Last weekend, Dravyn had Christmas number two, because we hadn't seen my side of the family since before Christmas, so of course she was playing with some of her new toys, her favorites are the helicopter her Grummy got her, and the tunnel tent her grandparents got her.
But anyone with a toddler knows, toys only keep attention for so long. So what do you do when you don't have shiny new toys for them to play with?
Getting outside is always a hit, but not always the most practical, depending on how cold/hot/wet/snowy the weather is. Dravyn loves playing in her sand box, chasing the cats, playing in gravel/pebbles, or just roaming the yard until finding a seemingly random place and flopping down on her back for a few seconds to look at the sky.
Anyway, coloring is great and she loves it. She however looses interest quickly in crayons, but throwing in the occasional closely monitored pen drawing session, or colored pencil time is a huge hit. The other day it lasted thirty minutes before she started drawing on things other than the paper! That is a huge improvement over the 5 minutes it usually takes.
Last week we played in bubbles. I got two bowls one slightly larger than the other, put just a little soap in the smaller bowl with water, and gave her a couple measuring cups to play with. This was a huge hit, and if you put some towels under the whole area, it basically is self cleaning, just rinse everything and pick up the towels when you are done.
Another hit is self contained painting in plastic baggies. Just put a little paint of a couple different colors in a plastic bag and tape it to the window (use tape on all sides if your child is anything like mine and likes to pull on things a lot).
A really good thing about the Internet is the ability to make friends with other people all over the country and even the world. One of those people that I am lucky to now call a friend posted a blog post over this same topic this week, and has some other really great ideas. A bunch of us all did the window paint activity, and that is the first one on her post, but keep reading, because there are several other activities she covers. I can't wait to find some play-doh.
Please check out her blog post here http://mycrazyamericandream.blogspot.com/2013/01/sensory-play-for-toddlers.html
I hope to have a wonderful weekend with my family, and hope you do the same.
Aww! how fun! Tyler loves loves loves his tunnel! And the window paint is a huge hit! :) I look forward to reading more and getting more ideas from you! Thank you for sharing my blog!
ReplyDeleteI used to do the paint-in-a-bag thing with you, but used ketchup, mustard, mayo, etc... Because you, dear child, would always manage to bite a chunk out of the bag while I wasn't looking, and that way I didn't have to worry about what you might ingest.
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