Occupying Toddlers While Home Schooling Other Children
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My biggest struggle with occupying my toddler while homeschooling the older children, is the fact that he has such a short attention span. Not many things hold his attention for more than five minutes. I have an array of time stuffers that work on some days but miss the mark on others.
What I focus on is variety. I have containers with groupings of items such as blocks, marbles, paper/crayons, and clay which are called centers. On Monday’s I replace each center with five new ones, containing new items.
Each week he has the option of choosing from five containers that hold fun stuff like puzzles, paint, blocks, cars, craft sticks and glue or noodles and string for jewelry making. After he chooses a container he is instructed to play quietly with its contents for ten to fifteen minutes while I get the older children started on their first subject. On a good day this takes about ten to fifteen minutes. After I get the older children situated I sit and play with the toddler for a few minutes as well.
I try not to require him play alone for longer fifteen minutes, unless he wants to. If I find that he is becoming bored I direct him to begin cleaning up so that we can move on to another center. I have four sets of centers, which I rotate in and out each week.
I try to find inexpensive things to add to centers such as .99 cents puzzles and clay from the discount stores. I have allowed him to play with some colorful plastic hair rollers that are assorted sizes. He loves to stack them and watch them fall. He has dominoes, cards, mini blocks, large blocks and homemade lacing boards. I made the lacing boards out of cardboard that I punched wholes in with a hole puncher. I wrapped scotch tape around one end of the yarn to form a sturdy point and then attached the other end of the yarn to the cardboard. children will work tirelessly to try and lace the entire board.
Another tool I use is the kitchen sink. I fill it with water and allow him to play with his toys at the sink. He also spends time on the computer playing a variety of educational games.
The main thing that I try to do is offer a variety of items that will challenge my toddler. I try to remember that my toddler is not mature enough to sit for extended periods of time. Toddlers are not robots that can be programmed to play quietly each day. Sometimes as a homeschool mom I have to put school on hold and just be mom on some mornings. Find out what your child enjoys whether it is books, coloring, building or exploring and create a variety of time stuffers that will help him of her stay busy doing things that they enjoy.
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This post has 10 comments
March 7th, 2008
I never had toddlers [mine were 7 and 8 at adoption] but do remember my brother’s kids loved WARM homemade “play dough.” I don’t have the recipe right now, but it’s fast, cheap and easy. The texture and warmth kept them occupied a long time!
Other “good things” were a feather duster, and that bathtub “paint” soap–they loved to play with that. Just wet the shower wall–not draw a whole bath for them!!
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March 4th, 2008
I really like that lacing idea. I’ll have to create one for my 3 yr old.
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February 28th, 2008
Good idea! I find a lot of neat center type items at Michael’s in their $1 bins as well as Target’s $1 section.
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February 27th, 2008
Love these ideas. Especially letting your child play in the sink. He always wants to anyway, why hadn’t I thought of it earlier?!
And I will definitely be using the cardboard and yarn idea. I am thinking that I can go through our recycle pile and find pictures on cereal boxes, etc that he’d love to lace around.
Thanks!
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February 27th, 2008
This is a great post! I was just thinking about this topic today since we’ll be home teaching our 15yo daughter. Thanks for the inspiration!
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February 27th, 2008
I will be perusing the yard sales once the weather warms up again happyhousewife. Thanks for the tip.
Thanks for visiting Katiebug. Good luck with homeschooling.
I visited your blog Heather and was met with some very helpful posts.
Thank you for visiting fullheart. I tried to visit your blog but I got an error message. I will try and visit again soon.
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February 27th, 2008
Good ideas. Thanks for sharing.
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February 27th, 2008
Very sweet ideas. I used to do similar when ours were younger. Now they are all old enough to keep themselves occupied.
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February 27th, 2008
Found your blog from Rocks in my Dryer. What great ideas!!! We are planning to homeschool when the time comes, and this was such an encouragement to me
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February 27th, 2008
Great ideas, I do this too. Have you tried looking at yard sales for your puzzles and such? I have purchased some great things for my toddlers for under a dollar.
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