School is starting back up and if you’re anything like me, all the ideas for entertaining the kids are dwindling. Many of us did not get to enjoy our “typical family vacation”and with the summer coming to an end I’m kinda left feeling a bit bummed. It’s just such a weird time for everyone, right?! Our first 9 weeks of school, we have opted to eLearn through our public school. Great option to have, however it means MORE time at home trying to figure out what else there is to do is…

I thought I’d share some of the things that I have found to do over the years with my kids. Adding in some of the current things we’ve done with our Elementary age. I have both a girl and a boy so these activities are created to use for both genders and work in sibling groups as well.

for the toddler mommas

I wanted to share a few little ideas with the mommas in the trenches who have kiddos from toddler age and under at home. First off, hey there Momma, I see you. I remember feeling the desperate need to just get a shower…without interruption and preferably alone right?!

I have a couple of mom hacks that worked wonders for me when mine were young. Again, these work great for both boys and girls.

Hidden treasure

Honest moment, I hate sand boxes… The sand gets.every.where. I also hate slime but that’s another post entirely. I did love having a sand table though. Most mommas of toddlers have a water table right? Have you thought about using it also for a sand table? I went to Walmart and purchased a bag of sand for like 2 bucks, and filled my kids water table with sand. At that time they also carried colored sand, that would be fun too.

Then I would hide all kinds of shells, dinosaurs, little animals, or treasure in the sand for them to find. If you don’t have a water table, you can also use a plain plastic bin! I have done sand both ways and my kids spent hours playing in them. The upside of the bin is you can just put a lid on it. If you’re using a water table, grab a bin as well because you can have your kiddo transfer the sand from one to the other, which your kid will have fun doing and then you have a great way to store your sand to keep it clean.

POm poms

You can do so many things with a bag of pom poms! They are a great color sorting tool, counting tool and craft tool which makes them perfect for age toddler and up.

One the mom hacks I figured out when my son was a toddler is to have two or three items on a shelf that he could get to easily and play with. Our shelf was in a closet next to the kitchen and at eye level for him.

His favorite item on the shelf was pom poms in a pitcher. Stay with me here. I had this old plastic pitcher that we used for camping, it had a lid with a little circle spout on top which also had a little lid that covered the spout. I gave him a pile of pom poms and that pitcher. He would open the small lid, put some pom poms in, take the top off, dump them out and repeat. Easy hack and he would entertain himself happily while I cooked in the kitchen.

You can do the same thing around the holidays with little plastic ornaments and pom poms.

Change out the items on the shelf for the holiday themed items, the most important part of this is keeping it at two to three items and nothing else on “their shelf”. This is kind of a Montessori style of activity because your keeping the options fewer and they aren’t overwhelmed by the options. It was at this age I had my son put back the items on his shelf just like he found them.

FOr the pre-k and older

I may have to do a Boredom and Quarantine part 2 because I have more and more ideas I’m remembering. Would love to hear yours!

Water balloon baseball

Do you already do this?? Ok, so it’s still so hot in Texas well into the fall, so keep your self stocked on those amazing Bunch-o-balloons. Water balloon “baseball” isn’t really a game of baseball, but it is hilarious to pitch water balloons at- I mean to your kid who is holding a bat:) Extra credit: Sneak a ton of ice into the water but don’t let them see you do it, lol!

We have also chalked a target with points and a bullseye on the side of the house and played boys against girls for bragging rights. It’s a thing in our house hold, is it in yours?

TiE-Dye it all

Did you catch my last post with the tie-dye party tips? I can promise you that this is not just a girl thing. If you have a little dude at home, I can pretty much guarantee he too will like being able to create cool stuff with tie-dye. It’s messy fun, but I give a ton of tips on how to make it less stressful for you. There are so many different projects you can do with your kids and so many different ways to tie-dye, from tie-dye kits to tie-dying with sharpies and rubbing alcohol.

Extra credit: Order some plan white masks and take them to the next level with tie-dye!

Of course you know that I kinda specialize in the slumber party biz with Crate Party… how fun would it be to create some extra pretty, tie-dyed pillowcases at your next sleep over?!

Sibling Sleepover

Speaking of sleepover, have you done a sibling sleep over? I couldn’t wait until my kids were old enough to do these. Even if your kids share a room you can make it special in the living room or bonus room by making a “bed of paradise” (think all the pillows and blankets) or let the kids make a homemade fort. My kids love doing them, especially if we have a fun family movie or family activity. My kids bond most in laughter. The Lego movies are still ones they like to watch together. There is Lego Movie 1 and 2 but they also love the Lego Batman Movie and Lego Ninjago movie. I will say that the last two are probably for kids passed PreK age maybe. Varies for every family. I personally LOVE the Batman one, it’s hilarious.

I would really love to hear from you about your boredom hacks! You can add to the comments here or on social, but just know that we can all help creatively get through this COVID mess together.