Thursday, May 16, 2013

Ideas to entertain the kids



We have a 3 year 2 month age gap between our boys; this can make it pretty hard to keep them occupied doing things together. When my youngest was really little (around 10 or 11 months old) I started needing ideas that could keep them both busy at the same time. Mr. K was old enough to be interested (and want to participate) in what his brother was doing, but to young to ACTUALLY participate.

Here are a few of the ways I used to include them both:

1) baking
- I would put Mr. K in his high chair and wheel him over to the work area; give him a snack and some measuring cups and then Mr. J and I would bake.  When we were finished mixing, I would give Mr. K a wooden spoon and let him have a quick mix of the batter.

2) bath time
- I would throw them in the bath together (even if it was the middle of the day) and just let them play; they had a blast splashing around together

3) Pots and Pans
- I would let them haul out all my pots from the cupboard and play "orchestra"; this would entertain them for quite awhile, and when they got bored playing with the pots, they would climb in the cupboard and "hide" from me.

4) painting/crafts
- I would give Mr. K a snack and have Mr. J do the craft at the kitchen table; when Mr. K was finished his snack, I would put some paper on his tray and give him 1 crayon (if he started to eat the crayon, I would switch it up and give him a board book or something else to look at)

5) Forts
- make a fort with your oldest and then they can both enjoy it afterwards

What kinds of things do you do with your kids when you have an age difference to worry about?

5 comments:

  1. Thankfully for us....all 3 boys are within 3.5 years of each other. It makes it insane sometimes, but the activities usually will entertain all 3. The toys are usually suited for all 3. So it's usually just a matter of me managing them all at once.

    Thanks for linking up with the Comment Love linky! You can link up again.

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    1. Thanks for stoppin by Shari; I think it would be easier if they were less than an 18mth age difference...but we have double that so this is what I have to deal with for the next year or so....it has gotten much better, except that the 2.5 yr old thinks he gets to take whatever he wants from his older brother

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  2. My boys love blanket forts as well! It's a great way to entertain them on a rainy day

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  3. Too funny we made a blanket fort this long weekend as well! Came via The Knit Wit comment linky :)

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