New Stay @ Home Mom Need Inexpensive Activities to Fill Day

Dear Mom,

When mine were little we lived in Seattle where the days were short and cold. A group of mom's got together each week for a playgroup. 2 Moms stayed int eh playroom with the kids while 2 mom's cooked together in the kitchen for everyone. We all went home with dinner, had a social experience, and kids had a safe fun time.
Good Luck,

Do you live close to the Nashville zoo? You could get a yearly zoo memebership. Memberships are reasonably priced and you can go as much as you want for an entire year. You can also bring food into the zoo and have a picnic.

Good for you! You have absolutely made the right decision to be home with your kids.
Check your local library for children's story times. Also take your children there to check out some great books. You can easily replace TV time with reading time. For rainy days, try some titles like Animal Action ABC and Barnyard Dance. Ask the librarians for recommendations. Get some books on tape, too.
Also, many churches have mothers' groups (Bible study or fellowship groups) where you can make some great friends for both you and your children.
Do teach your daughter to play independently -- start with just a few minutes at a time.
Get her some puzzles. You can find these at lots of stores as well as garage sales and thrift stores.
Kids this age LOVE to learn. Teach her to recognize the alphabet. Then move to sounds. Teach counting and simple math. At that age my children loved geography. Teach her to cut with blunt scissors.
Is she toilet-trained? This is the perfect age. Try the book Toilet Training in Less than a Day.
Let her bake and cook with you. Give her simple chores. Standing on a stool and sorting clean silverware into the right compartments is fun and a good skill-builder. Have her fold the clean washcloths or help carry clothes to the washer. Get her a toy vacuum cleaner (many of these actually work, though they are not powerful). Let her vacuum when you do. Same with dusting, etc.
There are all kinds of activity books and magazines available. Check your library or parent store. Even Walmart has such items. Take her to the park. Invite freinds over. Build with blocks. Sing songs and get a sing-along tape or CD.
Have fun!!!!!!!!! Hope these ideas help.

Gosh my son was the same way up until about 6 months ago (when he turned 4). I was very frustrated at having to always come up with ways to entertain him and take care of my other 2 children. What worked best was making him my helper. When I did laundry I let him put the clothes in the washer. I filled a dishpan with soapy water, and he "helped" do dishes. When I needed downtime, I would put on music and give him colorful scarves to dance with. I also made homemade playdough for him to play with. He still likes to be in the same room with me, but is starting to play with toys independently. I wish you luck with her, and congrats at making the decision to be a sahm!

Hi A.,
Here is one of my 2 and 4 year olds favorite activities. On rainy days or just bordom days, I put on their swimsuits and let them get in my shower stall. I cive them cheap cans of shaving cream from the dollar store and let them paint the walls and each other. When they are done I just turn the shower on and let them run around in the water to rinse themselves and the walls. The mess is contained and I end up with a sparkling clean shower!
PS I also have a 2 month old so the baby sits in his car seat near the shower and watches and listens to all the giggling and I am able to clean the rest of the bathroom and the bedroom.

A., Have you tried installing a birdfeeder close to a window? I had a daycare for 16 years and always had birdfeeders close to the windows.children love to watch the birds eat, and they also get to know all different kinds of birds. they know when the birdfeeder is empty and will tell you "the birds are hungry" hope this helps. J. Flor

Family Fun magazine is a good source for ideas of all kinds. When my sons were small I had a subscription. I used the ideas for Cub Scout activities, birthday parties, and so many rainy days. I have shared this resource with several others who have found it useful. Playing "dress up" with a little girl is also a good way to occupy her and tap into her creativity. If you have "tea parties" and play "school" or "store" with her stuffed toys and dolls, she too will mimic this activity and play with her "friends" without so much of your involvement. This is also a very good way to emphasize manners and help her practice to interact in the world before she is out there in it.

Check out story time at your local library. Also, Barnes & Noble at Hamilton Place has story time at 11:00 on Wednesday. It is free. They even get a snack (usually cookie and milk) and do a craft (usually coloring)

Join the Creative Discovery Museum. I think a family membership is only about $75 per year for unlimited visits. We went a lot when my kids were little.

Take them to the indoor playground at the mall. I like the one at Northgate better than Hamilton Place but it depends on where you live.

