Toddlerobics
We’ve recently discovered the Toddlerobics books and they have fast become favorites. One of our recent posts talked about ‘do-it-yourself’ toddler classes. If a gymnastics/activity class is not in the budget for you, check out these books for some toddlerobics at home. The Boy loves to do the activities in the book as I read them. Zita Newcome’s rhymes and illustrations appeal to children and adults alike. You can use these books to do a 20-30 minute gymnastics class at home!
Toddler Classes at Home
There are many classes available out there for toddler and preschool age kids, especially in urban areas. However, classes can be expensive and hard to fit into the budget of a single income family. If classes aren’t going to fit into your budget, here are some ideas of ways to do class activities and socialization at home.
1. Form a Playgroup. If you don’t know anyone in your area with kids, start hanging out at the park or another play area. If you already have some friends who are also stay at home parents, organize one or more day(s) per week to get your kids together to play. A park is an ideal place to start. When the weather turns bad, try a play area inside a mall or other free play area. This may not be a structured activity, but it will get your child playing with and around other children, an important part of early socialization skills.
2. Plan ‘Classes’ at Home. Plan an hour (or 10 minutes) every day (or once a week) to do some structures ‘class’ activities at home.
For Gymnastics: Put some pillows on the floor and let the kids do tumbling. Practice balancing on one foot, hopping and doing other stretching/tumbling activities.
For Art: Put a protective cover on the table and get out the paints. Use crayons, colored pencils, watercolors, scissors, glue, stickers and paper and simply let the kids explore different types of media.
For Music: If you are not a singer yourself, find a cd or dvd that has some good singing and encourage your kids to sing along. If you have toy musical instruments, get them out and have ‘band practice.’ Find songs that have a good rhythm for clapping hands and tapping toes. Sing songs that include movements like “Hokey-Pokey” and “Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes.”
Getting an Early Start on Chores
Don’t think that just because your child is a toddler that they cannot start helping with ‘chores’ around the house. I have noticed that there is a window of opportunity where kids actually like to help. By taking advantage of that early window, you can set up routines and examples for your kids to follow as they grow.
Picking up Toys: I think the best way to start forming good habits is to have kids help pick up and put away their own toys. Teach them early on that part of playing with toys is putting them away. Even if you put away 90% of the toys and they only put away 10%, it is a good start.
Laundry: Putting dirty clothes in the laundry basket is a good place to start for kids helping with laundry. After they get undressed, ask your toddler to pick up the clothes and take them to the laundry basket. This works best if the laundry basket is low to the ground. If you have a taller hamper, consider putting a small step stool nearby. Toddlers and preschoolers might also be able to help load the washer and dryer, especially if you use front loaders.
Dining Table: Most preschoolers can start to help setting the table. Be prepared for things to be put in the wrong place and dropped on the floor though. Silverware might be a good place to start. For example, ask your child to take these spoons and put one at everyone’s place at the table. Or say, here is your cup, go put it at your place. Cleaning up after meals is a little more tricky. We typically head right into potty time or bath time or nap time right after meals, so help in clearing a washing up will have to start a little farther down the road for us.
Cleaning: Dusting is a great place for toddlers and preschoolers to begin helping. Give them a damp dust rag while you are dusting and let them go at it. They might just move the dust around instead of wiping it up, but at least they are getting the idea of wiping down the furniture. *Remember to keep toxic cleaning chemicals away from your child.
Yard Work: Most kids love to play outside. Make outside chores a fun activity for your child. If you are working in the garden, let them have a small plot in which to dig and use a watering can. Weeding (provided you are specific about what is a weed and what is not) can be another fun chore. The Boy also loves helping pick up clippings and taking them to the street or to the compost pile. Sometimes a child-sized accessory (like kid gardening gloves) is all it takes for kids to actually want to help out!
Free and Amazing Photo Organizer
So you have kids and a digital camera. That probably means you have anywhere from 1-10000 pictures and videos of them. Most digital cameras come with software to help you organize and edit your photos, but most leave a lot to be desired. One of the best programs out here also happens to be free! It is called Picasa.
This program is amazing. It can watch your picture folders, adding new ones anytime you plug in your camera. It creates thumbnails of all your videos and pictures for easy organizing and editing. You can do a lot of basic editing, cropping, red eye reduction and a bunch more.
One of the best features is you can choose what format to print pictures in. You can have wallets, 5×7, 4×6, all the common formats. You can print out the best pictures and give to family members as gifts!
You can also have it resize images before you email them so you don’t clog your family’s email accounts with glorious pictures of your kids.
Once I discovered this, I threw out the horrible Canon software and have never looked back. And that was about 6000 pictures ago!
Paper Tablecloths
I don’t endorse using paper tablecloths, but sometimes you need to, right? Maybe to match with shower decorations, or at an outdoor party. After it is used, don’t throw it away! Check it for food stains (cut out or tear those parts off and throw them away), then save the rest. Here are some ideas for how to use it.
-Spread it out and let your kids go crazy with crayons or markers (just be sure the markers don’t bleed through to whatever is underneath).
-Cut it into smaller pieces to use for travel placemats or smaller coloring pages.
-Spread it out as a table protector for messy art times.
-Let your kids practice cutting with scissors (and supervision!).
-If it has a print, cut out the animals, flowers or whatnot and use them for other pasting crafts.
If you have to buy a paper tablecloth, be sure you get your money’s worth out of it!