Need Dinnertime Activity Ideas

You have some great suggestions. I agree with letting her help. My 2 year old daughter loves to help. She is thrilled to just have a pot and spoon and stand next to me on a chair and stir. Another thought - crockpot meals from time to time. You can prep the night before or that morning and then you don't have to worry about entertaining. You can also have some great quality time with both of them.

One idea is some audio books that I got from the library. My son is 3 and really enjoys it while I get dinner ready.

Another idea is playdoh which keeps him busy. I got some basic colors and let him play with some kitchen utensils (roller, spoons, cookie cutters, etc). He pretends he's cooking pizza/pasta whatever while I'm preparing dinner...
Hope this helps!

here is what you will hear: let her help, give her something in the kitchen to do, etc. but after a full days work you are looking to this time to decompress, get stuff done with as little additional brainpower as necessary. What i found that worked the best for my kids was to tell them in the car, at x:00, mommy will play, read, whatever with you for 10 minutes. THey got to decide what we did. I would do that, and usually, after less than 10 minutes, they were content to takeover and let me get back to business at hand. Then, se tthe timer and when it goes off, its time for them (her) to entertain herself. I promise, it worked. SHe is just trying to reconect with you and it took less time, stress and effort on my part to surrender those 10 minutes. Then, everythign else got done faster since i wasn't interupted. I saved myself SO MUCH time and energy by handling the 'bewitching hour' this way.

Good luck; Barb
"A clean house is the sign of a wasted life. . .I must be having a blast."

Sarah while you are making dinner let her help you. That will be fun for her. YOU have fun too. K.

Why not let your child help with dinner and packing of bags? It was the only way I could prepare dinner. At that age, I kept them busy away from the stove on a "helping chair" or at the table making a salad or stirring/mixing something. Playdough is great too although I found it to be more of a mess for me to clean afterwards.

hey, i totally understand the need for your 2-year-olds to just chill out in front of the tv for a few minutes so you can actually get something done! So, I will not be the one to lecture you about TV :)
I let my 2 y/o color by herself, but she has always been good about staying on the paper. And she sits at a desk that I don't mind her getting crayon on.
Another option might be to turn of the TV all together so the kids can keep each other entertained.
Or, you may realize that this is not about finding an activity she's interested in. It may be that she's just not comfortable being left alone or being without you. You could ease this by letting her help you make dinner, or you could start to break her of this by ignoring any requests to play and hoping she'll eventually get it and find something else to do.
Good luck!

I am in the same boat!! I have two kids, 7 and 2 and my daughter (the 2 year old) is the same way. She has to be entertained all the time. Dinner time is really stressful. I have started setting up her teddys and babys at her little table and bringign out the play food so she can pretend to cook too. Most days it works but not every day.
Good luck and I totally understand!! Its not easy when you work full time. I am lucky to be home and prep some of my stuff a head so I can throw it in the pan.

Tell her u need her to make something for the dinnertable. art work crayons or playdough. see if she will listen to music in her room on a cd player. But if u can make her think she is helping in getting dinner ready if she makes something for the table. Good Luck, u r blessed with a balance, u could have two on your heels lol.

You will want to add activities that encourage the use of the muscles in your hands, so that they start to develop the coordination they need down the line when they work on handwriting. Play-dough is a good way to do that. There are recipes that use flour and salt online that make a good amount and it lasts a pretty long time. Use a shower curtain liner on the table and she can make "dinner" while you make dinner.

I agree with the person who said playdough! It is a great activity that they normally love. You can give her some playdough tools similar to your cooking tools (roller, cookie cutters plastic knife etc), sit her in the kitchen with you as you cook and talk to her about what you are doing. When she is old enough to help, she will be familiar with the activity. In the meantime she'll be having fun. Also, it is easy clean up if you take the other poster's advice and use a shower curtain (or in my case a plastic placemat). Just sweep up the crumbs when she is finished.

Also, I recommend looking for small inexpensive play sets of whatever they like (My Little Pony or whatever -- I have boys, so I am not up on current girl toys ;-) and save these for special time. I would get some they really love and put them on top of the fridge reserved for this time of day only. That way they are special and they will look forward to having the time with them and you.

I am not a TV hater, but I would rather have the kids in the kitchen with me if possible. Sometimes, though, we all need to buy a little peace and quiet!

Oh, and one more thing. You could try some of the little electronic toys like Leap Pad or the Leap Frog magnets. Put one set on the fridge and one on the dishwasher and let them only use those at this time as well.

Good luck!

1)Give each a bowl with small amounts of flour and water to mix at the table. Mine made little balls or 'pizzas' or 'pies.' We even threw some in the oven once to see what would happen!

2)Write on a small chalkboard with water using fingers or a paintbrush. Blow on it to clear the picture and start over! (My favorite since there is no mess to clean up.)

3)Use tweezers to move dried beans from one bowl to another.

