My Love Hate Relationship with Pinterest

Dear Pinterest,

Hello, my name is Margaret Rice and I am addicted to Pinterest.  I admit it - it is my television.  I love scanning and checking out all the activity suggestions.  I have been doing it since Pinterest started.  I have to admit though I am getting a little sick of all the perfect pictures. Can we please get realistic on Pinterest?  More and more I see these truly amazing activity ideas, with breathtaking photos of finished projects by preschoolers and toddlers.  I convince myself that this will be the activity tomorrow for my toddler.  In my delusional midnight brain, I picture my toddler sitting engaged by himself for at least 30 minutes to participate in this awesome Pinterest find.

When I awake in the morning, reality sets in.  It doesn't start off too great.  In typical fashion, I don't have all the supplies needed so I just make do with what I have.  I set it all up for my little one. The anticipation of having him occupied independently is making me feel so excited. He sits down.  I model how to do the activity.  He takes a turn.  Yeah he seems to love it.  Awesome, I will just slip away to the other side of the room and accomplish something.  The second I start the task on the other side of the room he is no longer interested in his activity.  I redirect him back to the activity.  He sits while I sit and plays.  I sneak away - he finds me.  We basically go back and forth like this for awhile until he loses interest in the activity.  I clean up and I'm usually a little grumpy since I was so pumped up he was going to just love this Pinterest idea.

Here is another scenario - I set the Pinterest activity all up (takes about 5 minutes) - he plays independently for 10 minutes - during that 10 minutes he trashes himself and the play area around him - when done I change his clothes, wash him up including his hair sometimes - I clean up area (takes about 20 minutes).  So for 10 minutes of independent play it took me 25 to set up and clean up.  You do the math, seems like I am operating in a deficit.

Now I have to be honest.  I blog and operate a website for a living.  I pin things from my blogs and website all the time. I LOVE Pinterest since it drives quite a bit of traffic to my website and I truly enjoy viewing everyone else's pins.  It is visually engaging and helps me to dream big.

But, please let's get real on Pinterest.  Can you at least show a few pictures of what went wrong?  Can you provide an estimated window of how much effort it will take me for set up and clean up versus actual kid engagement? Can you tell me how much money you spent at the craft store for all those awesome supplies?  Can you share that had supplies set aside but your kid got to them before you and used them for other purposes (ie pipe cleaners to decorate the rocking chair).  
  

    
Maybe it is my problem.  Maybe I need to be more realistic about what is worth the effort.  Maybe I need to go cold turkey and delete my Pinterest accounts (NEVER!).

OR...maybe you can help me out and not make your crafts and activities look so perfect all the time.

Sincerely,
Your Pinterest Follower  

Kitchen Puzzle

Here is a quick way to make a homemade puzzle for little ones.  This is a great activity because you can vary it so easily based on your child's ability but tracing a few shapes or more shapes.

Grab a file folder or large paper.  Trace around some objects from your kitchen i.e. cookie cutters, measuring cup, spoon or magnets.

When done, lay the objects around the border of the paper and see if your child can match up the objects to the outline.  So simple to make but reinforces a child's visual perceptual and fine motor skills.

Check out the Baby Toddler Book Pages.  This is a digital download of 10 entertaining and educational pages for baby. This set includes the following 10 themes: baby, dogs, cats, toys, animals, farm, trucks, outdoors and 2 color identification pages. 

You can print the pages on cardstock paper and laminate. If you don't want to print the pages, let your baby/toddler look and read the picture pages on a smartphone, tablet or computer.  Find out more at http://www.growingplay.com/toddlerpages.html

5 Games to Play with Pots and Pans

Through the years, one of the best go to toys for little ones is the kitchen pots and pans.  Here are 5 games to play with pots and pans:

1.  Lid Mix Up - separate all the pots, pans and the lids. Scatter them around a room.  See how quickly the child can find the correct lid and match it up to the pot.

2.  Musical Band - easiest and most favorite activity.  Add some wooden spoons and make some music!

3.  Water Fun - lay a large towel on the floor, pour some water in the pot and hand over a ladle.  Put another pot next to it so your little one can transfer the water from one pot to the other.

