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Old 09-15-2009, 01:13 PM
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Default Ideas for keeping a 3 year old occupied

My oldest started kindergarten last week, so now Tommy and I are home alone during the day. I want to make sure I'm providing him enough stimulation. I would absolutely love suggestions on good activities. I try to get him to the park (weather permitting) and work on numbers/letters. He plays alone for a while and watches a bit of TV too (I know, bad mommy). I'd like a little more structure around "preschool" type activities. He's not a napper, at all. Thank you in advance!
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Old 09-15-2009, 01:26 PM
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I will be watching this thread too. I have an almost 3yo DD and my oldest just started Kindergarten. I have been making her tag along and help me with my household chores. We do bake/cook something at least 1x per week (usually cookies). We do magic noodles and dance and sing to music and she watches a fair amount of the Fresh Beat Band and Kailan.
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Old 09-15-2009, 01:35 PM
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Follow his lead! What does he LOVE? Naomi LOVES Mr. Potato Head, puzzles, and Pla Doh...so we could spend ALL day doing those things
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Old 09-15-2009, 01:39 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by LenaBrandenburg View Post
Follow his lead! What does he LOVE? Naomi LOVES Mr. Potato Head, puzzles, and Pla Doh...so we could spend ALL day doing those things
I kinda do the same...it helps I have a 1yr old that will play with my 3yr old too so it gives me a little time to be online and such but I'm constantly up/down. We play princesses, kitchen, store, and school all day long along with some craft things here or there.
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Old 09-15-2009, 01:41 PM
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When weather permits we spend as much time outside as we can. My kids help me in the gardens and just play by themselves. In winter we do alot of baking. I also made an indoor sandbox. I took a plastic under the bed box filled it will noodles, beans and popcorn. Then give them some spoons, a funel and a cup. They would play all day in it . Throw a sheet down for easy clean up.
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Old 09-15-2009, 01:56 PM
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PLAY .... READ .... EXPLORE ... that is important at that age.

Everyday life provides lots of ways to learn ... don't fret too much at that age. Reading to your child is a big thing to do to help them learn. Sesame Street helped my oldest learn to read along with me reading a ton to him (he was sick a lot with ear infections his first 2 years). Playing is learning.
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Old 09-15-2009, 01:57 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by dabittymama View Post
I also made an indoor sandbox. I took a plastic under the bed box filled it will noodles, beans and popcorn. Then give them some spoons, a funel and a cup. They would play all day in it . Throw a sheet down for easy clean up.
I LOVE this idea and am totally stealing it once winter comes along!
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Old 09-15-2009, 11:03 PM
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Kristy, that is a good idea to get him involved in cooking and/or chores. He's kind of a climber, so I always try to keep him out of the kitchen, lol, but I could use some help cleaning up the toys

Lena, I always forget about Play Doh ... and we have sooooo much of it! I'm going to whip that stuff out this week, for sure!

Meg, I definitely want to incorporate more crafty stuff into our repretoire. I totally feel like it's hard to keep up with the volume of crafts he did at daycare!

Joslyn, the indoor sandbox is a fab idea! He loves our outdoor sandboxes, both of which are covered. Hopefully he will still be able to use them even when the weather is kind of icky.

Sharon, reading is an excellent idea! Thanks for reminding me!

Laura, holy moly you are on a lot of teams! How on earth do you keep up!!!???
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Old 09-15-2009, 11:08 PM
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finger paint is great. Also I never did it but I heard that shaving cream is fun for kids that age to sorta paint with(like finger painting but not as messy/no worries about clothes being ruined). Oh and one of tehe girls on here let her kids do the fingerpainting thing with pudding which Im sure they loved because they can eat the paint sdewalk chalk is something my kids adored and even now my teenage daughter will play with if there are little kids around to do it with
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Old 09-15-2009, 11:19 PM
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I take Mya to the toddler story time at the library once week. Our library has times for 3-4yr olds too.

Love the indoor sandbox idea!
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Old 09-15-2009, 11:24 PM
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we do the library time too...not so much this year yet b/c Teaghan is kinda hard to keep up with lol..she's just THAT age

We pudding painted last week...both my girls HATED it :0/ just didn't like their hands all messy lol
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Old 09-15-2009, 11:26 PM
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oh and one more thing my kids absolutely LOVED to do at that age was water balloons and squirt guns. Of course that doesnt work so well in colder temps so it might not be feasible for you.
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Old 09-15-2009, 11:29 PM
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I promise last suggestion LOL....you can also do treasure hunts both inside and out. I would take the kids out for a "treasure hunt" and we would search for lizards, grasshoppers, frogs, catipillars and pretty rocks, leaves, pinecones etc. The kids would get the stuff we could take home home and they would share what they liked about them. (the buggies we normally wouldnt take with us because I used to let my son catch the lizards and then one day he had like 30 in a large pickle jar and turned them all loose in the house!!)
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Old 09-15-2009, 11:35 PM
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I just remembered I did Mom and Me soccer classes with Jamin at that age. That sounds right up your little guy's alley.

