Okay, all you super moms! Seriously...I'm feeling like LAM-O mom over here... I need to figure out a schedule with my kids--these snow days have killed me and shown me just how lazy I really am. Anyways, what do you do with your kids to pass the time on Saturdays or Sundays? --IN THE WINTER? I need mega help. With Svend gone we just end up in front of the TV... anyways, please ideas are WELCOME!
Also...what do you do in between the end of school and dinner time?????? then after dinner???? Can you tell I'm really struggling here?!?!?!?
7 comments:
Games. Especially when Tyler is down for a nap.
Playdough. At the kitchen table with silverware and cookie sheets.
painting.
Cleaning chores. (bathroom) Hailey scrubs the toilet, andrew does the mirrors, etc. Put on some music and have a good time.
hide and seek.
Cook something the kids can help with. measure things, stirring something. And then they can eat it!
I usually wait until 3pm to let them watch a movie.
Story time.
Hey there! I feel the same way often, especially with our winters that keep us cooped up! I found this idea of a activity jar and we always have fun with it! (http://thedailydigi.com/jar-of-fun/) They include a list of 100 activities- you should get a little mileage out of that! :)As for evenings, they are sometimes the hardest part of my day! Luckily Mike is often home in time for me to start dinner, but when he isn't I set Cash up in the high chair with "appetizers" and get out the play dough or have the girls string cheerio necklaces if they aren't distracting themselves! Good luck!
I am horrible too trust me. But since we are enjoying all these Midwest snow days too we have come up with a few things.
1- we made a junk art center for the girls. Layla loves to make crap and it drives me nuts. But it keeps her busy. We got a tubset with draws we had stashed away and put everything in it. Old stickers, lunch sacks, puff balls, construction paper, pipe cleaners, crayons, scissors, glue, string, and anything else I could find cheap or in my old stuff. We give the girls art time to make stuff. They are better at cleaning up after a bit of time but the mess is worth it.
2- we do "movie theater" basically TV can't be totally taken out but we made it a bit more useful. I cut out fake money (just squares with numbers) for the girls. I gather a few snack ideas and drink options and lay them out. The kids earn money by cleaning up (this works great after the art activity). They have to purchase snacks and movie tickets with there earned money. I let them out it out and pay like a real theater. Good for working on math.
3- board games we play a lot and card games. That way I can sit instead of playing Barbies
4- puzzles the dollar store has good ones
5- computer games- the girls play at barbie.com nickjr.com Disney PBS starfall.com and the les friend site. It probably isn't the best but at least they work on computer skills. Layla has a computer class at school because we have our map tests online. She is scoring better now that she is efficient with the computer-- mommy rational
Those are a few hope it helps. Also the girls get to cook more.basically they make waffles a lot but they feel big.
I don't have any great ideas. We are feeling so snowed in here without too much snow, but it's cold / snowy / icy to go outside when we don't have a backyard to play in. I am going crazy!!! We spend a lot of time reading - like hours every day. I start going crazy, but the kids love it. We cook together, too, and do "crafts" - Andrew never has any interest in doing what I want and always makes up his own thing, but whatever. But I give him our craft box and he can interest himself for an hour. I want some good ideas too.
We like to go walk around the mall or go to the play area at the vernon hills mall. Or on Saturday hit up Sams or Costco and get samples. And then between school and dinner (not that maddie is in school... but those hours) I usually just have Maddie play by herself. We dont turn the TV on until after dinner usually. I let her watch a movie in the morning and then she is content just playing by herself. You could also come up with activities with the kids and then like put them in a box and each day they get to pull an activity out of the box for them to do. You could do crafts or just playing together or things like that. I can only imagine how hard it is for you with svend gone and having 3 kids while being pregnant! I have a hard enough time with just trying to entertain Maddie :)
well... it is hard to get away from the sucking vortex that is tv. we got rid of that and so without the temptation, we all just find other things to do. the boys just play with their toys or we make something in the kitchen or play a board game... as in, play with the pieces not an actual game. :) if they know they can't have a movie or tv, they'll find other ways to keep themselves busy. this usually means mega clean up for me later, but it's better than sitting around staring at eachother. my kids like when i pour rice into a sheet pan and they can drive their cars through it. books... lots of books. playdough and seashells keep them busy. sticking anything into playdough actually. filling up the sink and letting them 'do dishes' is always a hit. cotton balls dipped in paint for a picture, or stuck onto paper with glue. good old fashioned coloring books and crayons or watercolros. and jessica, you have 3 1/2 kids... cut yourself some slack! you don't have to entertain them all the time. let them entertain themselves.
My kids get really whiney on Sundays, which you can imagine how much I love that. We got this idea from the Friend to make a Sunday jar, I let the kids write down a list of ideas of appropriate things to do on Sunday and we put them in a jar. They came up with, read a book, call grandma, visit a friend who needs help, make a treat for someone, plan FHE lesson, serve a family member, let them be creative! Then when they get bored we say, "let's do the Sunday jar" and that really helps. The first time Lucy picked visit a friend, and it was so inspired, I had a friend who just had a baby and we brought her cookies--it was great for both of us!
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