Helpful Mom

So you know how your kids get bored and want YOU to come up with the ideas for play?  Or maybe that’s just me…but I don’t think so or there wouldn’t be so many of these books I own with titles like 200 ideas for preschoolers.  Well one such book suggested that one should plan ahead for such times.  They even included a sample sheet to fill out with activities so you can plan ahead the way I mealplan.  So I have begun doing this so I have 7-9 activities planned for the week, whether they be games, crafts, or other activities.  This way I have ideas on hand, I may not use one everyday but I have them ready just in case.  And some days I may use 2-4, it just depends on the day.  My girls love it because most of the ideas they think are fun new things we’ve never done before and I like it because I’ve already screened the ideas and made sure we have the ingredients necessary to make it happen.

I know this takes a bit of work since you have to sit down and write up your activities ahead of time but I can’t tell you how much it has helped to have ideas at the ready on those hairy days.  I did it in one evening writing up 6 weeks worth of activities at one time so you don’t have to do it very often.  And you’ll find that some of the ideas they’ll love so much that they’ll request to do it again and again in the future.  Also while writing out the ideas make sure to make a shopping list of the items you may need to pick up so you’ll truly be prepared.  And if you buy those items you’ll be more likely to follow through and do those crafts.  Or baking, my girls love baking.  I found a great book about teaching the Bible in the kitchen which is for Sunday school teachers to use cooking to teach Bible verses.  My girls love it because they are simple recipes meant for them to help cook, and I like that I can teach them a simple lesson at the same time.  So get out those books with the hundreds of ideas and start picking.

Are your kids afraid of public toilets like mine can be?  What with automatically flushing toilets that can go off randomly my girls can be scared of using bathrooms other than our own.  To make it less scary I do a couple things.  One is to check different stalls for a manual flush toilet.  Some toilets are tall so what you can do to help them feel more secure, cause they are afraid of falling in, is sit on the toilet behind them.  Scoot all the way back on the seat yourself and then hold your child in front of you on the seat so they can use the toilet without fear of falling in.  Another idea is to bring a folding toilet seat adapter in your diaper bag which sits on top of the toilet seat making the hole smaller for your child.  These simple ideas can help ease your childs fears so they may not refuse to use a public toilet.

As you may know my kids love to quiz me on what color does it make if you combine x and y.  Over and over all different combinations, they ask day after day.  And we do different types of activities to reinforce what we’ve taught them about the basic colors and what combinations make their favorites, like blue and red make purple.  Our most common way to do this is by coloring our pancakes different colors.  But today’s activity was simple and easy.  All you need is a few plastic containers, water, food coloring, and eye droppers(I used our medicine syringes).  We filled three containers about halfway with water and added a few drops of food coloring to each of them in the primary colors.  Red, yellow, and blue can be combined to make all the colors of the rainbow, and if you combine all three you make brown.  Give your kids empty containers and the eyedroppers so they can combine the colors and experiment to their hearts delight.  We pulled up chairs to our kitchen counter and they were enthralled for at least a half an hour just mixing colors!  And after nap time they asked to do it again.  This time we moved it to the tub and they spent nearly an hour playing with their colors.

These are the words my oldest asked me today while waiting for our Dr. appointment.  See I go fully prepared when taking my two girls to any kind of appointment when you never know how long you might be waiting for.  Our regular Dr. office can take up to 2 hours to from beginning to end so you can see why I need to brace myself for anything.  So I pack a special bag for appointments, food, treats, and drinks of course but also those special extras.  Books they haven’t seen yet, little toys from the $store , crayons, etc.  I generally don’t break any of these items out until we are out of the waiting room since most waiting rooms have a spot for kids with toys and books.  So I have them play with these “new” toys while we wait and then can break out what I packed as needed.  I have found that a box of crayons is a great toy at the Drs because they can color all over that paper on the exam table since they are just going to throw it away when they are done with you anyways.  The girls love getting up on the exam table now and spend quite a bit of time coloring all over it.  Play tic tac toe, or draw an outline of their hand or body.  Happy meal toys and holiday toys bought on clearance make great cheap toys for this purpose.  MP3 players with songs or stories uploaded to it can help to.  Be creative, you know what will capture your child’s attention, making a trip to the Drs special, or maybe Amazing…

Do your kids want to mail out letters just like mom and dad?  I save the prepaid envelopes from all those credit card offers so the kids can mail letters out in the “real” mail.  I figure the credit card companies fill my mailbox with junk I can return the favor and it doesn’t cost me a cent.  You can also save the return address labels, that various companies mail out with their pleas, for your kids to use to decorate their envelopes.  And I save a few of those fake credit cards that come in the invitations for the kids to play shopping with their play food, we punch in totals in the couch cushions and slide the card in the cracks between the pillows.