Also there are tons of things to do with kids around this area, zoo, Children's Museum (Everett and Seattle), Jump Planet, Reptile Zoo, Aquarium. I know stuff like that isn't possible every day, but one special outing a month is nice.

Jamin loves construction stuff, so sometimes we will just pack snacks and sit and watch work at a construction site (from a safe distance). Both my kids like to go feed ducks. There are simply board games that are appropriate for age three; Hungry Hippo, Candy Land, etc.
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Old 09-16-2009, 07:30 AM
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When my daughter was at home last year (she's now in Junior Kindergarten) I worked on doing 'one special thing' a day. Sometimes it was baking cookies or ice pops or pretzels or some food she could have fun with. Sometimes it was an art project - we did fingerpainting on giant pieces of paper, or I'd plunk a pile of fabric scraps and ribbons and whatever in front of her and she'd go nuts just glueing them to paper (turned out really cool though!) Once I cut out shapes of tools, with some real nuts and bolts and paper clips and washers and other random metal pieces and we made 'robots' out of them by glueing them on paper! One of my favourite art projects. Sometimes I'd get some boxes and we'd build things out of them (one Ikea trip gave us some great boxes, so we spent the next week making a rocket ship and space helmets and then a pirate ship... good times!)
We also did storytime at the library once a week, and got together with other moms I know for a playdate in the morning.

I would highly recommend these two books :

Unplugged Play

365 Things to Make and Do
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Old 09-16-2009, 09:05 AM
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There's a photo of the indoor sandbox we did last year!
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Old 09-16-2009, 10:12 AM
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Love this! Sounds like a lot of us are in the same boat! Kyle is going to preschool 2 days a week (just so I can make appointments for me (doc dentist etc) but without big brother he is kinda lost. I have to say I am spoiled having Evan entertain him a lot, so this has been an adjustment, but a good one since he's never had much alone time with me. Love all the suggestions and I am so gonna make that indoor sandbox too. Just hope it doesn't make too much of a mess (he's messy) but oh well the dogs would probably eat it anyway!
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Old 09-16-2009, 10:19 AM
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What about crafts? My son & I did a lot of crafts together before he started preschool this week. We made some fun catepillars out of egg carton containers.

Just cut a row of cups off the bottom, paint them, add google eyes and pom poms. Then you can do pipe cleaner legs & antennas. He loved doing that! We also did some hybrid projects! I printed out some little characters & clothes onto magnet paper, and he loves to arrange them on the fridge like a paper doll.

I also made a chores chart with magnet paper. I didn't make him do chores, but he liked to help me feed the animals, fold laundry, sweep up, small chores, and he kept track of what he did on the chores chart on the fridge.

Have fun!
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Old 09-16-2009, 10:35 AM
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Someone posted this site a few weeks ago. No Time for Flash Cards. It really has some fun craft ideas!
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Old 09-16-2009, 10:43 AM
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Sherri, is he in preschool? There used to be a great program through Green River Comm. College where they had several preschools all through the area that were Co-ops. All of my boys did the one out in Covington. I'm not sure where exactly you live, or how far they extend. I think some of the other community colleges have them as well. Some are on site at the college, and others have different locations. I loved being involved in them, and because it's a co-op, you work once or twice a month in the class so you get to know some of the other moms too. They are all non-academic too, and the kids LOVE it!

I always did story time at the library. For quiet crafts, I always had a big stash of things. I picked up learning toys at Lakeshore...and of course all my paint and art supplies there too!

I did homeschool for years so I did have older ones around to entertain the younger ones though.

I know with winter approaching there, it's hard. There will be some long dark days ahead. I always tried going in to the city a few times a month and spending the day at the Science Center. I also spent many a rainy day at the zoo as well. It was good for me to get outside too, because I have a tendency to just hole up inside my house if I don't force myself to go and do something!
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Old 09-16-2009, 10:43 AM
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I love some of these ideas. We've done the indoor sandbox with rice, but this year I'm stealing your idea and doing pasta and beans.

I've got to say, though, you are all making me feel like a seriously bad mom! I'm lucky if the kids and I can fit in 1 or 2 special activities together every week, never mind every day! And now that Ben's in preschool 4 mornings, it's going to be even harder. (But at least my house might be clean for the first time in 6 years.)
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