Toddlers are active learners who love exploring their surroundings – but this can make photo sessions seem like a chore!
Susie Allison has developed Busy Toddler, an Instagram page of activities designed to keep children occupied for hours. Allison knows which tactics work as an experienced educator and curriculum specialist.
1. Let Them Clean
As toddlers become more independent, they must be taught how to clean up. While it may be tempting for you to do everything for them, doing it all yourself only teaches your kids not to do chores in later years. Instead, make cleaning fun by assigning age-appropriate tasks that they can complete and provide visual aids like charts or checklists so they can mark off each completed job as they complete them.
Start small when it comes to tidying up; get them to put their toys away first. If this seems challenging for them, sing a clean-up song together or model this behavior yourself. If they still resist, consider increasing expectations slightly.
According to mom and former teacher Justine Green, Parents and educators can help children develop fine motor skills by providing buckets of soapy water with drying stations for them to use to wash dolls and cars. She has also found that decorating their bathroom walls using paintbrush and water is an effective way of keeping their kids occupied while she brushes her teeth or showers.
One final tip for keeping toys organized is to only put out toys they can quickly put away – not 48 blocks or an entire Lego set! Don’t fret over your kids being messy occasionally; their house will soon return to peace and order again soon enough! Just remember to close the door before they go wild!
2. Let Them Play With Things
Parents looking to keep their toddler occupied for extended periods can engage in many easy and enjoyable activities that will keep them entertained, such as painting pumpkins. Other fun projects may involve sorting items such as colored cups or playing cards into piles for sorting, all which help develop organizational and cognitive skills in toddlers.
Toddlers can also have fun playing with food around the house, like pasta painted with color-changing paint and then threaded into rings or bracelets made of food-grade thread. This activity not only gets them using their hands and moving around more freely but is something they will enjoy doing repeatedly! For an outlet for their creativity, set up a sensory bin filled with rice, cornmeal, water, kitchen tools, etc. – which keeps them busy for an extended period before being stored away after use!
If you need assistance developing activities for your child, plenty of websites offer free toddler activities. In addition, busy books or activity mats can also be purchased and put to good use; popular options include magnetic boards that let children build and decorate, Discovery Toys pegboards, which provide strength-building activities as well as keep your little ones busy for hours at a time, magnetic board toys which allow children to build, decorate or build and then decorate again, as well as Discovery Toys pegboards which help strengthen strength while developing strength coordination skills as well as keeping them occupied throughout their playtime!
Busy Toddler is an online resource designed to offer parents with toddlers who often claim they’re bored activities that will help keep them occupied and entertained. Established by former teacher and curriculum specialist Susie Allison – mother to two young kids herself who understands parents’ struggle when trying to keep them occupied and entertained; has assisted many other parents dealing with similar difficulties.
3. Let Them Do Arts & Crafts
Parents shouldn’t view crafts simply as ways of keeping toddlers entertained; instead, parents can view arts and crafts as opportunities to foster creativity and problem-solving skills in children. Arts and crafts help develop critical thinking abilities. Kids must plan how to approach projects and use materials efficiently for completion without incurring unexpected issues such as running out of glue or paper tears requiring creative solutions to keep going with their project.
Crafting is also an effective way to develop both gross and fine motor skills in children. Holding a crayon while drawing helps build hand-eye coordination; dipping stamps into ink pads or paint helps strengthen pincer grasp (tiny fingers). Arts and crafts encourage creative play – something young children need to build social and emotional understanding as they age.
Crafts should be designed for children of appropriate ages and complexity levels, such as those created by Susie Allison, Busy Toddler, on Instagram. She gained fame through her DIY projects using items found at home; for instance, her simple frog craft can introduce tots to various animals in nature while encouraging fine motor development and counting skills.
Or try this fun autumn leaf craft which encourages children to go outside and find leaves before painting them on paper and creating their leaf calendar for Mom, Dad, or Grandma!
4. Let Them Watch TV
Kids can gain valuable skills from high-quality television shows, including how to behave in public or read a clock. However, it’s essential to weed out unnecessary shows and promote other activities when your child isn’t attending school or napping.
Susie Allison of Busy Toddler has amassed over half a million followers on Instagram by providing activities to keep children busy while learning. As an ex-teacher and curriculum specialist, her projects are fun and educational, such as painting pumpkins or sorting cards to develop fine motor skills.
Even when we try our hardest, breaking screen habits can be challenging. According to research from Tohoku University, children who watch excessive TV have increased grey matter in their frontoparietal cortex which correlates to lower verbal intelligence – plus, TV can be an effective distraction during flights or doctor’s appointments!
If your toddler watches television, ensure they remain active by not allowing toys during commercials and co-view when possible; research has demonstrated that children gain more from television when managed alongside parents or older siblings.
When leaving your child alone, one way to help keep them at ease is providing them with activities such as writing in their journal or reading a book. You could also let them color or play with their toys – ensure they’re in a safe location!
5. Let Them Play With Their Toys
Toddlers love playing with toys! Keeping them busy for an extended period can be done by having enough toys that engage them at one time; however, too much clutter makes it harder for them to focus and commit themselves fully to games, thus leading them to drift from toy to toy without actually engaging with any meaningful match at all. A good rule of thumb would be four toys available at all times for pre-mobile infants, eight for crawling children, and 12 for toddlers (such as blocks bins, baskets of dolls, and stacking cups).
Toddlers love activities that help develop their fine motor skills. An easy and inexpensive way to do this is to place a sheet of paper on the floor and encourage them to draw with crayons or markers – this activity helps hand-eye coordination and attention span, too! For added fine motor exercise, consider giving them small objects of different colors to group according to color – this also helps develop concentration and problem-solving capabilities.
Susie Allison of Busy Toddler offers plenty of engaging and educational activities for your toddlers to do together. With an ever-expanding Instagram following and an expansive website full of helpful ideas such as painting pumpkins or sorting activities – Susie can help keep their minds active! She features simple crafts and more complex ones like sorting activities.
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