Tips For Getting School Done With a Toddler

We are, once again, in that season of trying to do school while also keeping up with a toddler, which is a full time job of it’s own! It’s causing me to pull out all the old tricks. So, I wanted to share a few with you. I know there are other Moms out there in the same boat! 😉

• Rotating toy bins. We have several toy bins that are great for this – get out a different one every half hour, or as needed. Examples: potato head, bristle blocks, baby dolls, magnetic blocks, pet shops, any type of boxed toy sets.

• Wood puzzles

• Preschool Activity Bags – these are pretty awesome! If you don’t have any, you may want to get a group together & make them! I was part of a Mom Swap of these over a decade ago. You make a dozen (or whatever number of families you have) of the same activity (like a magnetic “fishing” game, number matching puzzles out of colored cardstock or laminated colorful paper, a ring toss, dry erase pouches, etc…), then each family has 12 new activity bags.
• Lacing & tracing toys – you can easily make your own if you don’t have any!
• I actually watched an experiment one time that showed a baby reaching for a non-toy item almost every time when given two options (show the baby a water bottle & baby rattle, they go for the bottle), so this is a strange one, but look outside the box so to speak. Right now Ellenor loves to play with things like cardboard boxes, my notebooks (just flipping through the pages), catalogs, pencil boxes full of pens* (she just takes them in & out, plays & organizes them), etc. (*Warning – watch closely so they don’t accidentally open the pen & color on something important…. not that we would be speaking from experience or anything!) 😉