4.  Alphabet Soup - Toss some plastic letters or anything you have from around the house (ie cotton balls, cookie cutters, clothes pegs, etc) so the child can pretend to make soup.  

5.  Hide the Animal - Place the pots around the room upside down.  The child can hide his/her eyes.  Pick a small stuffed animal and hide it under one of the pots.  The child can then open up his/her eyes and search for the missing stuffed animal.

Need more entertainment for your little one?  Check out the Toddler Book Pages are a digital download of 10 entertaining and educational pages for baby.   This set includes the following 10 themes: baby, dogs, cats, toys, animals, farm, trucks, outdoors and 2 color identification pages.  Find out more at Growing Play.

#1 BEST IDEA to Entertain a Toddler

I have to admit, I find the toddler stage the most difficult time when raising children.  For years, I heard from other parents "wait until  you have teenagers...".  Well, I have teenagers and a toddler - a toddler is MUCH harder in my opinion.  I am speaking mostly about the 18-24 month stage.  Don't get me wrong there are moments when I absolutely love having a toddler ie watching him splash in puddles, getting hugs, reading him books, etc.  But there are moments when I can not wait for this stage to be over. I think the main reason is that I find it very hard to entertain toddlers.  Each of my children have been different, but in general if I can get a toddler to do anything more than 10 minutes I am super excited.  

Since my current toddler is our 6th child, I have been around the block a few times with this stage.  I have come to the conclusion that the number one, all time BEST IDEA EVER to entertain a toddler is to put him or her to work! When I ask my toddler to help out with a chore he is super engaged and excited to participate.  Now I am not talking about picking up his toys (let's not be ridiculous).  I am talking about chores that make him feel like a big kid.

For example, using a sponge.  He is so excited to stand up on his stool and wipe the counter for me. Look at that face - super proud of himself!

Each of our children have chores.  His chore is to feed the dog.  He loves it!  Does he occasionally spill it?  You betcha but he cleans each one up and puts it back into the dog's bowl.  Does he occasionally dig around the dog food bucket and run his little hands through the dog food?  Yup, but we just wash his hands and he is good to go.

Is it always easy?  Of course not (see above).  BUT, the stirring of the brownie mix definitely entertained him for quite some time. Did I have to do laundry afterwards?  Yup, but I do laundry everyday anyway so who cares!

So tomorrow on our to do list of toddler activities is: sweep the floor, wipe his plastic table off and if he gets lucky wash the dishes!  

Here are 3 more simple toddler activities:

Dried Bean Play

Toddler Rides

Lotion Love

Need ideas for the outdoors?  Just open your door and follow behind or watch your toddler.  They will find their own entertainment.  

Toddler Time: Unwrapping

Materials: small toys/objects and tin foil

Preparation:  Wrap up the toys and objects in some tin foil.  Place the wrapped objects in a bowl or bucket.

Activity: Start to unwrap one of the objects a tiny bit and let the child complete the unwrapping to discover the object.  Once the child learns how to open the tin foil encourage him/her to unwrap each object.

The child may also enjoy just tearing up little bits of tin foil or making a tin foil ball.

This activity could also be done with boxes/lids or jars/lids.  Put the toys inside the boxes or jars. The child has to open the box or jar to reveal the toy.

This activity lasted for at least 10 minutes with my toddler (record breaker)!  He loved it.  I had to wrap and rewrap objects several times.  

This activity is from Play Move Develop.  This is a collection of 100 reproducible sensory motor activities to encourage motor skill development and learning. FIND OUT MORE HERE.

Toddler Painting

Today we did some painting with water. My little guy is a handful. So finding activities that entertain him in one location for a few minutes can sometimes be a challenge. This activity gets a thumbs up from me. He "painted" for about 5-7 minutes straight which is lengthy for this guy. Thank God it wasn't paint since he drank it and ate the paintbrush! 

He was quite proud of his masterpiece and showed it off to his brothers and sisters. We will definitely do this activity again. 

10 Things Our Youngest Children Get Away With

Funny, how as time goes by, my parenting rules seem to all fall by the wayside.  I am the youngest of seven children and have heard my whole life from my older siblings how my parents let me get away with everything.  Now that I am the mother of six, I completely get it! Here are 10 things I let our youngest children get away with:

1.  Stay up past 7:00 pm.  When our oldest 4 were little they were all in bed by 7 pm sharp!  My husband and I would blissfully head downstairs to watch television in peace.  Now, I am lucky if I get the youngest in bed by 9:00 pm.  Life is so hectic in the afternoons here by the time dinner is cleaned up, homework is done and baths are complete and we can start reading it already way past 7:00pm.  

