Busy Day/ Rainy Day Play Activities

Since this is my first post (Yikes!- I'm excited and scared all at the same time) let me provide you with a little insight into my life. I work full time. Between work and my terrible Seattle commute I'm gone about 12 hours a day. Therefore, on my weekends I have chores and errands that I have to do. I split my weekends so that I have one go-go-go day, with extra caffeine along the way, where I complete all my errands and chores; and one fun day solely devoted to me and my son, Calvin.

Today was my go day. During my go day I try to balance my errands/ chores with fun activities for my 16 month old son in between. Some of the activities I chose are geared for solo play and some are designed for both of us. Today was a lot of running around to get ready for the holidays. Since I knew we were going to be doing lots of errands in the morning I wanted to start his day off with a fun activity. My son is a water baby and he absolutely LOVES to play with water. I filled one plastic dish with warm water and water beads. I filled a second plastic dish with ice cubes. I put both down on a splat mat (these things make clean up so easy) and provided fun and safe kitchen tools to let him explore this hot and cold sensory play time. I was able to do this activity while I was getting the dogs ready and packing his diaper bag. He thoroughly enjoyed it, as well as the cat, Ellie, and our small dog Napoleon. He loved picking out the water beads and putting them in the cup and looking at them up close. He loved splashing in the warm water and then touching the cold ice cubes. He would alternate between sorting the water beads into the cup and then the ice cubes.

Pros:

- easy to set up
- cost effective (FREE- unless you need to purchase water beads, but those are optional)
-easy to clean up
- provides tactile sensory learning and helps develop fine motor skills

Cons:

- your child needs to be closely monitored due to the choking hazard of the water beads and ice cubes
- your child will likely end up soaked afterwards

After this activity we went to Target to get his Christmas outfits for family photos and for meeting Santa. I definitely pushed this a little late this year...whoops...such is life. We also went to Marshalls to get holiday wrapping supplies. In addition, to that we went to the grocery store before his afternoon nap. He was such a trooper for all the shopping and loved people watching and looking at all the holidays decor. I usually keep him busy while I shop by feeding him snacks and putting fun things in the cart with him for him to explore.  We shopped until he dropped and took a long afternoon nap. He is on a one nap a day schedule. He usually naps 1230-330, which is glorious. It has been life changing having him on one nap a day. It gives me time to do chores, nap or have time for me.

When he woke up from a nap I wanted to get some of his energy out. We climbed up and down the stairs and danced to music and I raced him around in his laundry basket race car. This is exactly what it sounds like. He loves to get in the empty laundry basket and I pull it all over the house and he laughs and laughs.

After some rough and tumble time it was off to my doctor's visit. When we got back home I needed to fold the giant mountain of laundry I had done that day and wanted to give him a solo activity. Earlier when we were at Marshalls I bought two packs of the sticky window holiday decals that were $1 each. I put those on the sliding glass door and he loved looking at them, touching them, taking them off and sticking them back on. He also explored where else they would stick too. This activity was a great way to help incorporate the holidays into our day and it kept him busy for about 30 minutes. 

Pros:

- cheap ($1 each)

- not messy

- quick and easy to set up

- a fun way to learn about the holidays

Cons:

- they aren't super strong and didn't stand up to him experimenting with stretching them

- due to the fact that they break easily and their size they could pose a choking hazard and so little one's should be closely monitored with this activity 

 Before his bath and bedtime routine I wanted to finish up with  a messy activity. I usually save the messy activities for right before his bath time so I can just plop him in the bath afterwards. I filled three Tupperware containers with a different color each of a diluted Crayola non-toxic washable paint. I took one of his race cars and put them in each container of paint. I then put these containers in his plastic kiddie pool and let him explore. After a few minutes I realized that he couldn't really see the painted tracks on the kiddie pool so I laid down paper towels in the pool and the design and colors the race cars made were much more clear. He enjoyed feeling the paint and painting on himself. He also loved rolling the cars around on the paper towels to see the painted tracks they made. He spent about 45 minutes painting with the cars.

     
Pros:

- it allows little ones to explore, textures, art and colors
- it's reasonably priced once you have the paint ($10)
- it keeps little ones occupied for a while

Cons:

- very messy (the washable paint comes out of everything and is easy to clean up though
- takes time setting up and breaking down
- little ones must be closely monitored

And then it was off to bed for Calvin and on to eating, writing and relaxing for me. I hope that you enjoyed this post and that it gave you some fun and easy ideas to do with your little wild ones! Until next time!

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