Ok Moms, here is a challenge questions for you. My son is two and my daughter is one. I need ideas for indoor activities that won't be too difficult for the one year old and not too boring for the two year old.
Any suggestions would be great!
There is also Kiddie Klub in Rochester (on Crooks, South of M-59). It is pricey- $7 per child, but we went yesterday with a buy one get one free coupon we found online. My kids love it! (They are 4 and 20 months.)
Good luck!
T.
Where do you live? Macomb County has 3 different indoor bounce areas- Bounce House, Bouncin' Kidz, and Pump It Up. Rochester has an indoor play area, there are always the malls and your local library.
If you mean things you can do around your house, here are some websites full of ideas -
http://fun.familyeducation.com/hobbies-and-interests/game...
http://www.toddlertoddler.com/
http://parentingtips365.com/2009/01/19/indoor-activities-...
What about stickers, coloring books, markers, finger paints etc? I own a daycare and even my 3 years olds love markers and finger patints. I order a daily curriculum from Mother Goose Time that is super cute, it would probably be too much for your one year old but I'm sure that she could just color etc. It also helps with letter recognition, they have daily art activites, books, games etc. You could also do an internet search for free toddler or preschool activites.
On the weekends my kids love the library and story time either at the library or Barnes and Noble. We also belong to Impression 5 in downtown Lansing, well worth the money for the long, dreary winter.
My niece was running a small daycare and gave me a few ideas.
Take wax paper and cut into squares just a little bigger than the child's foot. You try it too. place on the bottom of your foot and you can "skate on the carpet". The kids seemed to really enjoy.
My mom came up with this one, Take whip cream in a can and spray on table or counter make a thin layer and the kids can draw pictures and then cover up again and do over and over again, and if they eat it no problem, if they were a little older you could use shaving cream.
Music time! My little one loves to jump around to our Barney CD, or the radio. It's great exercise for me too!
I put food coloring in yogert, strip him down to his diaper and stick him in the tub so he can finger paint the tub surround. The clean up is super easy and he won't get sick if he eats it.
Stickers are great and they have lots of choices at the dollar store. After were done I mail his creations to grandparents so they have a smile for the day!
We go to the Library weekly. There is a play group for him and he loves bringnig home books for story time before bed.
His all time favorite is a plain old laundry basket...its really versitle, basketball net, boat for me to sail him around it, buggie for his stuffed animals to be pushed around in, mini table for him to color at, etc.
Good Luck!
L. B.
Hi! I'm not sure where you live, but the Hands on Museum in Ann Arbor is great. It's $75 for a year membership.
Good luck! D.
what area do you live in in east lansing there is jumping jax down by canton and southfield there is a place call jungle java playland mcd or chuckie chee
Haha, I had this problem last year :) Obviously, everything at that age has to be supervised, so just do what your 2 year old loves to do. We did a lot of stickers, I bought big tubs of the thicker stickers and sparkly and I just gave them each a small pile. Also, crayola has a lot of awesome things, like finger paint that only paints on special paper...love it!! They also make markers that only mark on special paper. Because this stuff is a little expensive, I just bought it for my younger one and let the older one do the real thing...it worked really well. I also build a huge cardboard box house that I let them color or decorate. That lasted at least two monthes; plus then they could play in it. I took them to the library for story time once a week. I also did playdoh with them. that was a little harder because my youngest liked to eat it. Oh, I also would give them each a big piece of paper adn I would put glue drops on it and they would put beads or something else on them; that could get a little messy if you won't watch their little wondering fingers :) Oh, glitter glue sticks, my kids like to play with those. It was hard for my youngest last year, but he enjoyed just looking at them and watching the oldest create things.
I always tried not to take my kids out too much because of all the flu/cold germs; my kids seem to catch everything! When I did take them out, I would do less popular places.
Lastly, I should probably mention, I have a fisher price picnic table that I clean up and bring inside for the winter and the kids to ALL of their crafts on that table :)