2.  Wear whatever they want.  If you can dress yourself, you can wear it.  I was still dressing my older two daughters up until first grade.  That is pathetic on my part.  Now, my 5 year old has been dressing herself for years.  I just have to work on training the one year old!

3.  Drink juice boxes.  My older four children only had juice boxes as a treat or the occasional picnic. Now, if you can grab a juice box by yourself at dinner time it works for me. One less spill and one less glass I have to pour.  Thankfully, they don't choose them too often.  

4. Quit a peewee sports team.  We used to say to the older kids once they signed up for something they had to finish. They were part of a team, the team needed them, blah blah blah....  Ok, I get that in high school but at 5 years old?  The "team" will probably not care that you may not be there to pick grass or dig in the dirt while you wait for the ball to come to you.  

5.  Play with food and water if you are occupied.  My oldest children sat in high chairs where I spoon fed them until they were way too old.  When they started to make a mess I would wipe it up right away.  Occasionally, they were allowed to play with their food when I was in the  mood to clean it up.  Now, I feel like every meal is a sensory exploration of food while my youngest eats.  He could probably use a bath after each meal.  But if it means he will sit for a few minutes in the high chair while I get the lunches made or the dishes done it works for me.  I just rinse him off in the sink, change his clothes if necessary and go about our business.

6.  Sleep in our bed.  This one is laughable!!!!  Our oldest never came in our bed.  I didn't even nurse in the bed.  I sat up in the chair morning, noon and night.  That went by the wayside with each child.  By the 5th and 6th child, they never slept in a crib until close to 6 months old.  If it meant I could sleep, I didn't care where they slept.  No one is in the bed now and the youngest is 20 months so we have come full circle.

7.  Act like a lunatic during meal time.  My oldest children ate dinner all at the same time and in a somewhat organized fashion.  Now my youngest will climb up and want to eat at the big table with the older kids - fine by me just eat.  He runs back and forth on a bench we use in the dining room while he eats one bite at a time - fine by me I didn't have to get up for a few minutes.  One time he was eating ketchup from a mini cup at McDonalds and I had no clue.  Once I realized, I did take it away but we still crack up about it, I was sitting right next to him.  

8.  Giving in to screaming.  Oh boy am I guilty of this one.  Our youngest is a screamer.  He is a late talker so I understand why he screams but I should ignore it more often.  That being said, ear piercing screams are painful and super annoying so if giving in to you makes it stop, I do it.  There is a time and place to work on this and I have to choose my battles.  Shopping at Target is not one of those places where I want to pick a battle - so go ahead and eat a baby food pouch while we shop.  I will just warn them at the check-out that he licked it all over before they touch it.

9.  Do things one more time after I just said "only one more time".  I get side tracked easily from the older children who need my help so I tell the toddler "only one more time" only to let him to do it probably 100 more times because I need to help with homework, sign a paper or cook dinner.

10.  Eat lollipops at age one.  I think my oldest daughter was three years old before she ate a lollipop!  The last two definitely had lollipops as babies.  Of course, I watch them very closely with it but we have many events that the older children have to attend and the babies need something to keep them occupied for 30 minutes during an award ceremony, basketball game or a long car ride (and I do not want the baby to fall asleep).  Someone is always watching them with the lollipop so that is guilt free but the fact that we never brush those baby teeth afterwards....whoopsie!

What are you guilty of letting your youngest get away with? 

Need to occupy your little ones?  Check out Toddler Book Pages.

Baby and Toddler Book Pages - Engaging for Baby and Easier to Hold

Baby Toddler Book Pages are a digital download of 10 entertaining and educational pages for baby. This set includes the following 10 themes: baby, dogs, cats, toys, animals, farm, trucks, outdoors and 2 color identification pages. 

GrowingPlay.com

You can print the pages on cardstock paper and laminate. If you don't want to print the pages, let your baby/toddler look and read the picture pages on a smartphone, tablet or computer. 

