My boys are a year and half and 3 and I wanted to get some simple, easy clean-up ideas on keeping them not only entertained (together), but active in something that will be educational and fun for them. What are some creative things you have done and had success with your small children and will you please share them with me?
There's a website, www.familyfun.com, that has tons of fun ideas for all ages.
Finger paints/water color paints, side walk chalk, bubbles are always a big hit with toddlers!
Go on nature walks! Give them each a paper bag and let them put different things in them. When you are done get a piece of construction paper for each and let them glue the objects on the paper. With the three year old you might want to take it a step forward and label some of the objects. With the 18 month old name each object as it is being glued. You might want to talk about God creating the world. If they find a feather you could say, "God created birds on the 5th day." For a flower, "God created flowers on the 3rd day." Or count how many objects. Most children love anything that is outside and with mommy! God is good!
H. M.
www.learningpage.com
www.edhelper.net
Both websites have FREE downloadable worksheets, coloring pages, and letter/number practice sheets. My kids liked to have "school" each morning!
Have you ever heard of Joy School? It is a preschool co-op You get together with other moms/kids in a group. You rotate houses each week, and that mom has all the kids and teaches premade lessons from the website. You can do 2-3 days a week for 2 1/2+ hours each time. I did it for 3 years with 2 of my kids and loved it. We had a WAHM mom in our last group, and she would just adjust her schedule on her teaching days. Since we had 6 kids in our group, she only had to teach every 6 weeks. Good, values-based lessons. REALLY inexpensive tuition. (under $100 per semester!) www.valuesparenting.com
They would probably enjoy educational computer games and playing with musical instruments.
My kids are 7 and 10 and I cannot rememember what all we did but I look at our community websites all the time to see what kind of kid friendly events are going on. I also pick up a copy of the Fort Worth Child at the library and they also have story times, puppet shows, movie nights etc. You can also check out their website http://www.fortworthchild.com/ and also arlingtonparent.com is another good one.. it's really new but there is still some good info out there. My kids like to be outside so we would build things with play-doh, lincoln logs when they were younger because that is okay if you accidentally put it in your mouth.
I have a two year old nephew and he loves to play outside and watch videos. Baby Einstein has some great books and videos. I also like all the Leap Frog toys. The Frig magnetics is how my two year nephew learned his ABC's. If you do not have them check Big Lots, they are a lot less expensive there. Hope this helps a little.
We have recently found much excitement in edible playdoh. Equal parts powdered milk and peanut butter, "little" honey (I use 1-2 tablespoons), and a little flour if it seems too sticky. Lots of fun to play with then eat the creations!
Have you though of having them hand stuff their own animals? I work with Noah's Ark Animal Workshop and we offer over 45 different animals to hand stuff. Best part is everything is shipped to your door so you don't have to leave the house. If you would like to look into it visit www.noahsarkworkshop.com/constancecotton_s9956
