How to keep children entertained?

For all you stay at home mammas, what are some things you did with your younger children to keep them entertained, other than watching tv? TIA

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Crafts! We do so many crafts in my house and board games

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Puzzles, coloring books, sidewalk chalk, bikes, ride ons.

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My 6 year old games my 2 year old is a mini terrorist so hes to busy getting into everything and my 1 month old sleeps lol

Puzzles, board games, coloring books, play doh, go outside, music with dancing, baking, crafts, let them help with cleaning

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Kinetic sand keeps my 3 year old quiet for hours

Homemade playdough, coloring, puzzles, play outside, toys in general, games

Park, swimming, games, crafts, reading, hide and seek, puzzles, baking, hikes, library, children’s museum, zoo, play time in the bath…

Well I only have one and lately we are outside mostly all day. only come inside to cool off.

Nature quests(looking for bugs, cool leaves and other stuff)reading, crafts(cutting paper, making things from toilet paper rolls), painting, drawing, cooking together, puzzles, play doh. Sand box, water beads, playing with toys together

Sensory bins for my 3 yo

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Games,
Letters, shapes, practice writing,
Science experiments
Dress up
Crafts
Learning to cook
Reading

Montessori toys, puzzles, books, games, Pinterest has some great ideas.

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Crafts, coloring, blocks/Legos, fake kitchen, Play-Doh, puzzles, park, painting

Bikes, hiking, coloring, play doh, the lake, park, music, playing outside, games, puzzles.

I used to tape a whole wall, about 3-4 feet high with blank sheets of paper and have them paint or color all over it, crafts, walks, we would go through coin jars and have scavenger hunts to find “the valuable ones”. There’s lots of ideas online too!

My youngest girls are 4 and 5 and play outside in the dirt and mud, ride 4 wheelers and side x sides

My daughter loves to sit and paint with watercolors. I just make sure to have some and a sketch pad on hand. Play-Doh and stacking blocks. My daughter is 3

We make pretend packages and wrap them up. Then play a package delivery game. It can be a simple toy or book. They just enjoy opening them up.

We practice our letters and numbers using sidewalk chalk

Things like ABC Mouse, to get their basics down

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Play kickball outside, ring toss game outside, play catch with a ball outside, go to a park to play.

Hiking, being out in nature, going on little “adventures” to new places even if it’s just a different playground lol. We’re out a lot when the weather is nice.

When inside my daughter loves to watch and help with cooking, painting rocks and bird houses for her garden, dancing and animal documentaries lol

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Colouring and drawing, playing outside , go somewhere like the library or park or even a walk. Have them help you cook. Books, playdoh… this question depends on their age too I guess. Tell them to play with each other if there are multiple :crazy_face:

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My little girls loves doing anything I’m doing :blush: so I let her help me with whatever I am doing (example: if I’m moving the laundry over from the washer to the dryer - I let her load it by handing her the clothes and then she gets to push the button or if I’m making her eggs for breakfast I let her sprinkle in the cheese) her confidence and pride soar when she “helps out”.
I try to stay away from tv (if we do it’s usually Sesame Street one hour per day, unless it’s raining or she is sick) and it’s amazing to watch my daughter’s imagination go with just music on - I play all different kinds too!
I talk to her/explain what I am doing constantly so that she can learn…
Bubbles are a big deal over here!
Playdoh
Play “makeup”
Stickers
We put music on and dance quite often!
Coloring books
I paint her toes
Kinetic sand
Markers on rocks
Painting
We have a box that she plays in and gets to “decorate” with stickers and she loves it!
Dry erase placemats with numbers and letters (from Michael’s)
Slime
We read at least 5 books a day
Sidewalk chalk
Bake/decorate cupcakes
Playground
Buckets of water/water station outside
Run through the sprinkler
We make forts/tunnels with blankets
Park/playground
We swing outside
Pick flowers/look for bugs
We go for walks and she (counts the stop signs, looks for flags, colors of cars/houses etc)
Aquarium
Flash cards (she tells me the word that describes the picture and we make it a game)
Zoo
We make “happy mail” to send to grandmas and grandpas
Library
She has a mini trampoline inside ($30 at Walmart)
Splash pads
We wave at planes, cars, birds etc. and look for the moon every night before bed.
Finger paints/or I let her pick something small to paint at the dollar store. The paintbrush helps with fine motor skills and dexterity.
(I try to go to the dollar store every few months and stock up on random things to keep her busy and pull them out when I am out of ideas or energy)

I hope this helps!

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Art, light cooking and cleaning, nature walks collecting rocks, singing, dancing, sports, gardening, taking care of each other and the animals, literally everything can be fun and a game to children.

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Lots of coloring, painting, outside time

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I went down the Walmart aisle in the school section and just bought everything. We do finger painting and chalk and ABC activities etc. Pinterest is your best friend

Puzzles, Play-Doh, coloring books, blank paper, markers/crayons/colored pencils. Legos. Bubbles…

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Throw them outside and enjoy my life.