GrowingPlay.com

If you want to print the pages smaller, open up the file and set your printer to print multiple pages at once. For example, if you want 4 pages to a regular size piece of paper, hit FILE - PRINT - MULTIPLE - SELECT 2 or 4 pages per sheet. 

Point and show the pictures to your toddler saying the name of each object, describing the picture or reading the word. You can laminate the pages, punch holes and put on a key ring or let the baby have just one page at a time (easier to hold).

Print as many times as you like for your personal use. Print a set for yourself and make one for a friend. The baby toddler pages make a GREAT gift!

Remember this is a digital download with instant delivery. You will receive an email immediately following payment and you will be able to download the book pages.

Only $2.99.  To purchase the Baby Toddler Book Pages ADD TO CART below.

My Top 3 Gift Ideas for Toddlers

I have to admit, I am getting really sick of seeing gift lists all over Pinterest and Facebook.  There are gift lists for every age, every gender, every personality type, etc with links to everything that Amazon sells.  It is starting to get on my nerves.  Don't get me wrong I occasionally look for a gift idea for the tough to buy for child but I have come to a realization that many gifts that children want (or parents for that matter) cost nothing.  So this week I will share with you my gift lists which are all free items! So here we go starting off with my super awesome gift list for toddlers:

GIFT #1:  WATER PLAY

Grab any plastic cups and a wash cloth that you have from around the house. Put them on a tray.  Put water in some of the cups. That's it.  That is all toddlers want - to splash in water.  If you don't want the mess on the floor put the toddler in the tub or sink.  Need to gift wrap it up?  Just wrap up the plastic cups that you have and gift away.  

GIFT #2:  ROCKS

Head outdoors with your toddler.  Take a hike gathering small rocks as you go in a small bag.  When you get home wrap up the bag of rocks.  Don't even clean them - that will be part of the fun for the toddler.  Give the toddler the rocks to sort, throw and wash up in gift #1, water!

GIFT #3:  DIRT

Head outdoors again.  Grab a kitchen spoon and dig up some dirt.  Put it in a recycled container and wrap it up.  Tie a cute ribbon around it with a spoon if you feel crafty.  Give the toddler the container of dirt.  

If you put all three gifts together your toddler will be so PSYCHED!  And so will you because the toddler will entertain themselves for quite some time.  Win - win situation!

What is your favorite free gift for toddlers?

Body Painting

This was a fun outdoor activity we did today - body painting.  First we were painting the bottoms of our feet and making prints.  But then the toddler just wanted to paint other people's feet or her own.  We had a bucket of water close by so anyone could wash up when done.  The toddler loved painting her own feet and cleaning them off.  In toddler fashion, this dirty/clean cycle was repeated many times (anything with water is always a huge hit).  This activity could be done indoors but so much easier outside.

Homemade "Nail Polish" for Toddlers

My little toddler LOVES to get her fingernails polished.  One day we were making some homemade paint and we realized it would work great as pretend nail polish.  It was some corn starch and colored water.  She really enjoyed "painting" my nails.  The corn starch made it dry hard on my fingernails but it washed off with ease.  She even got to paint her own nails.  This was a super simple activity that entertained her for quite some time.

Toddler Time: Hide and Seek

I am all for keeping it simple and this activity certainly keeps it simple. No materials or preparations are needed. All hide and seek requires is your time. When you stop to think about all the benefits of hide and seek it is really a learning game for little ones:

• visual perceptual skills - the child must visually scan an area looking for you.  If they see just a little bit of you they must use his/her visual closure skills to determine where you are.  
• counting skills - when someone is hiding, counting out loud to any number helps to establish early math skills
• emotional health - you and the child are separated for a time and then back together again in a  fun and playful manner!
• auditory skills - maybe you need to make a noise to help them find you.  The child needs to use the ability to listen closely to find you.  
• motor planning skills - the child must plan which direction to go to find you and then execute that action
• physical activity - all that running and hiding is a great aerobic activity
• helps to develop a sense of autonomy - the toddler is left alone and must determine how to find you.  Once the child is successful in finding you, the pride and independence shows on his/her face.  They did it themselves!

