Keeping Toddlers Busy

Most days we go somewhere during the day. It's nice to get out of the house and I find the girls are much happier that way too. The problem is, they've gotten used to it. With it being so incredibly cold and having the possibility of lots of snow any given day, staying home some days needs to be an option. 

So, this crafty mama get herself on pinterest and searched for some toddler activities. 

Around the time we got our Christmas tree I made the girls their own tree out of felt. I hoped this way they would play with their tree rather than ours since we didn't gate it or make it inaccessible. I cut out ornaments out of felt and we decorated. No Velcro needed, the ornaments stuck to the tree. The girls loved pulling the pieces off and putting them on. It really was a big hit! I've also seen this idea done with a jack-o-lantern and snowman so it's not christmas specific. 

This week I jumped back on this idea of having structured activities for the girls during the day. 

The next activity was buttons. I went to AC Moore and bought a bunch of fun buttons. I bought a variety pack and then also 2 small packs of cat and dog buttons since those are familiar things that Lucy and Clara recognize. Then I bought little bottles. The idea was to cut a slit in the top of the bottle and have the girls put the buttons in. I have yet to be fully successful with the slit so we just took the tops off. Lucy and Clara have seriously spent hours putting buttons in and dumping them out. This is obviously a highly supervised activity, but they love it!! 

Even though we cloth diaper and primarily use cloth wipes, we also buy disposable wipes ones for on the go. I definitely learned the hard way (maybe too many times) that the girls loved pulling the wipes out. They once got their hands on a box of tissues and they pulled them ALL out. So, I used old wipes containers and made them a toy. I took odds and ends of fabric and ripped it into strips. Then I knotted the ends together and made a long string of fabric. I stuffed the whole thing into the wipes container and then pulled the little end out of the top. Now the girls can pull out "wipes" to their hearts content. Definitely a big hit!  

I have more ideas on the horizon but I'm trying to limit them to one per day maximum so I don't use up all of my ideas despite my excitement. It's amazing how some of the best "toys" are once that are homemade, easy, cheap, and occasionally even on-hand.