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Keeping a Toddler Busy
We’ve been having so much snow, sleet and other bad weather on my side of the pond these past few weeks, that our outdoor time is limited to an occasional trip to the park. As a result, I’m slowly running out of ideas for how to keep my active and always chatty (read: the kiddo won’t shut it for more than 2 minutes) almost 4-year-old busy.
Sure, I could teach him all I know, but what do I do the next day? Claying, drawing, painting, playing Wii games, making binoculars out of toilet roll tubes, reading a gazillion books, teaching him the alphabet, singing, dancing, making tents out of old sheets in his bed room, I’ve done it all and then some. He’s not in school yet (it’ll be a long three months!) so I’ve got all day long to keep him entertained. Though he’s fairly good at entertaining himself, I can tell he’s getting bored.
To those of you with children (or nieces, nephews, neighbor kids, heck even dogs count), what do you do with your kid(s) as soon as the weather gets bad? How do you keep a child happy and entertained while holding on to your own sanity? If I hear one more “Mom, why does… (fill in the dots), I’m gonna rip out my hair by the handful and quite possibly eat it.
Save me.
Don’t have children, so I can’t help you there. But I do wanted to let you know how gorgeous I think your little boy is!
Of course you can always let him cook with you! A favorite in our house is Legos. Give them a set of Legos and they stay occupied for hours. Jigsaw puzzles, too. Then there’s always art work…paints, crayons, markers are favorites. Also, set up play days with other kids. You have them over and then take turns sending him to their houses to play for a day. Gives each Mom a break!!
No kids either, but speaking from my own experience, fairy tale books could keep me indoors reading even when it was nice outside. They made me use my imagination a lot and yes, I used to be one of these kids always asking “why” (don’t they all?). You have to do your best and answer those questions truthfully, he’ll be thankful for it later on.
Let him read Asimov, as soon as he’s able to, it’ll do wonders to his brain :)
@Radu:
He doesn’t read yet, he loves being read to and shows great interest in learning how to read, so we’re encouraging that. He wants me to spell out everything we see. I won’t be surprised if he’ll read soon now.
The why questions can be tiring every now and then but also fun. He’s like a sponge and he knows so much already, it’s amazing. When I don’t know the answer to his question, I tell him that, we go online and find out together, that’s the part he really loves. He’s going to be a computer nerd, I’m afraid :)
I am a nanny for a 3 year old girl and we always find something to do. There is stuff I enjoy doing (mostly physical stuff like hide and seek or playing chase or going for walks around the neighborhood and having snow ball fights) and there is stuff I do because she likes it but I don’t enjoy (tea party where I have to do the voices of all her stuffed animals, doing the same thing over and over and over again).
Once thing I like to do is to create theme inspired days and give her a really fun, special day. Like today is Mardi Gras (or Fasching or Karneval where I come from). In Austria, where I am originally from, kids dress up and get their faces painted on Fat Tuesday, so we’ll do that. I might also do some Mardi Gras inspired games.
There are a lot of crafting projects you can do with them. You’ll find ideas on websites like:
http://www.preschoolplaybook.com/
Also – involve him in whatever you do. Kids love to do stuff that grown ups do. Let him help you with cleaning up, with cooking. Let him take pictures of your food, like you do (but maybe with a smaller camera).
I let my girl help me clean out the dish washer and when I fold her clothes I ask her where they go. She loves to feel like she is needed.
@Aline:
Thank you so much for the link! We’ve been doing a lot of crafting lately, and he’s really into it, so I should be able to get some really new, fresh ideas there!
The camera I promised him. A toddler camera, it’ll be fun to see what he’ll get out of it.
My son is 17 now, so it’s been a long time since I had to think of things to keep him occupied. One thing that was fun was having pretend days. Maybe one day, you could pretend to be pirates and act the part all day. Or be cowboys on the range. Or maybe a medievil theme. Whatever it is, you don’t have to have elaborate costumes, just do the best with what you have. But all day, stay in the theme of it. Talk like the charactars that you are pretending to be. Center what you eat around your theme too. Make up stories or adventures as you go along. And then at the end of the day, have your son draw some pictures of what your day entailed.
With all the electronics today and tv, kids don’t get to do much pretending like we did when we were kids. Imagination is the best part of being little. Let him explore it.
@Andilynn:
You’re gonna laugh when you hear this. He has a very vivid imagination and pretend play is something he loves to do with his farm animals and dinosaurs. Well, he has to since we limit his tv and computer time to one hour a day.
But when I mentioned playing pirate while he was sitting on the couch, and mentioned that he was sitting on his pirate ship, he just looked at me, frowned and said “Mom, they’re couches”.
