3-6Pm - the Dark Hours

have you made indoor tents? My kids love doing that.All you need is some blankets,pillows some dining room chairs,and what ever you want to put in the tent.My kids call it camping inside,they love it,cause they get to sleep in it like they were camping.

Hi G.,
I'm new to Mamasource and just saw your post today. All of the ideas given were just great and you're going to get a lot of good use out of them. I want to add one more idea for the mamas to think about.
I have always had my children, especially when there were several under the age of 5, follow me around the house while I was working, cooking, doing laundry and whatever other million things need to be done. As we walked, I talked, telling them every little thing I was doing. In the midst of it, they learned their colors by helping to sort laundry, learned organization by helping to empty the dishwasher, learned cleanliness and how to serve one another in the home. Proof was in the pudding when I fell very ill and my then 8 year old knew how to do laundry!! I had no idea. It has been wonderful as the children have grown. They are now age 16 to 5 and most can accomplish any household task when necessary. Though I still do most everything unless I'm sick! We all thought we were just playing and chatting and I thought I was just keeping them out of trouble, but it turns out they were learning all the while.

It can definitely be a challenge to be indoors every late afternoon with an active little girl! I've been through three of them! So what to do?

-There are beautiful and incredible books for this age range. My absolute favorites of all time are "A Fairy Went A Marketing" and "When The Sun Rose", among all the more obvious choices of Dr. Seuss (my eldest--who is now 18--could recite, or "read", the entire book of "The Lorax" on her second birthday, I have it on tape!) or Bearenstein Bears. Also, if you are in Eugene, the downtown library is a wonderful, warm, and sunny feeling place and the children's room there is especially so. I have never been turned down when I asked a child if they wanted to read a story! Just be sure to do all the silly voices and you'll have a reader for life.

-Get some good quality children's art supplies. At this age, finger painting, or water colors with very absorbent paper and just one or two colors (that blend in a pretty way-like blue and green, or yellow and red, so no worries about turning it all into brown mud) and a fat brush for chubby hands works really well. You could also get some children's scissors (the round tipped kind), colored paper, glue sticks, and glitter. You'll need to do most of the cutting, but she will want to try, too. This time of year is a great time for art projects, and even toddlers can do these if they are set up right.

-Baking cookies is always fun. If she can stand on a chair and wear a little apron--or a dish towel wrapped around her--she can put her hand on your hand to "help" you pour, stir, even whip with a mixer. There's also the fun part about mixing the sugar and butter with your hands! Just don't expect "perfect" cookies, and it will be great.

-EVERY little girl LOVES dress up games! You can buy every color of the rainbow in tulle for about $1 a yard, and then splurge on some shiny fabrics, too. If you get a yard or two of each, they can be wrapped, tied, turned into skirts, crowns, fairy wings, wedding veils, and tents over the chairs!

-Also SHOES! I don't know what it is about women and shoes, but after raising three girls, each with very different personalities, but each LOVING new shoes, I've decided it's genetically inborn to females. My husband doesn't get the attraction at all. Let her try on your shoes, buy some inexpensive shoes that fit or are a little big at Goodwill or KidStuff.

-Cornstarch "goo"! Mix cornstarch with just enough water to get it blended and barely liquid. If you are manipulating it, it holds together like playdough. If you STOP moving it, it runs through your fingers like liquid! It's very messy, so you'll want to either cover your table with a plastic tablecloth, but it's easily cleaned up when you're done. Amazing and endlessly fascinating.

-You don't sound like someone who is into using the tv, but just in case, there are some amazing videos for children when all else fails--it's more a matter of establishing from the very beginning that screen time is limited and YOU are the one who makes the decisions about what will be watched. We have every Disney movie ever made, I think, courtesy of my mother, plus some really wonderful ones-like a children's ballet class that ALL of my daughters loved to dance along with. Check out Elephant's Trunk for some good ones, and remember the library!

-Blocks to stack and knock down

-Bath toys to paint and pour and slosh with

-Take a mommy /child yoga class, swimming lessons at the Tamarack pool (it's warm!)or another indoor pool, community center ballet lessons or other activities for young children.
This is also one way to start to meet other little ones and their mommies, to begin having playdates and support one another.

-Get some children's musical instruments and have a jam session! Look for the free musical offerings at the Hult Center, the winter time family movie days at the McDonald, and different events at the Eugene and Springfield libraries.

I'm assuming you live in the Eugene, Springfield area, but even if you don't, most of these ideas should work locally for you.

Have fun! That age is so magical!
Fiora

We have a 3 year old and 12 mth old and we have the same issues. We build a lot of indoor forts, play in an idoor pop-up tent, and drag the kids around the house on a blanket. I have drawn and cut out bright eyes, noses, mouths, horns, ears, etc. and had the kids use glue sticks to stick them onto cut out faces. We also get butcher paper and draw huge drawings. Let's see...we have a big box of dress-up clothes- that is fun. You can make dress-up clothes or find tons of good stuff at thrift stores. The kids also like to jump onto a giant pile of pillows. I have had them draw special pictures for people and we send them to the person. -And I write on the back what the draws is of. I hope this helps a bit!

There is a book I found that is pretty neat called "The Toddler's Busy Book" by Trish Kuffner that has 300 pages of ideas on how to keep your 1 1/2 old - 3 years old busy. They also have 2 other books one for Preschoolers and one for Children 6-10. I picked 2 of them up at Goodwill and one at Borders (for only 2.99!) I am not sure how easy they are to pick up but a friend of mine had the Toddler one as well she found somewhere else. Be sure to read pg. 23 A Mother's Prayer (not really religious, just funny)

Hey G.!
I can recommend the YogaKids Videos "Silly to Calm" is a good one - and we also like the "ABC's" - You can probably check them out from the library - If not, Target carries them. They are playful and educational!

The videos show kids doing the poses and having fun while narration tells interesting tips about the animal that the pose is named after.

Its fun to do the poses together, too.

Alligator
Dog
Cat
Snake
Butterfly
Tree
...lots more

In my classes (I teach YogaKids classes) sometimes I will read a story that has animals in it. I will have the kids do the poses that correspond to the animals as I say the name of the animal (don't forget to make the animal sounds!!) - It encourages imagination, listening skills and better information retention. Even for a 16 month old!!

Hi G.!
I have an 18 month old and we have same troubles...
I bought him sveral cans of playdoh; he doesn't know how to make anything out of it yet, but he sure does have fun squishing it!
He also loves to draw, color and finger paint, and it can entertain him for a while!
There's this show on Nick Jr called Yo Gaba Gaba that he loves to watch, Comcast also has it on demand. It's kinda stupid, but it teaches kids lots of stuff plus it has music, so he loves to dance while watching it.
Also if your little girl loves dancing, just put some music on! Right now we love Christmas songs and Parents Rockin' sing alongs. But he also loves the music husband and I listen too. I just make sure the songs don't have any explicit lyrics because they pick up on it so fast...
And we also have a playgroup twice a week. There's a lot of kids and toys, so he always looks forward to going there!
You can find one in your area on www.meetup.com or get some friends together!

sometimes kids just like to be! We as mothers feel like we have to make sure our kids are having fun at all times but after having thee kids I have realized that sometimes it okay to just turn on some music and just be! hope that helps.
-A.

I would just like to second the nomination for "The Busy Toddler's Book!" It's great!