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mommy4ever
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| Posted: Aug 23 2012 at 9:32am | IP Logged
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Last year I ran into some issues with my littles. As soon as one of the school age kids needed me, they were into mischief, or start fussing, or whining. They wanted complete entertainment. I'm not cool with that, or the behaviors.
I want to create some special things, for times when I won't be playing with them. This includes bathroom breaks, or meal preps or phone calls.
I do get them outside to burn off energy. We do games to use up. I include them in any of our phys. ed. program.
BUT, they do need to self entertain at times. I couldn't do anything without a big ruckus. Including trying to make lunch. I am surprised ddd8 got any work done.
Any suggestions? The littles are 3 and 4. There is a 1 yo too, but a different bin of toys seems to do the trick for her.
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ardently praying for a new addition to our family.
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Claire F
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| Posted: Aug 23 2012 at 10:20am | IP Logged
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I am making a bunch of busy bags and busy boxes for my 3 year old - small activites for her to do that I can just grab off a shelf and set her up for some independent play. The idea is that they are things she doesn't have free access to, so they are new and exciting, and will hopefully keep her attention for a while. (We'll see how it plays out in practice!)
A few things I put together already are:
Foam pieces with foam stickers
Sheets of stickers and index cards
Macaroni sorting - various macaroni, small plastic containers
Color sorting - different colored pom poms and small plastic containers with the corresponding color construction paper glued in the bottom for matching
Noodle necklaces - large pasta shapes with holes, yarn and a pipe cleaner "needle" to make stringing them easier
Small ABC puzzle (I found in Target's dollar section)
Felt cupcakes - felt pieces to make cupcake shapes
I have a few other ideas, and there are tons of ideas online if you Google "busy bags". Most of the stuff I either had on hand, or picked up cheaply in the back to school sales or from the dollar section. I put a few of them in pencil bags, but I've also seen them done with just zip lock type bags.
Another idea I'm going to try is putting finger paints and a flat piece of white paper in a gallon size zip lock bag and tape it down to the table with masking tape - mess free finger painting! I figure if I put a few of those on the table while we work, that ought to hold her attention for a bit.
You could also do sensory bins, water pouring activities on a towel, or pouring dry beans or something similar - with a variety of small cups, spoons, eye droppers, etc. Shaving cream in a closed zip lock bag with a few drops of food coloring is also fun.
Basically my plan is to have things on hand so I can just grab and be ready, rather than trying to think of how to keep her occupied half way through the morning, as she's climbing all over me  .
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Claire
Mom to DS 12/04, DS 5/07, DD 8/09
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mommy4ever
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| Posted: Aug 23 2012 at 10:53am | IP Logged
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Oh Claire, I could KISS you! I totally forgot about busy bags/boxes. I have marked them on Pinterest last year. And it got so crazy, that I didn't have time. I will be spending some time in the next week creating a bunch of them in the evenings.
I just found this one: http://moneysavingmom.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/clothes line_busy_bag.pdf
I thought your little girl might love. I know my 2 girls here will really like it.
I am going to sit down and decide which ones to make. I will need many, but some of this can be a service project for dd13 :) She loves to create stuff, being it's beneficial to our homeschool, it counts as a service project too.
If you have any cute ideas, I'd love to hear about them.
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ardently praying for a new addition to our family.
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Claire F
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| Posted: Aug 23 2012 at 6:25pm | IP Logged
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Oh yes, that clothesline one looks great! I was actually at the craft store today and meant to get some clothespins and forgot. Oh well, I'm sure I'll be making new busy bags as we go!
ETA - here is my Pinterest board with ideas for littles
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Claire
Mom to DS 12/04, DS 5/07, DD 8/09
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AmandaV
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| Posted: Aug 23 2012 at 8:08pm | IP Logged
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This was a great round up of busy bag ideas:
Ultimate guide to busy bags
This is an area I need to focus on, too. Great topic!
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Amanda
wife since 6/03, Mom to son 7/04, daughter 2/06, twin sons 6/08 and son 7/11, son 1/2014
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margarita
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| Posted: Aug 23 2012 at 8:21pm | IP Logged
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My 2.5yo just got really good with scissors, so I am letting him cut anything he wants to!
