{The Adventures Of Play: Easy Activities To Do At Home At Little Or No Expense!}

Whether you are a stay at home mommy or a working parent, I think we can all agree there are times we find ourselves either tired of the usual play things our children play with or our children become destructive trying to find new things to do around the house that are usually less than desirable for us parents. Having a few tricks up our sleeves can really help eliminate boredom during these cold winter days. 

This past weekend was a long weekend with Presidents Day yesterday, but now we have a snow day! Yesterday, I decided I needed to mix-up our morning routine and turn off the TV.  Landen and Caroline enjoyed a fun morning of arts and crafts completed with making their own bagel pizzas for lunch. The snow provided a beautiful backdrop for our play and I must say, time kind of got away from us. Doing activities that not only interest your child but challenges their fine motor development and creativity is always a plus! 

As a teacher and a mom, I am always looking for things around the house I already have to create a new activity. I am a huge fan of Pinterest, but I don't always have the items at home. Running to the dollar store or craft store is not always an easy task with twins so I take the Pinterest ideas and make them my own. Yesterday, I broke into my "birthday" box of supplies and found party hats and other items to make into a new activity.  A few of the photos below are of things Landen and Caroline have received as gifts.  My trusty little helpers tried some new things out and I have to say, the activities I thought would be boring were really exciting for them! 


Easy Activities:

Snack cup or wipe container to push (or hammer) shapes into ..use any small objects (that are safe for your little one)to push into a snack container. My wood shapes were a little too large for a snack cup so I opted for the wipe container. 

 

Tissue box with pieces of fabric to pull out- use different textures. Old scarves, sock. To make it harder use a wipe box. Using a tissue box is a lot easier for smaller children. Caroline was a little frustrated having to "work" to get her favorite pink scarves out of the box. She really had to use her pinchers!

Kinetic sand-amazing!! This sand is truly a wonder and a gift to parents. It's a cross between play dough and sand. You can buy it at the store or find a recipe online.  Our kit came with everything shown below. We store the sand in Ziploc bags and everything goes into the nice kit that the materials came in. Talk about easy clean up!

 

Stickers. Back in college I was a scrap booker. I have kept my stash of goods thinking I would someday use the materials again. My children LOVE stickers.  You can give them a sheet of stickers at a restaurant, church, or in the car and they are content! 

Doodle pad. Caroline calls this her IPad. So far from it, but it means a lot to her! This has been a wonderful gift that Landen and Caroline received at their first birthday. It is an item that has grown with them! 

 

 Ice cube tray with colored Pom Poms-fine motor development. I started off this morning using the ice cube trays I had bought to make baby food in (let's be honest, my husband made the baby food).  I was cooking breakfast and the egg carton was empty and I threw it over on the table with the kids to play with and they enjoyed it. It's nice because it has a "built" in tray to hold the pom poms and you could even put the utensils in and pack it up. I love easy clean up! 

Paint bag! For this activity, I like to use a thicker baggie like a freezer bag.  This helps keep objects you put in the bag from poking through the bag during play. So today, I was out of paint. We used it all yesterday and so I looked around for something I had that would do the trick. I through some modge podge into the bags with some food coloring and let Landen and Caroline choose some items to put in. Some fun things to add are glitter, pasta, buttons, shapes, wiggly eyes, and anything else you don't mind getting rid of! Once you have everything in the baggie you can tape the baggie to the table so your little one can press without the bag sliding all over the table. Plus it will keep your child from opening up the bag and making an unwanted mess!

 

A lot of our homes are filled with those lovely magnetic letters. So pull out the refrigerator and do a sweep of them! You can whip out a baking sheet and have a couple minutes, more if you're lucky, of some piece and quiet.

 

Pony Beads and Pipe Cleaners. These are SO colorful and fun! Start by putting one bead on and securing the end so the other beads won't fall off. Little ones can begin experimenting with stringing beads on (be sure to supervise or use larger items for stringing!) or older children can begin working on patterns. NOTE: Do this activity on the floor-carpet is great. Today, Caroline was working at the table and her beads fell and ricocheted all over the kitchen...glad I had four extra hands to help with that clean up!

 

Busy Blocks. I found these one Christmas at Half Price Books. I think they are more of a two-year-old thing. My kids wanted to eat them before. But, it's always worth a shot. If you have a little one, you could share with him/her the pictures in the book and they could watch you do the puzzle. Regardless, they are neat!

Begin by looking around your house and think of ways your child can use and manipulate items like an egg carton, paper towel roll, or cooking utensils- the safe ones of course.  You never know what you have that your children will absolutely love!!

Feel free to find me on Pinterest! Follow my "Busy Bag" Board for more ideas!