As a mom and teacher, I am amazed at how quickly children, especially toddlers, grow bored with the toys and electronics we spent all that money on for Christmas! The credit card commercial where the little girl plays with the cardboard box instead of the item that came in it, hit the nail on the head! That just about sums up most toddlers’ behavior.
Thankfully I was smarter this year; I purchased Christmas gifts for my son that would hopefully stretch his imagination: like a Superhero art set and Beyblades that he can spin until he spends out of energy! Yet, even with these, it’s still good to have lots of ideas ready for your little ones. (Otherwise it’ll be YOUR energy that spends all out!) Here are some ideas that’ll hopefully keep the family happy:
1- Reinforce Learning Shapes:
Jenae from ICanTeachMyChild.Com, came up with this idea and I was very impressed with how much fun my 5 year old son had while completing it. With some basic masking tape and plenty of floor space, this “game” of finding shapes can keep your busy bundle of joy focused for quite some time without plopping him/her down in front of the t.v.
2-Reinforce Learning Letters:
I got this idea from Jaimi at The Stay At Home Mom Survival Guide, where she lists tons of great activities for preschool age children. I ended up making two charts for my fridge, one where the alphabet was in order, and another more challenging one with the letters random. Just be warned that when your children complete the task, they will be yelling with joy and eager to show you all their hard work!
3-Reinforce Learning Numbers
If you can’t tell by now, I am really into any activities that will be fun, engaging AND an opportunity for learning when it comes to children. (It’s the teacher in me!) I can’t stress enough to parents that those little brain engines are constantly firing away, so you are truly your children’s first teacher. Teach them well!
My son has tons of toy cars, so as soon as I saw this on Krissy’s B-Inspired MAMA blog, my heart was happy! Her instructions and pictures have larger cardboard boxes, which I didn’t have, but smaller boxes and even large construction paper work well also. I used cut up sticky notes to number my son’s toy cars and trucks.
There will be times as a parent, definitely as a single parent, when you will need that 30 minute tv show or those video games to keep your “mini me” content while you get things done, but trust me, these ideas will keep your child busy enough so that the tv doesn’t have to be a constant go to. Between playing with these and warming back up to all those Christmas gifts, your son/daughter will have tons of fun around the house. If all else fails, pull out the art supplies 🙂
For more parenting tips to Make Life Magnificent, check out my Pinterest Parenting Pointers Board
Feel free to share some of your magnificent parenting ideas below in the comment section!
PS-I usually do all the prep work for these kinds of activities while my son is sleeping or when he is engaged with something else. If you try to set everything up while they are standing next you and bored, it could become discouraging for both of you. So always try to plan ahead! Happy Parenting 🙂
Making Life Magnificent 