I've slowly been chipping away at my NY Resolutions-- yay me! Loving that I'm marking these off of my 'to-do' list and I even fit in a date for B&I--amazing! (Thanks SIL, E for watching our monkey while we saw a coveted movie -- on the big screen. Such a treat, I KNOW! :)
I wanted to update my NY Resolutions progress because some of the activities/products have saved my sanity lately. I was really struggling with Isla's moodiness and general defiance about a month ago--normal two year old stuff I'm told. Most days I got up counting down the hours to bedtime--which made me feel terrible. I finally realized that part of my problem was that my kid was just bored--bored of me, bored of our house, bored of being stuck inside....and who could blame her?! I took it as a sort of challenge to find some fun activities that challenged her and kept me sane during her long and napless days. I have loved experimenting with new things to do during the day and they've really helped during this rainy Seattle season (although this week has treated us to beautiful SUN!)
Here are a couple of ideas in case you're stuck in a rut too!
1. Beans in the Bathtub: This was the perfect rainy day activity and Isla loved it. She kept saying "dis so fun mama'- hahahah :) I loaded up the tub with a small container of dry red beans and lots of containers and utensils for her to practice transferring, scooping, etc. She did this activity for almost an hour--amazing!
2. Mini felt board and shape matching: I combined 2 ideas I found on pinterest into one so I could make a travel felt board (perfect with an Elmo cut out- can you tell I did that free form? Ha! Whatever- she loves it :) and shape sorter on the back. I laminated the shapes and put velcro pieces on the board and on the shape. They sell the little velcro circles at the fabric store and I got the felt from Michael's. All you need for the board is a really sturdy piece of cardboard (which is what I used) or a bigger piece of thin wood/foam board, etc
3. Shake&Find Bottles: I bought little kid trinkets from the dollar store (crap I'd never leave her with unattended). I usually say "can you find the dog" and she'll shake it and move it around until she finds what I'm asking about. Sometimes she just uses them as instruments. There are a ton of pinterest ideas online for these. Just remember to let the bottle dry out all the way and hot glue the top (Very important!) For older kids you can take a photo of everything in the bottle that they need to find and then they mark it off as they find it.
4. Window markers: My Mom actually has these at her house for Isla and they keep her busy for quite a while. She loves nothing more than coloring on our big French doors and seems to understand only these markers go on the glass. They wipe off really easy (on kiddos and glass :) and I like the Window Crayons because they're thicker for little fingers to hold and maneuver.
5. Holiday sensory bin: I was going to save this for 2/1 but Isla got into the plastic hearts early so we busted them out today. I put a bunch of little trinkety holiday things (plastic hearts, felt hearts, that old red tree skirt with fun fringe, stickers, heart rings, etc-- all from Michael's) in our laundry basket for her to play with. She ended up dumping them out and loading them up in a bag to carry around--
6. Play-doh and tools: Isla's played with play-doh for a long time and I always used to give her tools from the kitchen to use. Those worked fine but I've noticed more growth from her in trying to work these smaller tools that I'm sure are less frustrating. I got them from Amazon for under $10. Seeing her manhandle that little rolling pin and crimper is fairly impressive :)
7. Eric Carle matching game: I printed these from a free printable I found online. You can find it here. I backed them on brown card stock and laminated them myself. Isla's just getting to the point where she's matching them up (pretty much by color at this point) - they are definitely a challenge for her which is good because they'll grow with her. They also work great for color sorting and an 'on the go' activity! Make sure when you back them the side that 'matches up' is on the edge of the card stock.
8. Matching: Isla loves this matching game I found on pinterest. It's super easy- all I did was pick up animal figurines at Michael's in the $1 bin - I got the big ones but you could use the little pack of figurines too. I found pics online, backed them on card stock and laminated them. She loves getting them out and matching up the animals to their pictures and telling me what their sounds are. Also a great travel game :)
I hope your resolutions are going as well as mine (patting myself on the back!)
xo.
S
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