Ways To Keep Toddlers Busy

I came across this wonderful blog post about 20 ways to keep her 2-year-old busy and thought I would add a few to the list! My son is 19-months-old and busy as a butterfly so I've come up with a few ideas lately that switch up our routine and keep him busy without sitting him in front of the TV.

1. Paper plate coloring. We use paper plates and triangle crayons. The great thing about paper plate is they have an edge built in so it keeps them from coloring on the floor/table! Plus he thinks it's way more fun than regular paper. Sometimes I throw some cereal on there and he incorporates it in his scribbles while munching. He also loves stacking and un-stacking the plates.

2. Flash card hunt. I bought flash cards from the 99 Cent Store that have very basic pictures on them (Cat, Dog, Hat, etc.) and I picked out the ones he loves. I then put them all around on the floor and ask him to go find me the cat. He looks around at all the cards and (often with trial and error) brings me back the cat, meowing as he goes.

3. Home-made Water Table. (Definitely needs supervision but perfect for a hot day) Get a bunch of pots of different sizes and some smaller non-breakable dishes (like Tupperware) and some bath toys. Put them all out on the porch and fill up the bigger buckets with water. My son loves splashing around in water and dumping it into the other buckets.

4. Two things I do to keep my son out of my hair when I am cooking or cleaning are putting on music (he loves dancing) and letting him play in a special cupboard in the kitchen where I keep non-breakable and fun items he can sit at and play with. Sometimes I keep that cupboard child-locked like the rest of the kitchen so it's more special to play in when I'm cooking.

Keepin' It Clean - Vinegar Style

I will be the first to admit that I am awful at cleaning. The dishes almost always sit in the sink longer than my family likes and the counter-tops are lucky if I take a wet paper towel to them. It's nothing I'm proud of and always something I'm trying to work on. I keep seeing this vinegar + water trick on Pinterest and thought it might be time to give it a try...since cleaning the microwave is high on the list of "least favorite chores". And guess what? TOTALLY WORKS! I did still have to use some post-vinegar cleaning but everything wiped off so smoothly!

So, without further ado...here are the three steps to cleaning your microwave with vinegar.
- Pour 1 cup vinegar (into a 2-cup measuring cup or bowl) then add one cup of hot water to that.
-Place measuring cup in the microwave, set your timer for approximately 10 minutes and turn it on. 
-After 5-10 minutes (this will depend on how powerful your microwave is) CAREFULLY remove the cup (as it will be HOT) and wipe out the inside with a wet rag. 

And while we're on the subject, I ran into this super fun website: 1001 Uses For Distilled White Vinegar! Who knew there was so much magic in such an innocent looking bottle?