Needing Ideas of Activities to Do with Kids All Day Besides TV

Hi L.-

To make it easier on you, the first thing I would suggest is to go ahead and put the kids favorite shows on the schedule and build the rest of the schedule around that. I know it's sounds terrible to let TV be the center of the schedule, but given your circumstances I think the transition will be easier on the kids if their favorite shows are still a part of their day and it's just the "extra TV" watching that you're eliminating. Once you have that set, fill in naptime, mealtime, and any scheduled activities. Now that you have a basic map of your day start filling in the holes.

Do you have a backyard area or park close by that they can play at while you rest nearby? If so, include outside playtime in the morning before it gets too hot. I would suggest a quiet activity prior to naptime so that they wind down and are ready to nap. Story time is always good for that.

For arts and crafts I would suggest stocking up on the basics (glue sticks, crayons, colored papers, foam stickers, fingerpaints, etc.) and going to Michaels or Hobby Lobby for some unique and usually inexpensive craft ideas for the boys. Buy a plastic party tablecloth to put out on your kitchen table at craft time -- it will save you a lot of headaches.

How about cooking together? It doesn't have to be anything elaborate, you can even just include them in the meal preparation each day.

Good Luck,
K.

Hi L.,
I agree with the good advice you've been given, and I just want to add a few items to your list of new ideas. When my son was the age of your boys, he wouldn't take naps for very long. So in order to give my daughter a nap time, he and I would do quiet puzzles in a puzzle book. Yours are in the pre-reading stage so you could take a notepad and draw a square with diagonal lines intersecting all through it and ask the boys to count how many triangles they can find in the square. Homemade alphabet puzzles are easy to make. You can draw a big capital A for each, let them color theirs, then you cut it into a few pieces and let them put the puzzle together.

My son once spent all afternoon counting how many cars/trucks/vehicles he could find in the house. They can get a spiral notebook and make a journal by coloring a scene about what they liked doing that day. Then you can talk to them at bedtime about all the things in their journal that they liked doing.

keep old toilet paper rolls, empty boxes, bubble wrap, glue, scissors (for the older one, really good coordination tool) crayons, pipe cleaners, envelopes from mail you opened.... and tell then to make something. work reading time into your schedule, maybe a good activity because you are tired, snuggle in bed and read to them, or the older one can read to his level to the others. if you have a hallway where you can close the doors and it is sealed, get beach balls and they have a really good time throwing them around in their "cave." just some ideas... but don't worry about it, just limit the tv and then on to something else. hang in there, you have a great spirit!

Sidewalk chalk is great, cheap fun! In the morning (before it gets too hot)have them draw something outside. Every day you can simply hose it off for the next day. If they have trouble being creative you could have a different theme everyday. Like...create a NEW animal or if you mixed a giraffe with an elephant what would it look like. Or they could do something even more elaborate like drawing a city with streets that they can add some of their toys too including cars and actually play with it once they get it drawn. Something like this could they could enjoy for days. My kids love laying down on the ground and tracing each other and then adding features to draw themselves or create different characters.

I know it can get messy, but my kids loved finger paint and Play Doh. You could keep those as morning activities and just do them ouside to avoid a mess inside. You don't need all the expensive Play Doh gadgets. Just use things you find in your kitchen: rolling pin, dull butter knives, forks, large spoons,and toothpicks.

Hi L.! I know how you feel about this; I homeschool my kids (kindergarten & 2nd grade, also a 2 & 3yr. old), but during this summer we have been moving, and.... well, we have been very much out of schedule and it feels like they either watch movies all day or want to. I'm pulling them back on track now, but it really is easy for thing to go awry when something unexpected happens. I don't have a super structured schedule, but in the morning I have "free play" time, then at some point we will have play doh time, coloring time, quiet reading time (which I love)- I will let them get a stack of books, set the timer for about 20 minutes and tell them no talking only reading during this time. This seems to help calm them down when they're acting crazy. Just try to get some "centers" going- Mr. Potato head, legos, blocks, play food, k-nex. Get them to clean up one before they switch to the other. Maybe you could set a tv limit time, telling them "you can pick 1-2(?) hours a day when you want to watch, then no more." I know this isn't much, but I hope it helps.. I hope everything works out for you! -A.

Hi L.,
I agree with you wholeheartedly that children need a consistent schedule that includes both physical activity as well as intellectual. I have 23 mo old twin boys who were born preemie. I have had them on a daily schedule ever since they came home and if I veer from that schedule, they both let me know it. I also have a handicap that keeps me from being as active as I'd like but we do okay.
Our days go like this:
Breakfast.
An Einstein DVD or something similar to stimulate the mind (if I can get them to stay still and watch).
They play with toys until lunch
Lunch
Pooltime outside (I bought a baby pool that they play in)
They also wander the yard and play
Naptime (if I'm lucky)...if not we go to the playroom and play blocks, or board puzzles, or I read to them, etc.
Dinner
(After that daddy takes over so that I can go to my office and do my work at home job until 10 or 11pm.)
My boys don't ever watch TV unless its a commercial, and I'm trying to keep it that way for as long as I can.
Hope this info helps.....and you hang in there!!
L. L