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.

Coloring Fun!

The other day at Joanne's I scored this on clearance! 


The books were missing the dry erase crayons but at 75% off, it was still dirt cheap. And guess what, the crayon packs were also on sale! They normally run around $3-5 a box. The pages are interchangeable and you can even print off your own pages to add to it. 

Is that still too expensive for your taste? Don't worry, I've got your back. Try this easy craft idea for re-usable coloring pages. Pair with any dry-erase marker/crayon and let the coloring fun begin!

What you'll need:
-Skinny 3-ring binder
-Package of clear sheet protectors (make sure they are the really clear ones!)
-A few un-used coloring pages OR activities OR workbook pages of your choice (for optimal coloring make sure the paper fits perfectly into the sheet protectors so it doesn't slide around. If you are cutting from a magazine, glue it to a regular sheet of card stock or computer paper)
-Box of Dry Erase Crayons

Start by loading the page protectors with pages from coloring books or workbook you chose. You could also use a blank piece of paper to serve as a blank canvas! 

Next, load the pages into the 3 ring binder and add a plastic bag to the front of the book so the crayons/markers can be easily stored.  

The box of Crayola dry-erase crayons comes with a little mitt that erases the coloring perfectly, but you could also throw in a soft piece of cloth to make a home-made eraser. Half the fun is just erasing! 

Now, have fun with it! Decorate the front with stickers and put your child's name on it to make it individual.

Here is a quick example of what the inside should look like when put together: