It's a simple request really ... but what do you do with 19 month olds during the day to fight boredom?? Obviously, money is key, and I'm by myself with the two-some so some activities aren't as easy but surely, there has to be something! Right now the munchkins still want to eat the crayon I give them (even in those cute little Crayola gripper toy things), would look at Play-Doh as a treat, and don't sit long enough for me to read them a book. Anyone have ANY ideas? Did your kids like to do something that held their attention? Mess or no mess, doesn't bother me, so I'm open to any ideas anyone is willing to throw out there!
Thursday, May 22, 2008
A Plea From One Mother to Another
Posted by Hil at 11:08 AM
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
Kinley loves bubbles and sidewalk chalk. I also bought a Little Mermaid sprinkler that attaches to a hose and we run through that for hours.
I have to take back what I said about the sidewalk chalk...Kinley reminded me today that kids love eating that too.
That's funny Jodi...I've thought about sidewalk chalk and I can't wait for them to be into that, but I think right now - yeah...an edible treat the would think it is, seeing as though Elliot loves to eat rocks. Mmmm...
Not everything that's fun needs money. We have a gas station that lets you buy a car wash for a buck if you buy 8 gallons of gas...so we spend the buck and our twin boys LOVE to go through the car wash. Then they play "car wash" at home - we use blocks to build a "car wash" and drive all the trucks, cars, stuffed animals, etc through. You have to make all the sounds until they catch on.
If you seriously don't mind a mess, pull up two chairs to the kitchen sink, strip down to diapers, and fill the sink 1/3 of the way. Dump in all sorts of measuring cups, spoons. That's usually good for at least 20 - 30 minutes of giggles.
I buy the "cookie log" when it's on sale and I have a coupon. Then I slice off cookies, each boy gets his own cookie sheet and shaker of sprinkles, and we bake cookies. I let them do the sprinkles regardless of how it turns out. Then turn on the oven light so they can watch the cookies bake. Once they come out, we have a warm cookie with milk. After the oven is sufficiently cooled, they bake pretend cookies for most of the next few days!
If you make reading a regular routine, your kids will start to sit still better. We used the big chunky books at first and they got more action from chewing than reading, but we found two or three favorites and read those repeatedly for what seemed like weeks. From there, the boys started picking different books. We make reading time usually when everyone is a little tired anyway.
My boys didn't really start to do Play Doh well until they turned 3. For kids under 2, I would not recommend it. Just put it away for next year.
Those wooden puzzles with big pieces were a HUGE hit at our house. Once the kids really understood what to do, we got a lot of mileage out of dumping a puzzle and putting it back together. At 3 1/2, my kids can now put together puzzles with 25 pieces and no background, just the picture on the box.
The key really is just being there as they do these things to give them that directional nudge they need and keep them on task. There is such a temptation to "let them play" and do the things you need to get done to keep life running smoothly. But the more you do an activity WITH them, the better they get at it and the longer they can do it.
Have fun. I do miss the days of 18 months old! Almost 4 is such a great time although we are not really having much fun with potty training right now, this too shall pass.
Enjoy!
Lisa
Post a Comment