Welp, this quarantine has been something else! My husband and I were just chatting recently at how crazy it is that most people are now working at home and having to juggle that and their children.

Since not a whole lot has changed around here on my end (besides trying to keep the kids quiet during my husband’s conference calls upstairs) I figured I would share some activities/toys we have been playing to keep busy while we are forced in the house during this time.

First off, I shared this routine a couple months ago and it could be an extremely helpful tool for other SAH Moms/Dads and also those who have just become a stay at home parent during this time. Now is the perfect time to get your child following a routine if they aren’t already doing so since we are home and don’t have a ton of obligations to tend to (I am starting to strongly consider potty training our two and a half year old son because heck, we have no where to go!)

We follow this routine for Baby T EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. I love it because I know what to expect and I get the vibe that he knows what to expect too! If you are working from home and need some pockets of quiet time to yourself, I hope this can help you achieve that! The key again is to not give up – I would say it took us a solid week to lock it down – but you can read all about it here.

Activities

Here are some activities we have been enjoying around here. My toddlers are ages 2 and 4.

RELAXING/MELLOW PLAY

Card games

My daughter has been obsessed with playing “Go Fish” and literally has a phenomenal win streak!

We have these playing cards

Basically, I would suggest anything Jumbo with characters they could easily describe and/or ask for.

Magna-Tiles

We were gifted these at Christmas and my Son is OBSESSED!! My daughter loves these too, but I particularly love watching my son’s brain work as he creates different structures!

I might order some more tiles so he can build even bigger things – as if we need any more toys, but this one is TRULY a winner!!!!

Jumbo Puzzles

My daughter loves doing floor puzzles. We have a couple we rotate through. My son (2) is starting to find them interesting, but he is not there quite yet.

Music on Alexa

We have been jamming to the Frozen II soundtrack recently, but other stations we enjoy are the Disney Movies playlist and Today’s Country Music. We will generally listen to music when we are playing Play Doh or painting in the kitchen.

We also have some solid dance parties to burn off some energy! The kids just love spinning, moving and jumping all around! I have found myself choreographing a couple dances for them to follow – I am probably having more fun than they are…

Paint/ Stickers/ Art Bin

Not going to lie, I try and wait to pull out the paints until my son is sleeping because he can be messy – but I am trying to not care as much about the mess during this time and allow them to have fun!

I also purchased a bunch of art supplies and sticker packs from the Dollar Tree a while back and I just let them do whatever they want with them. Stickers – it can be annoying to watch them peel every single one off the sheet for no legitimate reason, but again, starting to just allow it…

Finished artwork gets hung on the refrigerator!

Do a Dot Art Paints

I love pulling these out and having the kids do whatever they want as long as it stays on the paper 🙂

You c an also come up/find learning worksheets that have your kids practice their counting, etc.

Movies and TV

DUHH!! I mean a total necessity during this time of uncertainty – the kids will be okay with some screen time!

Our favorite movies include:

• FROZEN II (legit on RRRREEEEPPEAT!)
• Incredibles
• Incredibles 2
• Paddington
• Paddington 2
• Beauty and the Beast
• Peter Rabbit
• Spiderman: Into the Spider verse

PRETEND PLAY

Grocery store

We own a cash register and fake food items, but you can use any cans or boxed foods you have in your pantry and a phone to be your fake food scanner.

Delivery Man/Shipping game?

This is TOTALLY NEW and my daughter literally made it up – well I guess didn’t make it up, it’s probably based on the fact that she sees our household receiving packages on the regular…I’m not sure if I should be slightly concerned here in terms of my online ordering? Basically the kids have been asking me what I want from their store and they come deliver it on their play cars to my “house”, ha!

Hair/Nail Salon

My daughter loves playing this, and I don’t mind it myself. We do each other’s nails and she attempts to do my hair and makeup – thank goodness I have no where to be seen, ha!

We have these polishes. They come off her nails easy enough and I was able to remove polish that had spilled all over her wood floor – so that was a plus…

HANDS ON/MOVEMENT FUN

Cooking/Baking

I have been letting the kids help me cook/bake (keeping it simple obviously) by letting them pour pre-measured ingredients into a pan/bowl or mixing ingredients all together, this way they feel important and like they are a huge help!

I have also been trying to bake something fun at least 3 times a week if possible. Whether this is a brownie in a mug, rice krispies, cookies and/or banana bread – baking is so much fun and an awesome treat to bribe with 🙂

Dance Party!!

As mentioned above, we play some music on Alexa and dance around in a circle to burn some energy and get moving!

Exploring/Tidying Outside

We like to walk around the yard and pretend to be explorers searching for missing treasure or trying to escape the Big BAD WOLF!

The kiddos are also excellent stick picker uppers and I have been offering $.25 reward for their assistance!

Their hard work led to a bonfire, which turned out to be a lot more fun for my husband and I.

Sidewalk Chalk

We have a bunch of sidewalk chalk in our garage and I LOVE IT! We love drawing pictures, practicing name writing and shape identification.

Here was our spring break sketch….wishing we could have gone 🙁

Imagination – Box Play

Give your kids a shipping box to play in or decorate

It’s also fun to pull them around your house (and spin them around in circles if you have carpet!)

Obstacle Course

This can be done inside or outside – but our weather was pretty nice last week so we were able to make one outside using sidewalk chalk!

I drew some arrows and lines all around our driveway and my daughter had to follow the course with her scooter and even complete tasks I had asked her to do in each station (i.e. jumping jacks, spin for 3 seconds, dribble a ball 3 times). Honestly felt like a gym teacher for a quick sec!

Going on a Family Walk

We’ve been trying to do this at the school nearby (since we don’t have sidewalks on our street), but was currently banned off campus because it is technically closed off to everyone – we went over this weekend and had some fun riding around the campus!

Play Doh

Play Doh no joke keeps my kids entertained for the longest time! I love it! I think one of the major things that keeps them so entertained are these Play Dough tools I purchased from the Dollar Tree.

What also helps is giving them some direction on what they can make – i.e. Olaf, ice cream cone, hot dogs, pancakes, etc. etc…

ABC Mouse & LeapFrog Games

As I mentioned above, screen time is something I’m sure we are all needing during this time. If you are working or just need some time to yourself, this is a great way to get just that!

We have a free ABC Mouse trial through my daughters school, but I let the kids play some learning/interactive games on the LeapFrog and/or iPad.

Some good apps or games they play on the iPad:

• Puzzle/shape sorter game
• Balloon Pop
• Sketch/Paint pad

On the LeapFrog:

• Food Truck game
• Trolls game (includes all the characters from Trolls some activities they can play on there – scrapbooking, cupcake decorating, outfit styling)
• Picture taking (I laugh looking back at some of the pictures they take, ha!)

I hope these things were at least a little helpful for you! Between watching the kids, feeding people, keeping up with schoolwork and WORKING – this juggle is no easy feat! Wishing you all the best during these challenging times!

I also would LOOOVEEE to hear some of your activity/toy ideas! Feel free to leave some in the comments below!

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