Keeping Toddlers Busy

I'm not always so great at coming up with things to keep the little ones busy. But, I've observed that often times they are able to come up with their own activities. Sometimes, these activities are ones I'm not so keen on. Other times, they are pretty darn good. This one falls in the pretty darn good category.

I came into the room and discovered that Princess M had grabbed a foam plate off the kitchen counter, and was using the feet from Mr. Potato Head to poke holes in the plate. Now, I'll admit, my first reaction was - What a Mess! But, after watching for a few minutes, she was totally engrossed in this activity. And I decided that it was really quite a good one for helping with her finger dexterity and hand/eye coordination. She spent about 20 minutes poking holes through about three plates before she got bored. There were little foam holes all over the floor. Then, I took out the new swivel sweeper and handed it to her. She spent about five minutes vacuuming up the circles, and anything else that she found to suck up. Princess L started fussing because she wanted to vacuum too! Had to break up that argument, but can't beat kids fighting over who gets to clean!!!!

The last picture was later that night. She took a very short nap and fell asleep drawing on paper while I was making dinner. Had to include that one.