Keeping Sean busy

Considering the majority of this month has been spent indoors, thanks to the unbearably hot weather we've been experiencing, I've had to consult Pinterest for some toddler activities to keep Sean busy.  I just couldn't handle waddling around the zoo another day in this heat right now!  I've been pinning like crazy gathering freezer meal ideas for when I start my freezer stash for baby Evan's arrival and toddler activities so I don't pull my hair out with two kids at home on maternity leave, so I have quite a few cool ideas!

1.  We decided to do an activity that works on fine motor skills and I liked that I had all the ingredients at home already and it took less than 2 minutes to set up.

What you need:

• A Styrofoam cup
• Spaghetti noodles
• Cheerios

And the object was for Sean to get the Cheerios through the noodles.  It was a challenge at times for him, but he gave it his best effort for a good 10 minutes.  Then he thought it would be fun to turn the cup around, take out all the spaghetti, and just transfer the Cheerios from the snack container to the cup.  Over and over again.  So, the activity bought me a good 25 minutes of Sean busy and happy.

2.  I saw a friend post on Facebook this neat art project where you use toilet paper rolls for them to dip the paint in to.  So, I grabbed our painting tarp, cleared a space in the garage with a box fan on high, and let Sean give it a whirl.

What you need:

• 6 toilet paper rolls
• 6 paper plates
• 6 different color washable paints
• Paper to put it on

And you end up with a beautiful picture to hang inside:

 

3.  This activity seemed perfect since it's been so hot out and because Sean is obsessed with cars!  I knew this would keep him busy since he'd be bound and determined to get the cars out.  I froze a few of his hot wheel cars in a long rectangular Glad container with water in the freezer over night.  In the afternoon after his nap, I popped the frozen block out, gave him a mini hammer we had, and let him work at getting the cars out.  He wasn't entertained as long as I thought he'd be and luckily we had the his baby pool filled with water because it came down to just putting the ice in the pool to let it quickly thaw so he wouldn't freak out about his cars.

4.  Lastly, we babysat our niece this morning who is 3.5 years old and I wanted to come up with a fun activity that both of them would be happy with.  I had been seeing recipes on the internet for making your own play dough, so last night I gathered my supplies and spent about 30 minutes making 4 batches of different colored play dough for them.

 

Overall, it was easy to make.  Here's what you need:

• 1 cup flour
• 1 cup water
• 1/3 cup salt
• 2 tsp. cream of tartar
• 1 Tbsp. vegetable oil
• Food coloring gel or Kool Aid packets

Mix all the ingredients together except the food coloring over medium/low heat in a saucepan.  When it starts to get more solid, add the food coloring and continue stiring until the dough begins to wrap around the spoon.  Flop onto a piece of wax paper to cool.  When cooled, squeeze and press the play dough to work out any lumps.

The kids really enjoyed it this morning!  Especially because Scott made bowling pins out of the blue dough and let them use the other dough as the bowling balls.  Then we made snakes.  And finally, we made a smiley face out of the snake pieces.  We got a solid 30 minutes of play out of this stuff and it's in some Glad containers ready for another day.

Of course cars have to be involved for Sean to be interested.

I can't wait to try a few more ideas I have pinned that involve pipe cleaners and boxes.  We just got a second fridge/freezer delivered and have the huge box waiting for us to transform it into something.  I'm thinking a school bus...I have the paint and black paper plates as wheels all ready to go...