Bored? Try These Non-Toy Activities at Home!

My sister Chrissy had another blog post suggestion! She noticed that we do a lot of non-toy activities in our home - trying to reinforce creativity and using their imagination. I must say, going from age 2/early 3 to now 4, it is amazing to see how much their imaginations have grown.

The biggest change is that Conor and Caden went from the "parallel play" to really playing together and coming up with some creative things - remember the "baby tomato" photography blog post?? Hahaha....

So with it being winter, I thought it would be nice to share some of our non-toy ideas.

First, and probably my favorite: Pipe-cleaners, or one-sided Q-tips in a strainer!

Who can forget shaving cream fun?!

For Caden's 100th day school project, we glued together 100 popsicle sticks! I thought it was going to be WAY bigger! Haha

I often let them play with water - and I add food coloring and let them mix it around. The toss in some toys and boats sometimes, but they sometimes just like to watch the colors mix! 

In addition to using water in these bowls, I also use dry oatmeal or panko and let them use their diggers/excavators to scoop everything up and dump it out. This is best for age 3+. Cal still tends to make a mess of it...

Conor has oatmeal

 Caden has panko

 Cal has crushed graham cracker.  I then rotate them around so they can feel the different consistencies for sensory fun!

Bath in a sink? Give them (safe) kitchen utensils instead of bath toys! They get sick of the same stuff every night...

Sure, painting is technically a "toy" - but be creative and have them paint paper cups, toilet paper rolls, paper towel rolls, etc. It's more challenging for them to paint at an angle and the painting process lasts longer.

Cook with the kiddos - actually allow them to do things like crack the eggs and use the egg-beater. So what if you have to wipe up a little mess. They need to learn!

Look at this! Cooking back in July 2017.

I have another idea that I don't have a photo of, because I used to do it when the twins were Cal's age. I think my friend Kristin Z gave me this idea. Make three even piles of playdough in front of you (about the size of a clementine). Place a long piece of spaghetti vertically out of the pile of playdough. Then place ziti on the long spaghetti. Have your child work on speech by saying "put it ON" each time they place a piece of ziti on. This was hugely helpful for C and C!

AND YES, we definitely still do things like play with our Wii. :)

I love this pic of Cal's eyelashes.

I thought you would enjoy! Try something fun this weekend. If you have any ideas for me, please let me know!

xo,
Shaz