Hi,

Sometimes you have those evenings when you don’t feel like leaving your house. We generally either go to the park below the house or drop in at some friend’s house or have some friends coming over.

I watched as my daughter slept and realized that soon she will be awake. Once she was awake, she would be raring to go. I decided to chart out some activities for her. I was extremely surprised that she completed most of them. Yes, that is rare 🙂 as she loses interest quickly in any one activity.

Maybe because they were fast and simple, maybe because they were different things to do or maybe just because it was a good day :). I don’t know which but, she was very proud to show dad everything, when he returned home that night.

I am sure you would know most of these but, when introduced one after the other, they created a curiosity for her to look forward to the next activity that mom had planned. Also, I gave her a sense of urgency by keeping a time limit. I kept talking to her, “Come on, come on, we have to move fast. When we complete this activity, I have yet another surprise for you.”

1) A simple and quick Craft idea.

We had this kit from Alex toys. We made Ellie, the elephant from the paper bag. It was super simple and quick.

You also get foam pre-cut stickers and you just have to paste them right to complete a scene. These have also been absolutely enjoyable to do with my daughter.

There are some very easy and simple books like the one shown below. These also have pre-cut parts and one has to just paste to make the whole picture.

Instead of a ready kit, you could just pre-prepare on any simple craft idea. You can refer our blog for many simple activities. You could also check up ArtsyCraftsy mom’s blog. To order for general craft kit supplies, find our post here.

2) Wipe and clean books

In the recent sale at Crossword, I bought many of these at half the price. I have shown her only one though 😉

So, we did some writing activity. I did it along with her. She would do the dotted words and I would write the word on the blank line.

3) Miniature Coloring

She is just three. When I give her a coloring book, she starts with one, moves to another page or just scribbles and wastes the pages. Instead, I used a waste card paper and cut out the miniature coloring pages from old magazines like Magic pot or newspapers. I just gave her one such card paper with a small drawing. I gave her sketch pens instead of crayons as the image was small. And, I did some of the coloring with her all the while discussing which colors we wanted to give the flower, the dog, the leaves and so on.

4) Story books

Recently I had moved all the books into a cupboard. Now, I placed some in her reading rack. I thought, earlier she had too easy an access to books. I wanted her to miss them.

I think she did because, after the painting activity, she removed a book she wanted and asked me to read it immediately, which we did. 🙂

5) Sticker books

At this juncture, I was tired. After all, I was doing all the activities with her and cleaning up after (and the fact that I am going on 60!) 🙂 so I showed her the new sticker book I had bought for her. Yes, Yes, again at half price in the same crossword sale. This time I told her, I will explain to her and she must do it herself. She was just completing this when Daddy walked in.

Whew!! Relief had come 🙂

We also do some of the following activities on such evenings.

6) Object Painting

Try object painting. Just give her some stones or shells. Give her all the material and she is set to work. Remember to admire her work. Here are some cardboard rolls we colored. They are to be used as bangle holders 🙂 Thread in a satin ribbon and all your bangles along with it. Then tie up the satin ribbon and hang it. Ta da – You have your very own Bangle organizer.

7) Sorting

We love stones so we had bought these lovely fish tank stones some time before. We do this activity many times. She gets her own bowls or plastic boxes from the kitchen and then she sorts them into different colors. We also tried different colored pasta and different colored beads.

8) Treasure hunt

We use these same stones and treat them as treasures 🙂 We take turns to hide the stones in a single room or any limited area, like the play park.

The other one has to search for them and add them to find out if all missing stones have been recovered. It might help to teach observation and counting but, it is thoroughly enjoyable.

9) Threading

I bought some big beads for her and gave her shoelaces. She enjoyed threading them and making necklaces for mom. Keep varying the size of the beads, the size of the threads and even the material. So, once we did this with the Pasta. Similar to the Christmas ornaments we had made as shown above.

Do try out any of these activities and let us know if your kids enjoyed them too. We are always glad to get some new ideas from you too. Have you teamed up with us yet? See here 🙂

Love,

Poornima