Remember that post about how much I love snow days?
Yeah, just kidding.
This week we had two more storms. *Normally*, my husband works from home but this week he had to travel for business. So, not only were the O and I on our own, but we got robbed of having Ryan home with us. Booo!
It really fights one’s sanity to be cooped up with a 13 month old for multiple days. I didn’t have my designated snow shoveler/car clearer-offer husband around to dig us out so poor lil ole me had to resort to doing battle with the white stuff all on my own. We did manage to get out (again, thank you 4WD!) but most of this week was spent inventing games that entertained Owen for all of his 10 minute attention span. :-/
For this giveaway I wanna hear your best games, activities, or sanity savers for entertaining a young toddler! I will give you till Wednesday, which is when we are getting our next “snow event” (wth is a snow “event”!?! The newscasters are getting desperate here…) to get your comments in and then I will pick a winner.
Annnnnd….. GO!
22 comments:
When my boys were that age, their favorite thing to do was to put up the tent in the living room! They would color in there, build legos (the big ones), have snacks in there, read books and color, etc.
ncokely
A fellow cherry
I agree with Nicole - tents/caves are great - we made ours by hanging blankets over the dining room table. We also have hardwood floors and lots of riding space so our kids would ride their tricycles around. Not for the fainthearted but sliding down the stairs on a mat
Painting on a huge sheet of paper(we did it in the bathroom cos it gets messy)
When my kids were little (gosh that seems so long ago) they loved to play with messy things like finger paints ect..make it edible finger paints like pudding or there are several recipes on line, put him in the bathtub and let him go to town! There is also homemade playdough you can make that is fun for little ones to manipulate. Like Nicole, my kids liked the tent in the living room too. Snuggle up with a favorite stuffy and book and have fun! Hope your weather gets better! Tanya (another fellow cherry)
I can't say that this is MY favorite, but I know it was my kids' favorite at that age. You build a tower of blocks...he knocks it down. Repeat, repeat, repeat. Lots of giggles make it worth it, right?
I used to play store with my kids. Every room in the house would be set up like a store with products to buy from around the house to put in their grocery cart. They had a kid plastic grocery cart and basket with a play register. One room would be set up like the produce dept, another like a cvs...etc. They would do this for hours using monopoly money and wearing their dress up clothes to be moms and dads. This was a good game to play when they got older too because they could learn math while having fun.
Well, being from So. Cal, I can only say that being at home with a 13 mth old for several days has never happened to me. If I got cabin fever, I would take them to the park. But you can't do that. And I know that going outside is a very long process for about 15 minutes of fun. But I bet that would take some time putting on taking off all those close. And building a fort is just a little bit more fun for older kids. But young ones like to make things. I would make some salt/flour playdough or the cool kind that actually feels smooth like playdough. That would be about an hour of making and playing right there. Then rough housing, then lunch and nap. Then water colors, toys, calling gma on the phone, throwing mom's phone in the toilet and dinner then book and bed. Don't forget to change diapers in there every so often. Enjoy!
I too have to entertain a lil one. He's older but we love to play with our fisher price doodle pro. I draw numbers, letters, and shapes and he gets to erase them. Its really helped him learn those numbers and some letters too. He giggles when I "complain" about him erasing before I am finished.I recommed this to any parent, it has our shapes that comes with it, which we lose all the time, as an awesome way to intruduce them to early learning. It also has a "pen" that they can learn to grasp and draw.
My youngins always enjoyed colouring with mom, or fort in the livingroom, one year we made our own finger cards, we also one year made snowmen inside,.... I drew them they coloured them we hand them all around from the ceiling with push pins. I think we did flowers the next year.
Sing and dance to nursery rhymes, this also tires them out (yay).
Make playhouse and crawlways with cardboard boxes and color them with crayons. Or use chairs and sheets. then play peek a boo/hide & seek
My three boys LOVE making tents out of couch cushions or by covering the kitchen table with blankets. We sometimes even eat lunch in there!! Cardboard box houses are a great hit too! And they love getting into my "old" scrap stash. Best of luck keeping your little one entertained!!
melhorn_m at yahoo dot com
Another fellow Cherry
Well I'm kind-of at a disadvantage on this one; now if you'd asked for ideas to entertain the kitties, I might have some! ;) Although, one of those bouncy fish-on-a-stick toys might also entertain Owen for a bit, you think? lol. And there's always peek-a-boo with the cat around some furniture... there you go!
Gorgeous giveaway!
Quincie and I always baked choc. chip cookies when we had a snow event. Of course back in the day, we did not have that much snow like now. I guess in your case bake some cupcakes and like the big guy ice them for you. When he takes a nap you can clean up the kitchen. LOL!!!!
mix a blue martini with a light up ice cube and chat with me on facebook. As far as the kid....the TV works :)
Ugh! I hear you on the snow...I'm so over Winter! When Alex was that little he liked to play in the sink! I would put a little bit of water and some little plastic cups, bowls, funnels, spoons, etc. in there and he would stand on a chair and play for awhile. Sometimes the mess wasn't fun ;o) but we learned to put a towel under the chair and that worked well. If you can stand the noise...try a pot with a spoon! LOL Good luck!
