2 And 4 Yr Old Play Together

Hi J.:

I was wondering if they would like to do activities together like color with crayons, do some puzzles, or something along those lines just so the 4 yr old can start warming up. I have a 19 month old, he loves to color. We bought a roll of paper, roll it out and tape it to his table and chair set (underneath the table) and he just draws on the table. (Just like you would at Bravo's or something.)

Let us know if you find something else!

K.

CHeck out the website www.familyfun.com They have a lot of great simple ideas.

My daughters and I play hide and seek together. Another favorite is dance time. I have several kids cd's we put on and just dance around.

Good luck :)

I also watch my neighbors 1.5 y/o and 4 y/o along with my own 2.5 y/o and 5 y/o. I keep music on almost all day. There are times I just need to have my music on :) for my own sanity, but the background noise sparks their imagination when you least expect it, which helps a lot. But keep the television off if you can help it.
Get on the floor with them. Remember hearing that you should kneel on the ground and look from a childs viewpoint for dangers when childproofing? Do the same thing now but looking to see what fun things they might be seeing.
Buy a pack of construction paper; it will go a long way. Use the cardboard from papertowels and toilet paper for microphones and binoculars. I FORGOT!!! TRY WWW.101KIDZ.COM
Don't forget to rest or take some time for yourself when the kids take a nap. You have to take care of mom too!!! :)
~RachaelB
(BTW, b4 having my kids I was totally inexperienced with kids too. My mom-in-law [even though we're not the best of friends] gives me tons of great hints)

I have a 2 and 4 year old. They love to color together and do thing like water paint. We play with play doh. we make art work with little shapes i cut out of construction paper and use a glue stick to paste them on to other paper. We have also made picture frames with cut paper and a paper plate. I hope this can give you some ideas. It is very hard to find things that these two ages can do together. If you find anything that works good let me know.

I would say start with things they can do side by side rather than actually with each other. Such as the coloring mentioned, but give them each their own set of crayons. If they both like baby dolls or barbies or cars or whatnot, allow them each to have one (or some in the case of the cars) and after awhile they will begin to play together. Question games are fun sometimes...My almost 4 year old LOVES to play brain quest. You could have them taking turns answering questions. I think the one we have is either ages 2 to 4 or 3 to 4...and you could pick the easier ones for the younger child and the harder ones for the older child (and there is a wide variety of both!) This way they learn to share together.