When Amanda over at Garibay Soup asked all of the BlogNerd bloggers to ask the other bloggers a question, I completely drew a blank. I have plenty of questions, but as soon as I was asked to ask a question, they all went and hid in the recesses of my mind! Upon stopping to think of a question, I thought of a whole list of them – but I don’t think you want to answer a half-dozen or so all at once. So for now I will ask the most pressing, and the others will go on my list of “blog post ideas” for later (assuming I remember them long enough to write them down).
For today, the question is this: what do you give your toddlers to do, either a) to keep them safely occupied (that is, by themselves), or b) specifically to spend time with them? I know I’ve done this once, but it’s yet another area where I find myself coming up completely blank. So give me some ideas, please! 🙂
This is something I need advice on too. Sometimes I’m clueless as to what to have this little girl of mine do… but I try to find things that are safe for her to do on her own. I of course spend time w/her, but you can’t always do that… especially when there are other children around.
I buy big butcher paper and put her in her booster seat at the kitchen table and let her have at it w/crayons and markers.
Another thing I do is give her frozen fruit to paint with ~ it’s tasty and fun!
Thanks for participating in this 🙂 I hope to see you back at Garibay Soup!!
Geesh, Woman! I’m making this up as I go along!!
Okay, for (a), I’ll admit, I use the television, mostly. My 3-year-old has programs that she enjoys that we Ti-Vo, like Calliou, and Mickey Mouse Club, and Thomas the Tank Engine, and Sesame Street. I’ll let her watch those so I can get stuff done. The other alternative is to let her dance. She LOVES dancing, so I’ll put the ol’ iPod or AppleTV on “shuffle” and let her have at it. The problem is that sometimes she gets stuck on wanting to hear one song or group of songs repeatedly, and then it no longer becomes something she can do by herself. Sorry, I’m a lame Mommy.
As for (b), we read books and do crafts, mostly. I’m a work-outside-the-home Mommy, so I have precious little time with her, so it’s very intention when I plan our time “just together.” Recently, we started making those cement stepping stones for our garden. She loves decorating them and placing her li’l handprints in the cement!
Anyway, it’s probably lame, but it’s all I’ve got!
Keep in mind we have nine children so have had toddlers (more than 1) for nearly 12 years.
1) Books on CD. Play dishes and a child sized “table”. Paper and crayons or markers. Simple puzzles. Wedgits. Blocks (I LOVE using Jenga blocks, we have a few sets that I found at yard sales. They are the perfect size for calm (maybe) play.) Dry pasta and measuring cups and bowls. (I usually put up a play yard so they don’t spread it all over.)
2)Puzzles. Read books. Tea party. Toddler games. Make cookies. Pull weeds. Let them clean with a spray bottle of water and cloth. Scissors and glue. Play-doh. Glass markers.