Hi, Jess! I feel your pain...to a degree. I totally understand the frustration of entertaining a young one with the attention span of a gnat....but not the snow part! Living in SoCal, we don't exactly have that threat looming.
Anyway, from one mom to another, I am suggesting these ideas to you, not for a prize, but for something even more treasured....your sanity!
I let the kids build forts. I set up some simple craft ideas using play-doh, or paper plate masks. Board games or simple card games for toddlers work too. We also play hide and seek (without the running...whoever is found is it). Blocks, blocks, blocks, legos mega-blocks, blocks... :D
Hope that helps!
I haven't had a toddler in forever, but it seems when we babysit the little one here she is thrilled to just have her own remote. So we gave her her own remote.
I do not have any kids but I loved it when my mom would read to me when I was young!Thank you for a chance to win your awesome goodies!
The comments/suggestions are awesome and brought back so many wonderful memories for me. Thanks, everyone! I really think that any type of learning game or story-time "event" will help during the snow "event." If you have electricity and can get online, there are awesome sites: http://www.kids-fun-and-games.com/online-toddler-games.html, ... Hide and seek is always fun; pretending ANYTHING (cooking, shopping, nurturing...); arts and crafts (large crayons and large, thick paper is best); singing and dancing; guessing games (which hand...); taking, uploading, and viewing photos (I know he already does this a lot). One more idea: take some of the toys he has and put them away for a while; they'll seem new to him when he sees them again. OOPS! One more idea: I had a box of treats (not food--just things I'd find on clearance, etc.) that I would use for "good behavior rewards,...Have fun with your beautiful boy!
You know I'm a nanny to a 13 month-old, right? When we are stuck inside, I do a number of things. First, I make a game out of doing chores. Caroline is trained to hand me all of the silverware and dishes in the bottom of the dishwasher. I take out the sharp stuff first, so don't call CPS on me. Then, she shuts the door when I say, "Ok, Caroline! All done! Close it!" She LOVES this, and it entertains her while I'm getting stuff done. We do the same thing with the washing machine. Just a tip - if O is still crawling, tape swiffer sheets to his legs. I'm not joking. You would be amazed at how dirty you didn't know that your floor was.
If you live in a building, you could also take him strolling through the hallways. Caroline LOVES to walk behind me on her walker as we take out the trash down the hall.
Also, I'm sure you're already doing this, but for C and me, indoor time is learning time. She already has EIGHT words and knows where most of her body parts are. Do you have those word books by Priddy books? They are the best, I've found. We work with those everyday. You might think that what you're doing is too advanced, but just look up the research that Vygotsky has done on the zone of proximal development. Basically, you want what you teach him to be slightly more difficult that what he is currently doing. I hope I'm not coming across as pedantic, by the way! I don't mean to!
We also take long baths with lots of bubbles and toys! I get naked and get in there with her, and it's fun! Sometimes in the middle of the day!!!
Also, find new objects that he's never seen- as simple as a whisk or a feather, and give them to him to play with. Experiencing new objects is great for all types of developmental growth, and it will also hold his attention for about 5 minutes! Run your fingers down the object and narrate your movements. "I'm running my fingers along this feather, it's so soft." Then, you can tickle his nose with it, put it behind your ear, drop it from high in the air, etc...
You probably do this too, but get down on his level. Lay on your tummy on the floor to read a book. Most of the kids I've watched have loved this. They usually end up crawling all over you, which is fun. You can play wrestle, tickle, or cuddle down there.
Also, you can play all sorts of games in the snow. I put C in her snow suit, and she LOVES throwing it or playing in the snow-covered leaves.
My god that was long... Again, I hope I don't sound like a know-it-all, and I hope that somewhere in there you got an idea!
Those are great colors!
When my DS was young, we would play matching games....maybe a deck of cards and matching numbers or picture cards. We also like to build things with blocks and legos. I also found that just grabbing a big box and making a tunnel or playhouse was fun. We would decorate or draw on it and it would keep us busy for awhile.
My wee one is 17 months, I have a 9 year old and a 13 year old that would much rather stick their noses in something that blinks, dings, talks, flashes, annoys Mom, etc. The baby, is at a very cool age. She loves to read, so we read lots of books. When we are stuck in the house, I take out an old shower curtain, and lay it on my kitchen floor (it's linoleum) and give her finger paints, however, I give her things around the house to dip in the finger paints, paper towel rolls, old barrettes, legos make awesome prints and of course any part of her body that she wants to put in it. It's getting hard for me to get down on the floor with her, because I'm 30 weeks pregnant, but I try and she laughs at me for trying ;) Thanks for the chance!
Hugs~Joey (acot joeybrat2)
joeybrat2 AT yahoo DOT com.
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