I thought I’d die laughing.
Go to The Toymaker.com, she has great paper toys to make, stories and all sorts of holiday stuff..I have even brought her toys to a disabled class and they love making the toys. She has a lot of fresh ideas.
Let him clean the house with you. While it may take awhile at first, both you and he will be glad later that he knows how to clean a toilet!
Must be time for another baby! Of course, you can’t just pop one out then give it back when the weather clears.
Multiple children (even borrowed ones) entertain each other. Sometimes you have to referee, but hanging with other kids always did the trick for my 3 sons!
@Kim:
I would have loved to have given him a brother or sister, but since he was already a miracle baby and my pregnancy left me with chronic hypertension, a 2d one isn’t in the cards :)
Biggest problem in my neighborhood is that all kids are in daycare, and he’s never been there. He’s gonna love school!
OMG, could he get any cuter?!!!
Marble Coaster (knikkerbaan), specially for technical kids. To be made like this one: http://www.knikkerbaan.nl/halfpipe.htm (a halfpipe) or this one http://leerlijntechniek.nl/noordhoff_werkbladen/werkblad_techniek_3-7.pdf. Or to be bought (these are nice: http://www.toys4ukkies.nl/N_frame.html?http://www.toys4ukkies.nl/Knikkerbanen-N_grp_16-1.html). My girls can be quiet for half a day, or so. Good luck!
I wouldn’t get a kids camera…..I would get him a low end proper camera, for the same price. Kids camera’s are generally low resolution….which can be frustrating after a child’s gotten used to taking good photos.
Starfall.com has some nice activities- my girls (4 and 6) love it.
Have him make his own play dough…and whatever you do, bring out some food colouring and some cinnamon! My girls call it experiment and they end up playing for hours, rolling out and shaping. We then leave it to dry…..(though sometimes, we bake them).
Whatever you do, take it easy….
We have a miracle child too. I always love seeing other people with an only. I feel rather alone in that aspect and hate when people always tell me to have another. If it was only that easy!
We find lots of things to do on here.
http://belladia.typepad.com/crafty_crow/
Good Luck!
@Susie:
I always say that he’s so cheerful, happy and friendly because he really, really wanted to be here with us. He beat all the odds. We weren’t supposed to be able to have a child at all, and after a decade of not expecting it, were blessed with this little boy. It’s still a miracle.
Thanks fore the link, we’re really into crafting lately!!
Hi Kay,
How about a trip to your local library, let Jayden pick out the books/videos he wants to read/see, and then a trip to return them again when you are done? Hopefully not all in the same day. Libraries near me sometimes have story hours for moms with kids who are home together during the day.
Cooking together sounds like the most fun of all. Enjoy every moment!!
We use to play every game in the closet at least once.
Now with teens its much easier. Food, sleep, cell phone w texting, and video games. Of course they would like unlimited hours on it but that doesnt happen in this household.
With all the snow days we’ve had this year they are getting to be too much! But we stay busy playing board games so we dont get bored.
Oh kids, Kay!! :o)
You never know what is going to come out of their mouths. That is too funny & I’m sure it will be one of those things that you’ll remember for a long time.
My boys are in college and high school now, but one of my best ways to keep them occupied when they were “trapped” inside was to buy one those long, low plastic storage bins (like you can use to store under beds) and dump a bunch of raw rice in it. Give him little trucks, spoons, cups, whatever… it’s like an indoor sand box. When done, snap the lid on and stow away. Can get a little messy, but that’s why vaccums were invented (plus my kids liked to vaccum at that age). Enjoy… this age passes way to fast :)
Set up dining room chairs backwards in a circle. Throw blankets or quilts over the top, and stuff it with blankets, pillows and stuffed animals. My kids can play “fort” all day long. :-) Playdoh–you can find recipes for it online if you can’t buy it there, and kitchen tools will entertain my kids for hours. He is SO cute!
Structured play is always good, but don’t foget to do something totally unexpected and silly! Put him in the tub with sponges and washable paints (minus the clothes and the water). When he gets bored with the paint, hand him some bubbles and a bubble wand!
And my kiddos could spend an entire day making forts out of pillows, chairs and blankets, too! Don’t forget to crawl in there with a flashlight and have a nice lunch with him!
My kids and I often stop by at http://kitchenpantryscientist.com/
Wonderful experiments…..
Not sure how you feel about video games, but the Nitendo Wii have lots of fun games to keep you and your son happy – indoor. You both could be bowling, play tennis and other sporty games together with the Wii. And when the kiddo is napping, you could (keep your insanity) do yoga using the Wii.