So it might be simple, but for no money and just your time, your little one will experience a multisensory cognitive, emotional and physical activity.  And, you thought hide and seek was just a game.

Toddler Time - Giant Abacus

 

Next time your toddler needs something to entertain him or her, try setting up this giant abacus.  All you need to do is grab items from around your kitchen that have a hole in them.  Here we used cookie cutters, paper towel tubes, measuring spoons, cups and pastry brushes.  Lace a string through all of the items.  Tie the string to two large chairs to hang the abacus.  Make sure you hang it above the toddlers head so they do not get entangled in it.  Also, be sure to remind the toddler not to pull on it or the chairs will fall over.  

Once all set up, the toddler can enjoy sliding the items along the string while you count out loud as the items are moved.  

This is a nice early math skill activity that you can sneak into play time.  Not too mention all the physical activity, coordination and motor control that is involved in reaching, grabbing and sliding the objects. 

My First Matching Game

Set up a sensory box for your toddler to explore same and different.  Here we collected items from around the house that were all the same.  Some of the items we collected were: paintbrushes, toilet paper tubes, sponges, cups, lids, felt scraps, plastic spoons, popsicle sticks and straws.  The toddler explored the sensory box and attempted to match up the items that were the same.  She also enjoyed just playing with the items especially the paint brushes.

Toddler Time - Simple Sensory Path

Need a quick toddler activity indoors to burn off some energy?  Set up this simple sensory path.  Gather objects from around your house.  We used some bath mats, the top of a ottoman, rug grippers and a baking cooling rack.  Off came the shoes and down the textured path the toddler went.  We practiced following simple motor commands - go and stop.  After repeating several times, the toddler decided to crawl along the path getting some wonderful sensory input to the hands as well. 


Super easy, super simple and fun idea to get your toddler moving and exploring the senses. 

Toddler Time: Semolina Sand

Here is a quick, simple recipe to make play sand.  Grab some semolina flour from your pantry and mix in some cooking oil to make it a consistency of wet sand.  That's it!  Stick your hands in and start building sand castles.  Just use kitchen utensils to play with your sand and to build castles.  Measuring cups worked great to make three tiered cakes.  I would have photographed a cake, but each time we made one the toddler "cut" it all up before we could get a picture.  Oh well, fine by me it entertained the toddler for quite some time.  I do suggest playing with it outdoors or put a sheet down before you start.    

Toddler Time: Rides

Need to entertain your toddler for a few minutes?  Bring them on a toddler ride in the laundry basket.  Stop and start the laundry basket slowly which will challenge the little ones balance skills and strengthen the trunk muscles.  You can encourage language by waiting to start the toddler ride until the little one using baby sign language or says the word "go".


When done giving the toddler a ride, find some stuffed animals to put into the basket and the toddler can give the toys a ride. 

Toddler Time: Dried Bean Play

Of all the things my children have enjoyed playing with through the years the dried bean container is in the top three most favorite "toys".  Toddlers especially like to pour, sort, scoop and touch all the beans.  If you provide kitchen items the beans make a nice plinking noise as you pour them.  You do have to watch closely that they do not mouth any of the beans.  I usually put a sheet down on the floor for easy clean up when done.  Close up the container and save for the next time you need a quiet, engaging activity.

Toddler Time: Stacking Cups

After stacking all of our cups to see how high we could go, my toddler loved watching us stack the cups so she could knock them all down.  She would wait patiently while we stacked and then knock them down with all of her might.  She kicked them, squashed them and tossed them all over the room.  Nice cheap activity to entertain a little one. 

Toddler Time: Bottle Bat

Here is a simple toy to make with recycled items from around the house.  You will need a two liter bottle, paper towel tube, duct tape and colored cotton balls or pom poms.  


Put colored cotton balls or pom poms inside the two liter bottle.  This is just to add some visual fun therefore you can skip this step if you would like.  Fold the paper towel tube in half and shove it inside the top of the 2 liter bottle.  Wrap duct tape around the bottle top and the cardboard tube.  This will secure it tightly to the bottle.  Now your bottle bat is ready to play with.

The toddler can bang it on the floor or try to hit a ball.  It makes great noise and is fun to look at.

If an older child wants to use it as a bat, head outdoors.  This bat hits balls pretty far so do not try it indoors.