So all the mom talk about TV got me thinking about how we as mom's creatively keep our children occupied. Let's face it: the days can get long sometimes! And TV can be quite tempting! So what are the creative things and ideas you have to entertain and teach your children???
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I'm SO excited that it's finally warm out here so Quinn and I can go to parks and play outside and go for walks and all that fun stuff. It is much easier to pass the time when we can be out and about and not in the car. One fun thing that we did the other day was I set up our tent in the backyard and let Quinn play in it. He thought it was hilarious and had the best time. Plus I think it helped him be ready to go camping with Zach that night (A first for him! Also, me and Quinn's first night apart. Fun for him - tough for me).
A few weeks ago I let Quinn go to town with some water based paints in our basement. I thought he'd have a blast, but he really wasn't very interested at all. After 10 minutes he wanted to go back upstairs. Oh well.
The thing that we do a ton lately to pass the time is shower. It may be weird, but we have a great time and I actually get a shower every day now. I started doing it because I don't trust him alone while I'm showering anymore. Now it's just fun. It can usually kill about an hour of time once we get in, shower, play, get out and get all dressed. I don't know, you're probably all going to think I'm weird now. Oh well.
Quinn's favorite thing to do lately is empty this duffle bag full of baseballs and softballs one by one down our front porch steps. He has the best time doing it, but it's hard for me because I have to chase the balls if they go in the street. I'm 7 months pregnant and not wild about chasing anything. But it does pass time.
I'm excited to hear everyone else's tricks and secrets. I feel guilty every time I turn on a show for him and would just rather not even to need to consider it.
One thing to do is to check your local library. Most have a kids corner where they weill read books sing songs and do a craft together. Usually they offer this a couple of times a week. We go to the park. Have play dtes with other kids. Alot of our time is spent in the car. ( I have four kids so we drive around ALOT.) One activity for each of them is a whole bunch for me. As they get older it gets a little easier because they can practice their hobbies, (aka piano, soccer, teeball, gymnastics, art) You know stuff like that. One thing we do in our house a lot is turn on cd's and dance while we clean. I have a little broom and a play vaccum for my toddler. You can also give them a spray bottle with a little water in it and a wash cloth. Little kids love to clean with mommy. Especially if they think they are cleaning just like you. It helps my older kids too. We have a lot of Kidz bob cd's so they like to dance around while we clean.
We also bake a lot. then take goodies to neighbors and freinds cuz' we would all be fat if we ate them all. Also buy Playdough. All four of my kids will sit at the kitchen table or outside on the patio for HOURS with this stuff. They all love it.
We also play a lot of bouard games. That's all I can think of right now. I'm sure i'll come up with more later. :)
One thing a thought I said but now realize I didn't is to try to establish some independence in your kids. We all have hundreds of toys whether they are hand me downs or bought new at the store and kids wont play with them if the tv is on. Mine have all gotten pretty good about entertaining themselves for quite a while with the Toys r us upstairs we call their rooms. It takes some persuasion but they all were pretty good at it by the time they were 16-18months or so.
Katie, I did the exact same thing with Bryant when he was Quinn's age. I couldn't trust him so he went in with me, and we stopped when he was a little over 2 and a half. Bryant is such a copy cat so he always has to clean with me. But the nice thing is now that he is three he keeps his room clean with very little help from me and can put his dish in the sink and pick up his toys!!! I always try to let him help clean. On thing I recently did was I made an official "activity box." I put coloring books, playdough, cookie cutters, plastic forks and knives (for the play dough) side walk chalk, construction paper, crayons, and bubbles in a bin. Now whenever Bryant gets bored he can ask for his activity box and he can play with it on the kitchen table. But he has to clean it up before leaving the room. He loves it.
He also loves cooking. Especially cookie making. He likes to measure out the ingredients. It's fun. And we are beginning to go to the library. It has taken a lot of time, but he is learning how to sit during story time and pick out books and that the library is a place where we are quiet. I also have "story time" at our house where he can go get a pillow to sit on and I'll read him stories so he can practice for the library.
I'll keep trying to think of more
Oh yeah! The little kiddie pools you can buy at wal mart! We got the little one with the slide. We spent all summer last year in that thing! It's worth the twenty bucks ten times over! And as far as Cora goes, I really don't even have to do anything yet to entertain her. She's always just trying to go right along with Bryant or laughing at him or whatever. It's funny that you spend so much time trying to come up with things to do for your oldest and then another one comes along and they just go with the flow.
maurine, i totally agree with you on that pool with the slide. When my older kids were little their summers were spent sliding down that thing. They did it so much they actually all had a little bruise from where they would hit th side of the pool as it curved around. That is what I should have said on the best $20 ever spent blog!
Rylan and I have developed a love for Super Mario. It is the first thing he asks for when he gets bored. So we play for a little bit. He is actually really good and controlling Mario. But now that the weather is getting nice we spend a lot of time outside. Digging, chalking, riding, swinging, running, jumping, shooting (basketball) and just love being outside.
I LOVE SUMMER!!!
We just went to the doctor yesterday, and she told me that Bryant should have no more than two hours of total screen time a day--meaning computer and TV combined! She said that even though he is learning from the computer games, that they still learn so much more from playing. Well, I bet Bry probably watches two hours of TV a day and maybe even two hours of computer a day. I didn't seem like a lot to me because I feel like we play a lot. I mean, when your day starts between 6 and 6:30 am, there's plenty of time for lots of activity. Anyways, I have decided to follow her advice. Yesterday after his nap, I let him watch a one hour movie (he had played computer an hour that morning) and then the computer and TV were off for the rest of the day. It was fine. We all played and went outside. Bryant loves the sidewalk chalk and tried to draw the alphabet for over an hour. I guess you just come up with stuff to do when you don't give yourself the option of TV.
2 hours? Yikes...I better shape up. I have to admit I am the worst at entertaining my kid. i'm trying harder though...Tyler's favorite thing to do (and easiest thing for me) is to play at the sink. I let him do it with the water on low, only because we don't have to pay the water bill in our apt. I guess it just took the place of his outdoors water table we bought in AZ. Now that it's finally warm here I guess I should clean the water table up. Something my friend did was get one of those big under the bed tubs and put water in it for her kids, they loved it. She also used her food storage beans and put them in the tub and hid things in it for the kids to find. The most simple things entertain kids!
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