TOTBITS
(I plan to keep adding more ideas here, so please check back often!)
Sometimes it is hard to think of things to do to keep your tot busy (or T-School) while homeschooling. We want him to have fun, too! Since Mommy is so busy with the other kids while schooling, sometimes Hank the Scrump gets left out in the play. We have to think of ways to get him involved or keep him busy while Mommy is reading a History lesson or teaching math.
Hanky likes inhales dried apricots. Mommy cuts them into tiny bits to give to him. Instead of doing this while Hanky is sitting in his high chair, Mommy filled a bunch of empty plastic eggs with the bits. It took him about 10 minutes to get through them all the first time we tried this. He would empty one at a time and eat the fruit bits one at a time. Now, he opens each one, dumps the bit, then shovels them all in his mouth at once. Mommy loves to see Hanky's thinking skills at work!
This day we also used cheerios.
(18 months)
Hank the Scrump doesn't like to be left out of school. He wants a crayon and a piece of paper. That will satisfy him for 2.5 seconds until he decides he is big enough for long sharp pencils and SCISSORS. Since he also likes to take off running with sharp objects, we have to always have an eye on this child while we are schooling. Sometimes he throws a tantrum if he cannot have scissors. Mommy would rather hear him scream out of anger than out of pain from being cut with the scissors, so we have to come up with an alternative "school" for Hanky.
What tot doesn't love to hear clinking sounds?
We have many little metal pails. We also have a little container full of big buttons. Hanky will sit for several minutes plopping buttons into the buckets, dumping them out and starting over. He will even count "One, two, tee!"
(18 months)
~~~~~~~~~
Here he is again dropping chips into a Yahtzee cup while Daddy and I play. He did this for at least 10 minutes, counting "one, two" over and over again.
(19 months)
~~~~~~~~~
Mommy is always trying to figure out how she could utilize the side of her filing cabinet. It's metal. Magnets will stick to it. It just sits there. It doesn't have anything on it. Nobody is using it.
Hello!
Mommy pulls out some pom pom magnets she made last year for Eammon for preschool. She keeps them in a small container that held a sample of formula. (We don't throw a lot of these containers in the trash. They can always be repurposed!) Anyway, down we sat on the floor with the pom poms. Mommy put one on the file cabinet. Hanky pushed Mommy out of the way because he was sure this was his idea, not Mommy's.
(Forgive the messy hair, the dirty filing cabinet, the partially dressed child, the lousy super-quick iphone photos. It's life.)
(19 months)
This kept going for a while. Then he realized they also stick to the bottom of the container that held the pom poms. He stuck them on, pulled them off, dumped the container, tried to figure out why some of the pom poms would not come out of the container.
Then...
Hanky decides Mommy's computer was feeling left out of the fun, or it was hungry. No.
~~~
Sensory play:
Mommy dumped two very old bags of lentils in a plastic storage container for Hanky to explore. (Eammon enjoyed this, too. He stuck his feet in.) :) It is fun to dump them into different containers and hear how different they sound spilling into each one. They look pretty cool, too. They FEEL awesome. Measure, dump, eat a few (he picked out the green ones to eat. lol), throw a few, smile, and KEEP ME BUSY!
(20 months)
~~~
Clipping and unclipping clothes pins from a bucket and counting "one, two" over and over.
(20 months)
~~~
Color sorting:
I used an old plastic ice cream container with lid to make this simple tot activity. I cut a few holes in the lid then outlined them with the same colors of straws I had in the house that I knew I wanted to use. I gathered the straws, then just cut them random lengths. I also found a few matching pom poms that would be small enough to fit through the holes. I gave the bucket to Hanky.
First thing he did was attempt to remove the lid.
(20 months)
No, fingers weren't working. Let's use our teeth. :/ The sun is in my eyes!
That worked! I see you, Mommy.
I'm going to put everything in without the lid.
Drop, drop, drop.
Let's try it with the lid on.
I changed my mind.
Oh, this looks like fun!
I can put my finger in here.
One, two, who cares where it is supposed to go?
You asked me to put all the pom poms in a pile, right?
~~~
Stringing Shapes:
This is a shoe string and a bunch of foam shapes I hole-punched. I dug this out of a box of things I made for Eammon. Henley loves it, but he just puts one on and takes it back off. It's adorable. :)
(21 months)
~~~
Washing dishes: I recommend your tot is stripped down to his skivvies if you don't want his clothes to get wet. Mine was in his jammies, so we knew we were going to change and didn't mind.
I just filled a deep bowl with some sudsy water, gave him a little rag and a few little dishes and measuring cups to wash, then let him use his imagination.
(21 months)
Pouring is the most fun. :)
And it's close to our "classroom" workspace. Big brother joined in, of course. :)
Right outside the classroom door there were two little boys just sitting on the floor.
(21 mos.)
~~~
Puzzles
(22 months - to the day)
~~~
Wear them!
Hanky will BRING me his wrap. He turned 22 months this day, brought me his wrap, and bawled because I couldn't tie him on fast enough. This doesn't last too long now that he is older, but it is nice for a while, especially if he falls asleep! He was still grouchy when we took this picture.
~~~
Button Art - We love Alex Little Hands Button Art. I'm so glad to be able to use it again with another little one and it is perfect for this age! He doesn't always put the right color where it belongs, but he just loves to pop them in!
(22 months)
~~~
Shredded Paper Discovery Bin - Probably my least favorite thing in the whole world to give my kids. If a child doesn't make a mess with a sensory bin, there has to be something wrong, right?
(22 months)
~~~
Hanky also discovered Giddy will let him pick him up. Doesn't look pretty though, does it?
~~~~~
Gluing!
While dd8 and ds4 are working on a craft, Hank the Scrump was given a paper plate with dots of glue on it and some tissue paper squares. He practiced his pincer skills by picking up the squares and gluing them to the dots.
(22 mos.)
~~~
Hanky ALWAYS wants to paint. Since he would rather suck on the paintbrush, or dump the liquid, we usually give him a small amount of water in a cup with a handle or a shallow bowl. Then we lay 1-2 paper towels on his highchair tray. We give him maybe an inch of water in a cup and a paintbrush and let him do the rest. I will put a tiny drop of vegetable food coloring in his water once in a while. The best part (besides having fun) is this activity cleans itself! Even if he dumps the water, the paper towels soak it all up!
(22 mos.)
~~~
Real men wear their stuffed animals.
This keeps me busy for a while. :)
(23 mos.)
~~~
These are just some VERY simple ideas to keep our tot busy while we school, and he is learning, too!
~~~
Scrumpy is now 2! He wants more and more to do!
~~~
Sticky wall - tape contact paper sticky side out to the floor, a door, a window, etc., and get creative! We used feathers, tissue paper, pom poms, popsicle sticks, foam shapes, paint chips, and scraps of construction paper.
~~~
This is what happens if you don't keep a toddler busy: a $12 bottle of maple syrup turns into what looks like a baby doll crime scene.
~~~
READ! At this age, Scrumpy now knows if you are holding a book upside down. He loves to be read to. He recognizes that there are letters and words on a page. He will point to random letters and say, "A, B". Mommy reads all day long. ALL. DAY. LONG. We are doing schoolwork with 2 other children, but the Scrump brings book after book to be read. The pile below was read twice one day. There are several board books missing from this pile, some of which were read SIX TIMES. Boy do we read. Don't underestimate the power of a story with a child on your lap. It's pure love!
~~~
.JPG)
.JPG)
.JPG)
.JPG)
