Every once in awhile, we get in a creative box around here and the kids get into the habit of asking for TV, kindles, and video games to occupy their time. When they start shifting interets too much to electronics, I get nervous, because like every parent, I know too many electronics is not a good thing. But I am also not a creative mama, great at coming up with compelling and fun things to do on the fly. So, my solution is to make a list, print it out, and tell him to check the list for ideas of what he can do. Here’s the current list for my six-year old boy, Daniel:
- Activity Box/Bag
- Bath
- Building Blocks
- Cars
- Chores
- Coloring
- Drawing
- Exercise
- Farm Animals
- Go for a Walk*
- Help with Chores
- Kindle*
- Legos
- Light Bright
- Lincoln Logs
- Listen to books on Tape
- Listen to Music
- Listen to the Bible
- Math
- Painting
- Piano Practice
- Picasso Tiles
- Play Ball
- Play Dough
- Play in the Yard*
- Punching Bag
- Puzzles
- Reading Independently
- Reading Lesson
- Rock Box
- Sidewalk Chalk
- Story Time
- Trampoline
- Treadmill
- Trucks
- Unload Dishwasher
- Watch a movie*
- Water Play (summer)*
- Wii*
*With permission, limited.
Although these won’t work for all children, these all require very little input on my part and often once he selects something and gets going, he does not need much intervention.