I need to make time to check out these busy bag ideas; I want this to be a really good year academically for my 2nd grader (the only one who is technically homeschooling this year).
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Two now in school: G-16, B-14
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Mrs. B
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| Posted: Aug 24 2012 at 7:17pm | IP Logged
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This is so handy right now. I've been exploring the workbox ideas for my preschooler. Busy bags sounds like it would also work... and fit nicely in a box. Several years ago we participated in a preschool activity swap, lots of little games, that fit in gallon sized bags. This was one of the best things we did! I've been able to move them to smaller bags to save space and pack nicely in a long flat boxes. So when we are working at the table together I can pull one of them out and have the preschooler do a activity- or try to, I see we really have some problems with short attention spans around here... anyway, some of our funnest ones are a small rice box to find stuff in (marbles, foam stickers, counting bears, jungle animals) and to pour or spoon into containers. Beware though- this can be really messy and the little need training about how to use it and clean up after they use it. Don't leave them alone with it for long. Matching games and grids are fun and can be printed online. A grid with a set of stickers and shapes attached to it can be used for a matching game, too. I'm using a set of poster paint jars as sorting jars. They have lids the littles like to manipulate. Tweezers and an egg carton and pom poms can be used for fine motor control, so can spooning. Little foam things, beans, pieces of straw or beads for gluing practice. Use a q tip and a little dish for the glue. Felt seems to be fun here. I sometimes give our felt scrap box and a larger piece to the littles and say make a mosaic. Pattern blocks and free patterns from the internet, another thing that can be used for patterns and is FUN is magnetic pom poms. Just glue some thin pieces of magnetic sheets to the back of pom poms and use a magnetic white board or baking pan. Dot marker sheets make good pattern cards for those.
Don't forget about homemade playdough, cornmeal pans and cheap bean boxes to play in. Sometimes that will keep them busy for a half hour or so and just needs to be cleaned up afterwards...I'm open to more ideas. Nice thread!
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dd-10, ds-8, dd-5, ds-2
and a bunch of rabbits, a pack of dogs, a clowder of cats, and some fish.
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pmeilaen
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| Posted: Aug 25 2012 at 8:57am | IP Logged
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Holly (Mother's Rule of Life) also has some great ideas for little ones.
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Eva
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Chris V
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Mama to My Five Girls ('04~'07~'09~'11~'11) 
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pmeilaen
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Chris V
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| Posted: Aug 26 2012 at 10:56pm | IP Logged
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You know, I was sitting in our nook earlier today, writing out my schooling thoughts on paper, when I realized that my 3 year old had been sitting quietly for nearly an hour behind me. She was working in her Kumon First Steps Workbooks. These little workbooks (and they are little, 5" x 7" or so) have been so, so wonderful. I don't know why it didn't occur to me to mention them ... Probably because I didn't buy them with the intent to keep anyone busy, they just looked like cute fun. They are aged 2 and up, but my 5 and 7 year olds can't get enough of them.
We have:
Let's Color!
Let's Cut Paper!
Let's Fold!
Let's Sticker & Paste!
and More Let's Fold!
... I think I got them at Costco, but you can certainly order them from Kumon or Amazon. Really, they have been wonderfully fun, I'm going to get more
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Chris
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mommy4ever
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I started putting together some busy bags. I also decided to use a little $$ and invested in some quiet activities. I have a couple Melissa and Doug 'games' coming. Magnetic Wand board, Latch & Lock board, Lacing. We get to use similar at the library when we go, and they sit for the whole time.
They will be put away, and only brought out for our 'busy time'. Just like the busy bags.
I am aiming at having 40 - 60 different bags. I need to set up for 2 kiddos and need enough variety to make them fresh week to week. I am trying not to have scissors and colors involved, as this is sometimes not closely supervised time, the point is allowing me to do one on one, but I want to minimize potential mischief.
I am LOVING the ideas coming up in this thread! Keep them coming!