4)Match up dried beans out of a 15 Bean Soup Mix into empty egg cartons.

5)Throw some change on the table and ask the child to sort them into piles. (As long as they don't tend to put little items in their mouths!)

6)Use dried food items for your glue activities: noodles, rice, beans, etc.

Hope this helps! Also you might let them be your little kitchen helpers and put napkins in the lunch bags, place the food in the bags, and maybe set the table with paper plates. Enjoy those precious twins!

Playdoh is a wonderful thing! You can also set up a rubbermaid container with rice and hide little "surprises" down inside - things like cookie cutters, little balls, or anything else - and have them unearth them. Another thing mine likes was taking an old magazine and cutting it up or coloring on it. Under your controlled supervision at the counter it just might keep them busy enough that you could cook and would improved their small muscle skills.

Lastly, the game of "I spy" has gotten me out of many a difficult child situation. It is a valuable way to spend time with them.

i didn't read all the responses before I posted this: playdoh might be entertaining for a while

My twin girls are almost 21- I understand completely! Try letting your "active" one help- give her dishes to carry to the table (one at a time, of course!) napkins to put out, help with mixing and shaking spices (I let my now almost 2 year old granddaughter shake paprika- it doesn't have that strong a flavor and she knows something is coming out. You can also have a separate cabinet devoted to plastic stuff for her to play in- this only holds for a few minutes, though! One other idea that my 2 grandchildren love- (both are almost 2) is to stand at the sink with the water on dribble with a wooden spoon- great entertainment for at least 1 hour. It's worth the water bill, I promise! The more you incorporate her help, the less stressed everyone is. Your house, by the way, will eventually get cleaned- wait another 19 years! :)! Good luck and enjoy the babies

One thing I did was make my son play on his own, starting at a young age. There were times when he'd fuss or follow me around, but I was persistent and now he's great at entertaining himself. I know your girls are a little young to really play together, but that is an option. But if one daughter is quiet, I wouldn't mess with it! Some days I let my son "help" me cook; sometimes I just put toys or books on the floor near me so he could play while I worked. Someone mentioned the LeapFrog magnetic letters and numbers for the fridge-- this is one of the few electronic toys we have and I love it! The song may make you crazy, but kids love it, and they do learn their letters and numbers. Another idea is just regular fridge magnets-- you can use ones you have or get magnet sheets and make your own shapes-- kind of like Colorforms, but for the fridge. I also play music in the kitchen and get my son to dance around and sing songs, which keeps him amused for a while. Good luck-- I know this is a tough time of day to keep them busy!

The weeds will be there and so will the dirt when they leave but the next 16 years will be the fastest of your life. Teach them to be your helper in the kitchen. Give them pots and pans, plasticware, learn to set the table, get some flash cards for them to hold up and tell you what they are. Yes, it will take longer but there is so little time in the evening that every minute counts.

playdough is a great option. When my kids were little I used to take a bunch of plastic bowls, wooden spoons, spatulas, etc. out on the floor in the kitchen and let her go at it. In one desperate move I even took out raw maceroni noodles for her to "cook". Good luck!!

Hi! My B/G twins are also 2. My daughter is very prissy and likes to dress up. If yours is too, maybe you could bring out a "princess box" and have dress-up costumes in there for just while you get dinner ready. She can look forward to putting on the princess stuff and it can be a special time...only when you are getting dinner ready. Just a thought. Lots of good ideas here. Good luck whatever you decide!

Can you let her cook with you? Mine always have at that age...starting with dry cereal, measuring cups, pans, bowls and wooden spoons to actual mixing for the meal...could you put a play kitchen in your kitchen..even just while you are cooking? I know that it takes a bit more time...but it actually is just a bit more and you and the child will treasure the time.

Hi S.,
I know this is repetitive, but I wanted to let you know that the "cook while I'm cooking" works for my two year old.
I got her a play kitchen so she usually does that while I'm cooking That's actually why I bought it because I was getting so frustrated with her needing me the entire time I was trying to cook.

Also, she likes to take all of the pans out of the cabinet.

And also I purchased a Step 2 sink with running water what she can play with on the front porch right infront of the kitchen window.

Hope some of this works for you.

Kids are different. Man, I have an almost-six-year-old who still looks to me for entertainment. Been trying very hard to get her a sibling -- then she'd have a live-in playmate! -- but that's not working so far. Something I've found to be helpful are the little kits you can find at Walmart, Dick Blick, Big Lots, etc. of activities for kids to do (snow globes, vases, yarn cross stitch, etc.) -- at least for an hour's reprieve... But, then you end up with a lot of little chotchkies around -- it's a trade-off.

computer games - we use nick jr playtime

When one of mine was about that age I bought a cheap bag of dried beans and let him go to town on the kitchen floor with pots, wooden spoons, bowls etc and played with the beans. Sometimes it was a mess to clean up, but mostly it could be swept up. Once he started using water with it, it got messier, but it worked for a while.