The same thing is on all parents’ minds! What can we do to keep the kids entertained while we are all inevitably stuck at home? Life with one toddler, let alone THREE, is similar to running your blender all day long, without a lid, and trying to eat the smoothie and clean up at the same time. No matter how many new ingredients are added, there is still a mess!
How will I survive a few weeks or months in quarantine, until the impending health danger has passed?! Or outside of the worldwide pandemic, how does one get through a whole winter when stuck inside? For us, it means finding outlets for our three toddlers to play creatively and stay engaged and entertained until we can once again venture back out, safely, into the world.
Christmas themed arts and crafts aren’t always super messy or complicated to prepare for! For example, a bag of gumdrops and box of toothpicks is all you need to construct tiny houses, make shapes, or let the kiddos come up with their own creative ideas.
Want to do some food decorating without the major mess? Flip ice cream cones upside-down and cover them in green icing; a few sprinkles and the kids can create custom Christmas trees to display for the holiday season.
Stuck at home with a bunch of rambunctious toddlers? Here are some fun activities you can try!
Toddler Crafting
Put dabs of several paint colors in a Ziploc bag and tape them to the window! This allows for clean free painting that shines wit the light from outside. The girls enjoyed it for a few minutes!
Tape up a window into different sections and use washable paint to create a mural. We aren’t quite old enough for this yet, but i might just do this one for myself!
Make edible building blocks- check one idea out here.
Or try making fizzy blocks that will wow the kiddos, available here.
Mini Games
My girls are not into TV shows or movies yet, but they definitely have a love of music. Scanning through YouTube, we play recent hits as well as oldies and children lullabies and songs. Impromptu dance parties are an excellent way to burn some energy, and you’d be amazed how many steps you can do on the Fitbit when lugging a toddler around with some dance movies.
Do a workout video on YouTube! There are so many to choose from. See if your kiddo will mimic a yoga pose, do jumping jacks, or whatever other activity you find while doing them yourself!
Pull up the living room rug, move the furniture, and break out all the toy cars: car racing, driving, and smashing will bring out some smiles.
Fun Foods
Food coloring is your friend. Make bread or pancakes for breakfast and use different colors! Dye pasta noodles and make rainbow spaghetti for dinner; use bow-tie pasta and pick a new color to cook in. The possibilities are endless!
Try making your own edible play dough!
If you have flavored yogurt in the fridge, try making homemade yogurt melts! They are very popular in our house, super quick to dab onto a cookie sheet and freeze, and delicious to eat.
The beauty of motherhood is not in the freshly pressed shirts and smiling photos we show the world. The beauty of motherhood is in the folds and creases of our lives, the grimaces and tantrums, the moments when we have to grit our teeth to get through, when we pound on the windows and yell and scream and demand better of each other and ourselves.
Robyn Passante
Tips for Adult Sanity
While keeping the kids busy and happy is essential to life at home, don’t forget to do a sanity check on yourself (or spouse) to ensure they are doing alright. I don’t have any issues staying home for a number of days in a row; in fact, the two months of modified bed rest taught me a great deal about myself, how I could stay entertained and “busy,” while growing three babies. On the other hand, my husband is not one to sit around and stay at home. Through all of the current “hunker down” rules, he requires some kind of outlet to get through it. So make sure to check in!
A lot of people are using time at home to do things that are typically harder to accomplish when one works full-time out of the house, like potty training. I, for one, would love to accomplish this with my three, two-year-olds while we survive through this, BUT, they aren’t quite ready to tackle it yet. So why force it if they aren’t ready? Causing more stress during an already stressful period won’t help the cabin fever or regular frustrations when dealing with young kiddos. Do what works for you to get through it!
And, if at the end of each day, you are just so done, make sure you have some ice cream…or my personal favorite, edible cookie dough, available.
As spring moves forward, I will add fun activities as I come up with them.
Stay safe ❤
🙂
The Douglets 