2 year old activities – help!

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  • alice
    Participant

    I am looking for some ideas on how to keep my 2 year old content while I’m doing school with my older ones.  He turned 2 in July, so he’s closer to 2, than 3.  I know because of his age, I pretty much can’t take my eyes off him for more than 10 min or so…but with all the mom’s out there, I figured you’d have some ideas to help me out!
    I saw on another post that someone linked to a website where you put together “preschool bags”.  It looks like a great idea, getting a bunch of games/activites and putting them in bags, so all you do is pull out a bag and let your child play with it.  However, it is intended for children 3-5, and I’m wondering if most of the activities would be too old for my son.  Anything that he can do safely on his own (he’s usually in eyesight, but if I’m actually playing WITH him, that would defeat the purpose of keeping him busy while I do school…lol) is what I’m looking for.  I’m not looking for “learning” activities…just safe things he will enjoy.
    Thanks,
    Alice

    MamaSnow
    Participant

    I’ve found that the best thing to do to keep my ds2 (turned 2 in June, so about the same age as your little guy) occupied while working with dd5 (doing some light kindergarten work this year) is to find something that LOOKS LIKE what she is doing.  For example, we are keeping a little calendar that we glue the numbers onto a blank calendar template each day and he has his own little calendar that he glues things on and scribbles on.  (I don’t try to make him do it correctly at all, just kind of let him do his own thing with it.  He’s happy because it’s the same as what sister is doing.)  When we are doing math, I give him his own little handful of whatever manipulitives we are using.  When we are doing phonics, he has a little lapdesk that is both magnetic and a chalkboard that he can do magnet letters or scribble with chalk on. (Sorry, ours is a really old thing I got at a yard sale, so I can’t link to it or anything.)  We also have a little shelf in our school area with different things he can choose from to play with: simple puzzles, blocks, playdough, a basket of board books, coloring things, etc. I try to rotate them around every so often.   But mostly, I’ve found he’s he’s most content if he has something that looks like what big sister is doing!

    HTH!

    Sanveann
    Member

    My little guy is almost 2, and he’s very happy with a couple of crayons and some paper. (I do have to glance at him now and then to make sure he’s not eating them!) 

    Also, set up a little wooden train track or given him some toy cars, and he’ll happily “zoom” them around for ages and ages. HE also really enjoys putting things in a container (the things and the container both seem to be irrelevent to him!) and then dumping them out and putting them back in again! This could be small toys, blocks, etc.

    My 2yo (June) is a total busy body.  Most things keep her busy for about 2 minutes.  I have to keep my eyes on her 100% of the time. If I leave her to herself for even a minute she will have all the toilet paper unravled or worse!  I did find that she loves math manipulatives. She sits at the table with us and will play with them forever. I give her those and a small plastic cup and she is good to go!  We have the math u see manipulatives and the saxon k-3 ones. She loves the bears the most. I am sure tou could find these things cheeply elsewhere if you dont’ have them.  Also magnetic letters on a cookie sheet.

    Rebekahy
    Participant

    One of my favorite things (as well as ALL of my children) is painting on a chalk board with water – just a small cup of water (or even a sponge) and let them dip their finger in (or paintbrush) and draw on the chalk board.  String sticks to sand paper and can be used to make designs or pictures.  A tub of rice is almost like playing in sand (except WAY easier to vaccum)!  We have an aquadoodle that my daughter will play with for a while.  Of course playdough is great.  A small tub with water and boats will be a huge hit.  We have special toys that I only get out during school time and I only try to let her play with ONE thing at a time – she seems to do better with one thing as opposed to dozens of toys – i think the mess just overwhelms little ones as opposed to giving them more options.  We have wooden puzzles she likes as well as stacking toys.  Because I have a girl – we have magnetic dolls and clothes.  A big fold out tunnel and a tent.  I find the key is to have some type of a schedule so that I take away an activity before she is actually done with it – that keeps it fresh so she wants to do it again at some point, if I let her play until she’s bored then we may have gained an hour that day, but she wants nothing to do with that toy for days afterward, so i’m losing in the end – does that make sense?

    blue j
    Participant

    Mine are no longer this young, but I was watching my nephew until the beginning of this year, and his is 2.  One of the best pieces of advice I was ever given was to make a “busy box” for school.  These are items that are only used during school time.  I included things like sticker books, tacktile books, homemade felt board with various shapes cut out so it could be used to make a real scene or a design could be made by simply using shapes, magnets w/ an old cookie sheet, as well as coloring books and other items similar to those my school age kiddos were using.

    Also while your school age child is practicing handwriting, you might try a tactile bag for your 2 yo so that he can practice his own writing on that.  Just place some tempra paint into a zip-lock baggie, press out any extra air, and viola!  He can use his finger to make his own squiggles that can be erased by simply pressing on the bag… this could also be used for your beginning writers.

    If you have a sand/ water wheel you could get some rice (beans or oats work, too) and various size measuring cups, place the whole lot in a low rubbermaid tub, and allow your little one to play near you.  An old shower curtain laid on the floor with the box on top of that will help to minimize clean-up from accidental spills.  This was actually one of my nephew’s favorite things to do.

     

    ozarkmama
    Member

    I’ve found it quite helpful to rotate my older children in the room with my little one to play one on one with him.  I schedule it into our day, and give them a different activity to do together each time they play together.  It fosters closeness in their relationship, and has the added benefit of extra eyes watching to see if he’s eating the crayons. 🙂  It does take a bit longer to get through lessons this way, but gives the older children a bit of mental break, and the extra 15 minutes a few times throughout the morning can be a lifesaver if you have 2 other children lined up to do narrations.

    NOTE:  By “older” children, I’m referring to my 8, 6, and 4 yr olds. 

    HTH! 

    alice
    Participant

    WOW…thanks ladies!! I read each one and all of you have given me lots of ideas to work with.  I tried the rice tub once, but then had to change it to oatmeal since he was eating it!  🙂  It was a huge  mess to clean up, but it did provide some quiet school time!  I know he’d realy love playing in any kind of water.  I just have to figure out how to contain it well…
    Again…thank you, thank you!!
    Alice

    nerakr
    Participant

    If he wants to play in water, how about putting him in the tub? My 3yo likes to play in water, and after countless scolding about the mess, finally asked to take a bath in the middle of the day. That way she can make a mess all she wants. You could also put a towel or old shower curtain on the floor and tell him he cannot leave that area while he is playing with the water. Or have him stand on a chair or stool at the kitchen sink (provided you have school in the kitchen.)

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