Entertaining Baby
I'm reading this book that has been giving me the simplest yet most brilliant ideas for entertaining my toddlers. Basically, kids like to do so many things, and the only reason we stop them is because it's an inconvenience to us-changing their wet clothes, bathing them, whatever. But what is a wet t-shirt, a wet bathroom floor, some spilled dry beans on a carpet? Five minutes of extra cleaning on my part and hours! of entertainment for her!
So the other day, I opened the bathroom door, pulled up a step to the sink, filled it with water and bubbles and gave my 2 1/2 year old a couple of measuring cups. She was in there for at least 1 1/2 hours, and fully enjoying herself. Brilliant! Let her play with water! She enjoys it, and all I do is change her afterwards and wipe the floor.
Another idea that holds great favor in our household:
- Setting up a dry bean station: I fill a jar with dry white beans and place it on a flat pan along with empty jars of all sizes, and a couple of measuring spoons/cups. My kids fully enjoy spilling it all over the floor and elsewhere, but they also come up with the most amazing , creative concoctions, including white bean tea! It's amazing, but you have to watch out for the hungry 18 month old child who you think is old enough, and smart enough to know not to eat this tasteless treat. No matter how vigilant you might be, their appetite will be smaller that day, their mood will change around evening time and their diaper that night will be *full* of dry beans!
- Putting on some kid songs: I put on some anasheed with kids singing and a nice beat. My daughters insist on wearing their 'dancing' outfits (skirts which are 3 sizes too large for them) and twirling around!
- Good ole' play-dough: I set my daugthers up either on the floor or on their little table with a clump of play-dough and a couple of rolling pins, cookie cutters and measuring spoons. Lately, I've also added a store-bough play-dough squeezer to the fun. My three year old especially enjoys this (putting the dough in the contraption and squeezing it out through a shaper to look like thin spaghetti, thick pasta, stars, crescents, etc).
- Bath time! With lots of bubbles, plastic cups, and a spray bottle! Oh yes, and much patience for me! Perhaps cleaning up the bathroom sink at the same time would be a useful endeavor for me.
2 comments:
I have two young children and love your site but have never commented before.
One of the best ways to entertain my two when they were younger was an old sheet and a large empty cardboard box, the sheet became a tent, a castle, a giant bed, and when folded a superhero cape, and the box when pushed and pulled along can be anything from a car to a train to a spaceship, and when stationary is a perfect hiding place.
that's beautiful 3eeraqimedic. thanks for sharing!
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