I’m just playing, I don’t enjoy my life. But going outside is always the best option

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Puzzles, coloring with crayons, markers (or Wonder markers), drawing, crafts, reading books, letting them play with toys. Let them help make their snacks.

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Just allow them to help you with whatever you do… they have a blast and learn so much without realizing it

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My kids used their imaginations when I was busy cooking and cleaning. I could not nor was I going to entertain them all day long.

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Read to them, sing, go for walks.

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Play doh, blocks, sand or water play, Painting or coloring, ripping or cutting paper, singing and dancing. I also have a wall to work on some daily learning and worksheets to practice writing. ( p.s. don’t judge my calender. If you look closely the other numbers are currently in the vent on the floor. I guess my 19 month old thought they looked better in there)

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My daughter is 4 and we have no tables/ phone exposure at all and 30min of TV per day! She’s never had screen time.

We have an arts and crafts table and art cart that’s she can go nuts with when supervised. I use dollar store plastic table covers and thrown everything away when we finish. We also do…

  1. Playdoh
  2. Jello dig
  3. Sensory zip lock bags (with shaving cream, orbits, etc)
  4. Practice pouring in the sink or bathtub for easy clean up with food color water and a tea set
  5. Pop up Tents on Amazon for $30
  6. Dig outside, mud pies and bug finding
  7. Help mom wash dishes - play in soap
  8. Help mom sweep and mop the floor- a favorite for both of us
  9. Roller skate in the house
  10. Slip n slide in the house - a little soapy water on the floor with socks (we have Tike floor throughout)
  11. Help mom cook
  12. Help mom bake
  13. Read books
  14. Play with toys
  15. Build cities with blocks
    Literally soooo many things to do I could go on. My kid has a wonderful imagination and honestly she doesn’t care to sit in front of the idiot box!
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Color, board games, explore the yard, practice school stuff counting, reading writing. Do an age appropriate Bible study, work in the garden,

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Interact and play with them

Blow bubbles, plant cheap flowers they can water and watch grow and bloom, go for walks and play I Spy on the walks.

read stories, play games with them, do a craft morning/drawing go out and collect leaves flowers etc and glue them on paper (part of craft day) make playdough

1 hour of cocomealon
1 hour of art time
1 hour of abc time
12:00 nap
1 hour counting time
Then outside time when siblings come home at 3:00 for one hour I feed her like she in school and give a snack once a day

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Be creative, I used to make flowers and cut papers and now my daughter is very creative with making her dolls outfit.

Mr 8 month old and i just had heaps of fun with a dish of jelly that id put some toys in and then let baby go for gold digging for them and squishing the jelly.

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Paint, play doh, kinetic sand, legos, read books, coloring, random art projects, play outside, scavenger hunts theres so much to do! Just have to be creative. We have random dancing a lot to
:joy:

Painting, drawing, arts and crafts in general, lego building, play do, go for walks, parks,
Puzzels, books - so many things to do

I used to play music and sing to my kids. We used to go to the library and I would let them pick out a couple of books each and we would sit down and I would read to them. I would let them do my hair. It would look pretty strange when they were done, but they loved it. We would watch for special movies or TV shows that were going to come on and get boxes for them to make cars out of with their crayons. They would put their bed pillows in them, sitting on end as backrests and play drive-in movie. I would pop popcorn and have pop for them. We would get plain paper and colored pencils and they would draw pictures for the fridge door. I had magnets to put them up with. We’d trade them out every week. We’d save the old ones in the top shelf of their bedroom closets. We would make up stories to tell each other. We’d play with their toys together. And I would encourage the two of them to play together. It didn’t work out too well because they didn’t get along, so I’d step in and break up the fight and we’d get a nap then maybe go to the park and they would play on the playground equipment and have a ball. Then it would be home for supper, a bath, TV, and bed. You don’t have to do ALL of those things every day. But I always picked out a few. And we had a pretty good time. I still had time for housework and the kids got their naps in. It was good.

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Have them help you with whatever you are doing, really young kids get a kick outta the smallest tasks and even if it makes you take a little longer it keeps them in your sight while you’re still getting stuff done and secretly teaches them how to do normal everyday things. Otherwise the standard coloring books, finger painting, Play-Doh, blocks, ect.

Making “spaceships/boats” any box large enough to fit a kid in, keep it. Give them markers, stickers, glitter, etc. Anything at all they want to use to decorate it. I’ve done this since my now 5 year old was a baby and it’s still one of her favorite things to do.

cheap plastic shallow rubbermaid tote and get different baby safe things to make a DIY sensory box. i.e. instead of sand you can crush cheerios that way it’s edible if your kiddo likes to shove everything in their mouth lol
flowers cut out of foam, water with food coloring in it to color it, cheap little dollar store animals. There’s a bunch of different setups you can do

We play outside a ton. Water table, kiddie pool, swing set, trampoline, little slide, water guns, chalk. We go to our local splash pad a lot during the summer too. Local parks or trails if your near any lakes. Car rides. And oddly enough my son loves to go to Walmart. :joy:

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