and sticking. 

Play card games with her.

Do colouring together, or set up an easel, strip her to her nappy, cover the floor and give her some paints.

Go on a walk together and identify leaves or birds, or even dog breeds!!

Sing songs together - think of a couple she doesn't know and teach them to her.

Watch TV *with* her and talk to her about what is going on.#

Read to her.  

Practise writing.  My niece use to practise writing her name, or we'd give her one letter and she would practise writing it both ways (example A and a) and then have to think of something beginning with that letter to draw (apple) and then I might say to her.  "What might eat the apple?" and she would have to draw that too. 

Don't let on that you don't like the TV, just try to make other stuff more fun.

Don't bring up the TV issue with JJ unless she is in bed asleep.

Teaching kids is like dog training I think - you do it when you can and where you can.  Almost anything can be a learning opportunity if you look at it the right way, even TV sometimes.  Just ask her lots of questions about the stuff she sees or the things you do together.... "what do you think about X?" or "Why do you think.....?"  Just get her mind and imagination working.  She might even come to see TV as pretty boring anyway, all on her own.

my kids (2 1/2) enjoy bouncing on an air mattress that is on the floor. over the weeks, it deflates a bit so gets squishy and fun in a different way. They tumble on each other, then colorful scarves and medium/large balls and the blow up swimming donuts, and large stuffed animals get put on the mattress to roll around on. The scarves they use to play peek a boo, with a variation being for me to get under the scarf with them.

I must confess that I do have a bunch of Elmo/Sesame Street videos I let them watch at times. There are a few on ABC's, on Numbers, one on Telling the Truth, another on Sharing. . . i do try to sit with them for at least part of the video and ask questions, comment on things we see.

agnes

 The TV here is almost always on.  I keep it on Treehouse unless I'm actively watching it.  But Kali is not really a big tv watcher.  She has her shows for sure, Toopy and Binou, Go Diego Go, but mostly its just background noise, which I like to have for Kelci. 

Kali and I do alot of stuff together along the lines of what Bonita mentioned.  She hasn't tried scissors yet, but she's not yet two.  We do colouring and lots of reading.  We play games like Ring Around the Rosie and Head and Shoulders, Knees and Toes.  We play Hide n' Seek.  She does my workout videos with me, albeit, not with great form...lol.  She's a little younger than Samantha, but I'm sure the things she does with me will only get a little more complicated by the time she's 3.  Oh, Play Doh is a big thing too.  We LOVE Playdoh.  I think I'm going to make it next time I get it.  Then we can practice mixing colours and stuff too.  

I do believe that kids need alone time too, to play.  I think its important that they learn to entertain themselves.  I try to use that time to get housework done....sometimes she likes to help with housework...dishes, laundry, vacuuming...other times she will pretend to read to herself or lay on the floor talking to Crusher through the gate, but she keeps herself entertained.  About an hour or so a day.  Gives me a break.

When i was little i loved playing waitress! I would literally do it all day long. I also liked playing "teacher" with all my stuffed animals. I rarely watched TV...

I can remember making a doll house out of a cardboard box.  We used scrap fabric and pcitures from magazines to glue on the walls and to make curtains.  We made furntiture out of empty food boxes and things like thread spools and spray can caps for tables, chairs, etc. We played with those things forever!

If your kids are builders, get Duplos and Lincoln Logs.  Both of my DSs and nieces and nephews loved to play with these. I STILL step on a regular Lego (damned things HURT bare feet!) upstairs even with hulking teenagers around here.

Make a rubber band guitar out of a shoe box and rubber bands.

Teach them to play Yahtzee.  My two learned at 4 and 5 and still love to play it!

Hope this helps.

huskymom

I do believe that kids need alone time too, to play. 

I definitely agree with this.  My mom stressed this with me for Riley and I am so glad.  I know they are very taboo, but we use a playpen - not the pack n play smaller ones, but the bigger ones (like the old style but it is new).  I am sure you have seen it in the background of my pics.  Riley will play in there for almost hour at a time with her toys/blocks.  Sometimes you just need to get stuff done and can't watch her 100% of the time so it works. 

Now that she is getting a little bigger she has learned to entertain herself.  I don't want it sound like we don't play with her or spend time interacting, but there are times when you just need to get something done.  Plus, I think it helps with attention span and building their imagination.  Riley already plays pretend with her little people and I think that is good...who knows, maybe I am totally wrong - never done this before.