Admit it. Before you had kids you shook your head at “those parents.” You know, the ones who couldn’t “control” their kids at restaurants? Ha ha ha ha ha. You know better now. And the free box of crayons and paper restaurant activity placemat just aren’t cutting it anymore, right? But you don’t want to drag…
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Toddler Activities
Toothpicks + Colander Fine Motor Activity
Here’s another basic fine motor skills activity which distracts New Kid long enough for me to take a breath once in a while: sticking toothpicks though the holes in a colander.
Toddler Activity: Pounding Practice
The never ending question: how to distract your toddler or preschooler when they are getting just a teeny bit whiny. One sure fire hit (pardon the pun): give them something to pound. I realize this is a terrible photo, but if you get a piece of Styrofoam in a package (Do not buy Styrofoam! —…
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How to Tame the Post-Nap Crankies
Do your toddlers wake up from their naps with what I call “the crankies”? Mine do and I’ve tried to develop some strategies to combat it, because my sanity suffers when my kids are whiny. Whether he has had a short or a long nap, New Kid almost always wakes from his nap with a…
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Dot-to-Dot for Toddlers
Like many toddlers with older siblings, New Kid (age 2) loves to do what ever his big brother is doing. So when Kiddo is working on his beloved EXTREME! Dot-to-Dots workbooks, I put together this numberless dot-to-dot using office supply stickers. Then he made his own, which was great for keeping him entertained for even…
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The Right Fit
Another post I wrote a million years ago and forgot to publish! Now he builds his own tunnels and the cute “neat feet” mispronunciation has corrected itself. *sigh* Kids can learn through play all by themselves of course, but sometimes it is fun to add in a new element for them. I built a Lego…
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Boggle for Toddlers and Preschoolers
I love to repurpose games as quick distractions for my toddler. If you have the game of Boggle in your closet, by all means bring it out. It is one of my son’s favorite manipulatives. You might not think that a game meant for older children and adults can be just as fun for toddlers…
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DIY Fine Motor Skills Activity
In my last “Playing the Slots” post you saw the ol’ popsicles in the container trick. Here are two more varieties that I’ve made of this toddler fine motor skills activity: The one on the left is milk bottle caps. The one on the right is pom poms. For that one I made three different…
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Best Toddler Puzzle Ever
New Kid has this wonderful color matching puzzle from Kid O. The reason I like it so much is that all the pieces are interchangeable so it was a puzzle he could work on it all by himself at a very young age without getting frustrated. He loved to put the pieces in over and…
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Distracting your Toddler 101
As you know, it is very important to me to find EASY ways to keep my toddler busy and entertained! The other day he was whining, whining, whining so I handed him a few objects from the recycle bin and a bag of pom poms. Besides water play (which always entertains my kids), pom poms…
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