A Few Ideas to Keep the Little Ones at Bay

I frequently get questions about what to do with toddlers (or younger school aged children who are done with their school and bugging the older kids who are hard at work).

Check out this web post:
http://www.buzzfeed.com/mikespohr/activities-that-will-keep-your-kids-busy-all-sum

I am all for cheap, easy and what we have around the house.

Enjoy!

Sensory Diet - Keeping Toddlers (and Everyone Else) Happy

It's important for toddlers and preschoolers to touch and feel many different textures.  It's part of what occupational therapists call a "Sensory Diet."  One part of my kids' sensory diet is "GLURCH."  Glurch is a weird substance who's name is derived from the first three letters of each of its components:  1 part glue:1 part liquid starch.  Just pour glue into a cup or bowl.  Add an equal amount of liquid starch.  Stir.  Then, you might have to get in there with your hands to knead.  Store it in an air tight container.

I  was cleaning out a craft cabinet in which I found several very old containers of pearlized and gel glue from five years ago.  I really didn't expect it to be usable, but it was just fine.  Apparently I had closed the containers tightly when I stored them.  The result, several batches of glurch that my younger kids call "slime."

First, we have pearlized green glue turned into green slime that looks like, well, a bodily fluid that comes from the nose, which is the boys' favorite.

I also found red and pink gel glue that became lava slime.  The plastic dinosaurs find it much more pleasant than real lava.

The last thing we tried was a combination of clear glitter glue and blue gel glue.  It's more blue than clear and the glitter makes it really shimmery.  The girls seem to like that one the best.

We especially like to keep this around on days when the older kids need mom and the little people need to be distracted and entertained.  This works splendidly.

And, it's great for covering toys and finding them, wadding up and blowing into with a straw to blow "bubbles" and letting settle down your arm, just for the eek effect.

It's also a great science experiment, if you want to explain the science behind polymers.  Here's a nice description compliments of www.science-class.net:

A POLYMER is unique because it has qualities of both a solid and a liquid. It can take the shape of its containers like a liquid does, yet you can hold it in your hand and pick it up like a solid. Solid molecules are tight together, liquid molecules spread out and break apart (drops) POLYMER molecules CHAIN themselves together (they can stretch and bend like chains) and that makes them special. Jell-O, rubber bands, plastic soda bottles, sneaker soles, even gum are all forms of polymers.

We also let them make and play with OOBLECK which is 1 part cornstarch to 1 part water.  You can add food color as you like.  Adjust the proportions and you have sidewalk paint when you add more water.

Oh, and don't be surprised if your older kids get in on the fun.  My 12 year old daughter can't stay way from either substance!

Confessions of a former Apple Hater...

My technical background is in Unix.  In case you don't know what Unix is, it is an operating system.  It is one of the most configurable, useful, versatile, multi-processing, multi-threaded operating systems around and there are as many flavors of Unix as there are ice cream.  I'm a certifed, card-carrying Unix System Administrator and Network Administrator.  I taught Unix and Network Administration for 10 years or so.  I was even a system administrator on a Cray supercomputer once.  Part of what comes with being a Unix geek is a, well, ummmm, rather bigoted opinion about operating systems and hardware platforms.  Really, I had almost convinced my husband to install Linux on our home PC, but he rightfully reminded me there were no apps to run on it (this was back pre-Java and OpenOffice.) 

I've since been talked off the ledge and brought into the Windows world (albeit kicking and screaming.)  And then there was that time between baby number two and baby number three where I got to develop and teach a post secondary degree program on Unix System and Network administration.  I got to work with a real operating system again.  Those were the days...

But, since baby number three came along more than eight years ago, my use of Unix has been limited to a short summer job helping configure and specify Unix equipment for a local reseller and the Linux running on our old EEE PC.  It's a shame, too.  Because I feel like I've lost something. 

Here's my confession.  After the announcement of the iPad 2, we made a joint decision (the boss and I) to buy an iPad 1 (refurbished.)  We had many, many reasons for doing so, but I was expecting to be very disappointed.  It was an apple, after all.  Much lower down there than a Windows device.  I.WAS.SO.WRONG.  The iPad is a game changer.  Really it is.  What I have to clarify, though, is that it is a consumption device, not a production device.  What does that mean?  If you are taking in data (video, playing an app, music, browsing, etc.) the iPad is the most intuitive, approachable, well thought-out device I've ever seen.  It is not, however, a device to do wordprocessing or spreadsheets.  My 22 month old daughter could use it without instruction.  What is up with that?  My kids have to earn screen time, which they share with the now almost two year old.  But, really?  She gets it?  I am amazed at the draw it has for all of us in our house, this Unix geek included.

I'll close with one last thought on the iPad.  One of our many reasons for buying it was for testing out whether the iPad was a viable device for home education.  It's so much more than that.  When my kids are FIGHTING to have 10 minutes of time to do math drills, I think we are on to something (especially when similar drills are available on the PC.)

Cooperative Fun Learning

Here's a fun way to keep two age groups busy...

First - the back story.  My 3 year old son is superhero obsessed.  So much so that my pediatrician jokingly asked me if he owns more than one shirt.  The 3 year old was wearing his Superman Underoo shirt, AGAIN.  I explained, that no, he has four Superman Underoo shirts along with two batman Underoo shirts and two Spiderman Underoo shirts.  Most of them are hand-me-downs from his older brothers, but some are new.  Literally, that is all he would wear if I let him.  We've come to an agreement that he CAN'T wear a superhero shirt to church, but otherwise he can wear them.  He's now fond of wearing the Superman shirt under a button-down shirt so he can be just like Superman OR wear a turtleneck under the Superman Underoo.

My 11 year old daughter loves to draw.  One day, I needed both of them busy and SHE came up with this idea.  She drew a picture of random Batman images, including Robin, words in bubble letters like Zap and Pow all while the 3 year old told her what he wanted on the picture he wanted to paint.  She outlined them in Sharpie marker, then she colored them in with watercolor pastels.  She gave the picture to the 3 year old with a brush and water and he had a custom Superhero coloring page.

You could make a coloring book as a gift, if you are looking for a way for the older kids to gift the little ones.  You could also use watercolor colored pencils.  I've even heard you could make dots using washable markers.  What a nice way to get a big kid helping a little one!

This kept them busy for a good hour, with the big 11 year old helping all the way.