Go to Playworld Down Under. It is not very expensive.

Join the Aquarium. I think it is a little more expensive than the kids museum but worth it.

Some good toys: magna doodle, aquadoodle (like magna doodle but uses water -- NOT the AQUADOTS that were recalled!), a play kitchen and food, little people toys. Check out the local consignment sales for bargains on toys.

Join the zoo. I think it is only about $40 per year.

Hope this helps!

Hello A.

I use to be a daycare teacher for around those ages and I'm a stay at home mom to. The best thing to do is get into a routine, after a while your little girl will get use to it. Do flash cards that have the abc, numbers,shapes, and colors, muisc time, color time, look in the stores for work books for her age range it will help. My little girl just turned 3 and she still hasa hard time doing something for a long periods time. An when it's good weather take her to the zoo and that way you can take your son as well or to the park. Hope this helps.

H.

I am a SAHM to 5 ages 9.15,18.20 and 22. I have been a SAHM since the 22yo was 3.

I started homeschooling when my oldest entered 1st grade and continued through 2005. When the youngest was about your daughters age I discovered http://letteroftheweek.com/ a wonderful curriculum free online. I used this for preschool through K and we loved it. Check it out, it's something you can do perhaps while the youngest one is napping or playing nearby.

Kids even her age, do well with routines. Make her a chart...we get up at 7:00, eat breakfast, play with mega blocks/etc, read, whatever you want on the chart. Kids get in less mischief when they don't have lots of free time on their hands. I'm not saying to run her in the ground, just direct her more through the day. She does need lots of free/creative time because she is young. But this curriculum doesn't take a lot of time each day & it has been my personal experience, that when the board comes out, they are ready to go.

Enjoy being a SAHM, it is the best, hardest, most challenging thing I've ever done and I would not trade one day for all the money in the world.

Try your local library...many have preschool programs once a week with storytime and other activities. They may also have a children's area with computers, puzzles, and -of course- lots of books! (We also frequent McDonald's and Chick-Fil-A playgrounds!) Also, we attend a twice monthly MOPs (Mothers of Preschoolers) group. I don't know where you live, but we attend the one at First Baptist Church in Pelham. MOPs has a website where you can find the closest group to you. Good luck!

It is great to play games with her too. You can even let her help bake something (mixing and such) since you love to cook. Incorporate your love of cooking and things into her activities. There are a lot of learning games too. I just quit my job in December to stay at home full time and Home school. I am always looking for fun things to do. Check out a lot of websites for fun ideas. Good luck.

Allissa,

I saw that you like to cook, sew, entertain, and love music. Just a few Ideas: Make up songs and let her watch you dance and act silly to the music. Pop in Elmocize (the one with Cindi Lauper) and do the workout with your child (it is a workout believe it or not). Talk out loud when you are cooking or sing and dance and add ingredients. Let her help you put the laundry from the washer to the dryer or from the laundry basked to the washing machine. Get her to "help" out by throwing the dirty diaper in the genie or in the trash. All three of my girls love to be my helpers. When they feel like they are "helping" too much, she will eventually realize that the toys in her room are a lot more fun and spend more time with them. Also...BABY FIRST TV is the best 5 buck a month I gladly spend from DirectTv, Baby boy will like too.

Best of all....they are all cheap :-)
M.

Oh, and tea party lunches!

Since you like to cook and love music...dancing around with them would be fun for awhile...and you could find some kids "cook" books that don't involve dangerous stuff. Also, you may want to try each of the things you mentioned (coloring, reading, etc.) for short periods multiple times throughout the day. And how about taking them in the stroller while you walk (even at the mall on cold days)? Also, the carousel at Coolidge Park is fun and you might be able to fit all three of you on one of the benches that's stationary. I've heard great things about Kindermusik and the library behind Northgate Mall has a story time on Tues afternoons. I don't have any experience with this because my daughter is only 3 months old but those might be possibilities!

How about going to www.momsclub.org It is a non-profit, national stay-at-home moms club. We have something going on almost every day mon-fri in my club in Huntsville. I looked on the website and it shows 2 clubs in Birmingham. Which club you would contact would be based on your zip code, which is listed on the website. Good luck!