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ardently praying for a new addition to our family.
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Claire F
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| Posted: Aug 28 2012 at 12:38am | IP Logged
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I made an easy fishing game - I cut fish shapes out of craft foam, and added a magnet with a sticky back to each. Then I made a fishing pole from a small dowel, yarn (taped with some duct tape for good measure) and another magnet attached to the end of the yarn.
I also got some large-ish beads and pipe cleaners, as well as a little macaroni stringing activity. I added a piece of pipe cleaner to a string of yarn to make a "needle" so stringing the noodles would be a little easier for her.
A new coloring book from the dollar store kept my daughter busy for quite a while yesterday, so new coloring pages or inexpensive coloring books is another one I'll have to remember - especially if they are special for "school time".
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Claire
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Chris V
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| Posted: Aug 28 2012 at 2:15am | IP Logged
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Claire F wrote:
| I made an easy fishing game - I cut fish shapes out of craft foam, and added a magnet with a sticky back to each. Then I made a fishing pole from a small dowel, yarn (taped with some duct tape for good measure) and another magnet attached to the end of the yarn. |
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That would never work in my house, I'd be the one to vote that we all go fishing rather than do "school". ... I'd just call it our wildlife-nature study  .
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Chris
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mommy4ever
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| Posted: Aug 28 2012 at 7:34am | IP Logged
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Chris V wrote:
Claire F wrote:
| I made an easy fishing game - I cut fish shapes out of craft foam, and added a magnet with a sticky back to each. Then I made a fishing pole from a small dowel, yarn (taped with some duct tape for good measure) and another magnet attached to the end of the yarn. |
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That would never work in my house, I'd be the one to vote that we all go fishing rather than do "school". ... I'd just call it our wildlife-nature study . |
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I have to consider these things too. DD8 is very much a little girl at heart, so I have to create things that aren't in her realm of favorites or she'll not want to do her work! I guess if I end up with something she really wants to do, then it will have to be as a reward for when she's done. Sometimes you can't win..lol
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kristacecilia
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I gathered up some materials for "school" for my four year old. She loves it and begs to do her math everyday. Some are special story books we can read while the big brothers work independently.
For my two year old and last year when DD was three, I just had the same idea, but her "school" was activities that I kept aside for her like:
- special story books (My Jesus and I, Flicka Ricka Dicka, Virginia Lee Burton books, Robert McCloskey books, the My First Little House books, etc)
- stringing beads
- a first cross-stitch set
- music on an mp3 player with headphones she can listen to (she really likes MMPT, the Flower Fairies CD, Raffi, Wee Sing, etc.)
- Art supplies that were her own (the chunky ones from Crayola, nothing special)
I would keep this aside for school time only. I also made sure to keep toys that were staples (like Duplos) and rotating ones that she would find interesting (like a doll house and all the pieces or a play kitchen and food) nearby so I could direct her to that if nothing else.
It didn't always work, but it did buy us some time!
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3Giftsathome
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| Posted: Aug 30 2012 at 11:17am | IP Logged
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Wow, some wonderful ideas here!! There are times when my youngest could use something like a busy bag like when his siblings are wanting to play by themselves. But when it comes to school time, my 4 year old is asking if he could do more work like his siblings. I bought the Get Ready for the Code A, Get Set for The Code B, and Go for the Code C in addition to the Handwriting without Tears Get Set for School and Letters and Numbers for Me. He loves that he has his own books! He is able to hold a pencil correctly, but if they can't you could always use crayons or sometimes I just have him use his fingers. I also skip what may be more difficult for him. For example, he doesn't always like to write the letters by himself, he would rather do just the tracing. I leave it up to him. Also, i color the key for him when they ask for coloring by certain colors.
Yesterday he was so excited that he knew what to do, he did 10 pages from Get Ready for the Code all on his own while I worked on reading with his brother! He is so proud of his accomplishments (as I am too!!), and to top it all off is how his siblings are praising and encouraging him!
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Mary
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4Real Forums : Nurturing the Years of Wonder
Topic: Independent activities for the littles?
