Activities to keep the kids amused and me sane?

Cori - posted on 10/23/2012

I am in interested in making the OOBLECK with my 13 month old but i'm sure that he will try to eat it,is it safe to put inside your mouth, because I know there will be no stopping him he loves to eat lol

Liz - posted on 10/15/2011

http://playathomemom3.blogspot.com/

http://www.notimeforflashcards.com/

Sheri - posted on 10/15/2011

you can get some butcher paper or haevy paper and tape it to a wall and give them crayons and let them color on it so one wall will be decorated for the hollidays it will keep you sane and keep them busy. i hope this works it did for me. oh let them help you cook or make cookies it might be a mess but its alot of fun.

Melissa - posted on 10/14/2011

I love the OOBLECK stuff its very cool and so glad I now can make it with my kiddo he will love it , I remember making it with my olest which is now 23 and I for got how to make it so thanks and those are great ideas , I was looking for things to do today with all the rain . My son and I made a list of 3 things to do today the first was we made banana bread with chocolate chips , then we made a tent and sat in it and practised how to spell his name then we were going to cut pictures out of a magazine but I couldnt find the sizzers . so we colored for alittle bit insted...lol

Elva - posted on 04/12/2010

I think that one of the funest things we do is just a dance party put on some good music and have a ball. Also there are good craft Ideas from a book that can be found on www.mudpuppy.com it is get crafty. but one thing when I have a couple kids over making masks and plying pretend is fun.

Heather - posted on 01/11/2010

Your welcome. We actually just made some today. Kept my three year old busy for an hour. We added a few drops of food coloring into it as well, a little red and some yellow. It was fun to swirl the colors around, until it was all orange. I thought it might dye our fingers but no problem there.

Jodi - posted on 01/09/2010

To start, have you made a feltboard? It's relatively cheap to make and I havn't come across a kid yet who doesn't LOVE it! My 10 month old daughter has enjoyed since she could sit up and scoot around, I used to run daycare through my home and ALL of those kids would play with it endlessly!!! If you're interested and need ideas you can message or check out the book "Feltboard Fun"...it's enourmousley long but has a million great ideas and printouts!!! Additionally, I think you could really benefit from my community SAHM's are Teachers! It's a community for moms just like you and me to swap ideas for fun and educational activities to do with our kids! Anyone can join and I post a weekly activity to try every Monday!!! I posted the link below, I really hope you join us!!!



http://apps.facebook.com/circleofmoms/e_...

Nikki - posted on 01/09/2010

That oobleck is awesome, we had so much fun with that, thank you!!

Heather - posted on 01/08/2010

If you do not mind a mess. OOBLECK is fun. 4tsp. cornstarch added to 2tsp. water. Can do more of course. Just mix it together. We put it in a dishpan and he sits on the floor to play with it. It is the stranges thing to play with. Seems hard to pick it up but then it will drip from your fingers. Very fun.

finger painting with paints, shaving cream or whipped cream.

Golf ball painting. My son loved this one and I even framed one of his picks. Take a shoe box that will fit a regular peice of paper inside. Tape paper to bottom of shoe box. Put a two or three blobs of paint on the paper (spread out). Place two golf balls in the box and then have child hold box and move it around. The balls will roll through the paint and leave different tack marks. Another fun painting is to use different toy cars with different types of treads on the tires. Roll car through some paint and then drive it on paper.

Take a nature walk. bring a small pail to pick up leaves, sticks and rocks. We did this in the fall with leaves and then put them on contact paper to make a picture. The whole time we talked about the different colors and sizes of the leaves.

Puppets are fun too. Make your own stories and do a show for the one year old. We made some with pics of family members on popsicle sticks. And some pics of animals as well.

Your three year old might enjoy putting beads on a very long string or lanyard. My son did this for Christmas when he was two. I watched him because the beads were small. But he had fun and then we hung it on his mini Christmas tree.

Cooking together. Get all ingredients together and measured out. Your kids will love dumping and mixing everything together. Or mini english muffin pizzas are a fav here. I just put out all the toppings and my son goes to town making his own pizza. My son also enjoys putting fruits in the blender and pushing the buttons to make a healthy smoothie snack.

We also have fun listening to music and dancing.

We play with alphabet magnets. My son is three and he really enjoys these. I spell out his name for him and say each letter and then say his name. He now recognizes his name in other settings. I also place them all on the floor and we go through the alphabet he picks up the right letter and puts it on the filing cabinet. We say the name of the letter and sometimes its sound and then a couple of words that start with that letter. He does not always say or copy me but thats the way he is. I usually catch him saying it latter when he is playing by himself.

You can also play some games with different colered and different sized objects. Say put all the blue things in the bowl. Or all the small things, or all the fuzzy things. teaches different properties and how they can be the same but different as well.

Sometimes we pretend that we are different animals. or play dress up.

Put a towel down and a dishpan or two of water with a few small dishes and let them play in the water a little.

Thats just a few ideas that we have done in the headstart program that we are part of. And some that I just do on my own. Hope it helps some. And have fun.