All my creative juices have dried up and I need some help. Eric is working some insane hours (about 12 hours a day, 7 days a week) and has been since the beginning of November. His next scheduled day off is December 19th. So here I am with three wild children and a one month old, two of whom are sick right now, and no idea what to do with them. Each day we do our school and work routines, and then I sort of stare into space (I'm so tired!) and the kids run amok. This is NOT good on so many levels. I would love to do something fun with them, something like what I feel I used to do...only I can't remember what that was and I can't think of anything new.
Usually.
Two days ago it snowed. The older two ran around outside while sicky Sophia watched them longingly from a window. So I had an idea (a rarity, let me tell you). I had the older two fill a huge bowl with snow. I laid out a giant beach towel on the kitchen floor, and Sophia and I had a snow party indoors. We made mini-snowmen, threw tiny snowballs at each other, and I put snow down Sophia's back (she loved this). This was a wonderful activity for us both.
And it's those sort of things that I would love to do more of, only I can't think of them. So here's where I need help. If any of you slightly more rested people can think of things like this I can do with my little ones, please, please share. Reading other peoples' ideas I can handle...thinking up my own, not so much.
**FYI, I am slowly posting some pictures and stories from when Lydia was born, but I'm putting them closer to the dates they actually happened. So if you check posts around late Oct. and early Nov., you may find some new ones.
6 comments:
Today I laid on the floor in a pile of pillows and blankets while the three little ones climbed all over me like puppies. It was almost like a massage. Amanda calls it a nest.
We've also been listening to the memory verses and dancing.
Read nutureshock and have your kids make "play plans"...
Go "camping" inside. Build a tent with blankets and chairs (or a fort, whatever). Tell stories under the blanket by letting each child take a turn by adding what happens next every few sentences. Use a flashlight to designate whose turn it is as well as make the experience more camp like. For lunch or dinner have camp food and make s'mores in the microwave or over the range of the stove. You could also send the children "hiking" up the stairs, bird watching from the windows and you could even make bird feeders with birdseed, peanut butter and pine cones and hang them outside your windows.
Have a beach party. Everyone wears shorts or appropriate beach attire. You can put beach blankets on the floor and make sand castles by getting an old saucepan or one that can withstand scratches from the grittiness of the sand. In it, mix together 1 cup play sand, ½ cup cornstarch, 1 teaspoon cream of tartar, ¾ cup hot water. Cook over medium heat on the stove until it gets so thick that it can’t be stirred anymore. Cool slightly. Using sand molds, sandbox toys, margarine containers or just your hands, mold the sand mixture into a castle or whatever you want your sculpture to be. Let dry for several days.
You can also have a dance party with beach music (I have a CD, if you're interested I'd be happy to send it to you) and then read books or talk about animals or things you would find at the sea. The kids can go pretend swimming in the ocean by either playing in the bathtub or just pretending to swim through the house and then come back and tell you about all the treasures they found.
You can have the kids make holiday crafts for either the tree or to send to friends and family. You can Google I'm sure a ton of craft ideas on the internet. One I'm fond of includes making homemade green playdoh and having the kids make wreaths with it. Bake, tie a ribbon at the top and voila! Christmas wreath!
Fill a big box with uncooked white rice. My kids love playing with measuring cups, little trucks, cooking containers, hidden buttons, etc. Even with some clear boundaries, rice spreads and can drive you crazy but I've found that the benefits of capturing my children's attention for a long time is worth the cleanup cost of time.
Other ideas: Shaving cream in the bathtub with popsicle sticks, or washable crayola paints
Fill a spray bottle with water, and let some of the kids wash the floor with the bottle and sponges, and then all have an "ice-skating" party with a towel under each foot as the ice-skates.
Coloring contest with real prizes
Exercise to fun music with each person taking turns being the "aerobics" leader
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