I am part of a mom's grp that meets up daily and a lot of what they do is like walk at the mall, parks, story times at the bookstore and zoo, we also go to the aquarium and creative discovery museum and playworld and such .. that's how i keep my almost 22 mth old entertained a few days a week

Welcome to the world of being a stay at home mom, it is wonderful, but there is not much to do that doesn't cost money. Here are some things we love to do: visit the park, take a walk and make it like a scavenger hunt, visit other stay at home moms with children our age, go to the library for story time and to pick out books, visit a local bookstore and spend a few hours in the kids section, visit the pet store and talk about all the animals, play with sidewalk chalk, paint with non-toxic finger paints and water colors. We have also invested in some inflatable jump around items that are tons of fun in the warmer months and although it is a larger investment at first I know it saves money in the end because we don't spend as much at Chuck E. Cheese and places like that. Hope this helps!

I have a suggestion for ya, take her to Sci-Quest which is located at 102 Wynn dr #d behind Calhoun community college. The ph # is ###-###-####. She would love it there. The annual fee is either $55 or $60 and that was a year ago and we were members for a couple of years in a row. It's a hands on science center for kids. She would be learning and having fun at the same time. Our son would spend hours there and never wanted to leave.
Good Luck

Try getting a bunch of empty boxes. They are fun to crawl though, sit in, ride in, or build with. Try finger painting. You can let her to it in just her diaper. How about painting with pudding if your afraid she might eat it. Or put her in the bathtub with shaving cream. You can even add a little food coloring. You can fill a plastic box/tub with rice, beans, or noodles. She can use shovels or cups to practice pooring. Check out familyfun.com they have lots of fun ideas.

Include your child in your passions. When you're cooking, let her help you stir, mix, smell spices, etc. My 2 year old loves to do whatever I do: help with laundry, cook, dust, sweep, etc.

Hi A. -

We have four boys so we are always outside. We meet friends at different parks around town to play. My favorites are Cahaba Lily ( Helena), the girls softball park off Al Sier RD (Hoover) and the Riverchase Neighborhood Park. I like them because they all have clean restrooms. Let me know if you ever want to meet up with us. Living in the South we can usually bundle up and be fine even on cold days :)

The public library is a great place for moms. We can exercise our brains, enjoy some peace and quiet, meet other moms during the reading programs and activities put on by the library, pick up a new hobby, etc. And it's FREE

Have you tried www.meetup.com? It's been a life-saver for me. My kids are always very happily content after a playday :)

I have a 3 1/2-year-old son and a 21-month-old daughter. I'm also a stay-at-home mom and I, too, really suffer when the weather is bad because my kids love to be outside more than anything else, although they will let me read to them all day if I'm willing!!

You said you like to cook. Both of my kids like to sit on the counter in the kitchen and "help" me cook. My son wants to stir, but even my 21-month old likes to hold wooden spoons and stick them into stuff or even just watch. (Just have to keep an eye on her so she won't fall off -- or get into the cupboard where I keep the glass dishes!) If your kids like music as much as you do, you might invest in some kids' CDs or even videos. My kids love to listen to music and "dance" around the room when it's on. Megablocks are a great toy -- even my daughter will sit and put them together and pull them apart for a while. They are also a good way to teach about colors and even start learning a bit about counting. When I'm writing thank-you notes to people, I give the cards to my son after I've written the note and he "writes" his own thank-you note on the other side with his crayons. You might have your daughter "write" letters to important people in her life -- grandparents, whatever -- and go ahead and mail them. They would probably love to have some new artwork for their fridge. Put a blanket on your living room floor, give her a few Cheerios or goldfish crackers and let her have a picnic with her stuffed animals. My kids also will play with a simple cardboard box for hours, or, alternatively, drape a blanket over a few chairs and let her play "house" inside. ...

I'm a 38 year old stay at home mom and I have a 22 month old little girl. The transition from career woman to stay at home mom was very difficult for me. Although, I am now well adjusted and loving it. (don't miss the work stress one bit!) Anyway, although TV is not how you want to entertain your small children, some Baby Einstein Videos are very educational. I'm amazed at how much my daugher has learned from watching them. I use them when I need to clean house, do laundry and/or simply prepare dinner. I've also located the nearest fast food restaurants with indoor play areas. Works out great on rainy days!

Best of luck,

L. D-C