My girls are not that great at "independent play". Translation for kids: anytime mommy attempts to (a) accomplish a task that doesn't involve a potato head, blocks, or plastic food or (b) relax or practice a hobby, you must immediately go into survival mode and DO NOT let her out of your sight. Scratch that, you must be actually TOUCHING mommy or you will cease to exist. Crying, whining, and hanging from any available limb are encouraged. Don't be afraid to really give it all you've got.
See what I mean? And I know they need my attention a lot of the time, but I also think it would be great for ALL of us if they could learn to play by themselves for short periods of time...and by that I don't mean that they disappear into the hallway, followed by silence, and then Cbear runs at me saying, "Jellybean's putting herself in the toilet!" Or, as I call it, Tuesday afternoon.
So, like a good mom, I've been scouring Pinterest for ideas to channel their "creative" energy. What follows is a description of my mostly failed attempts at this:
Coloring book and crayons. Simple enough, right? For some reason it just doesn't hold their attention long, and Jellybean eats them. This was remedied by giving Cbear markers, followed by Jellybean shrieking and convulsing because she couldn't have them.
Tri-colored pasta sorting. Actually a good activity, but not for independent play. Cbear liked separating the different colors into three containers, but only if I was helping her. I gave Jellybean an ice tray and showed her how she could put the pasta in the holes. She dumped her whole container onto the tray, tried to eat the pasta, then threw it all on the floor. Rotini shatters, FYI.
Homemade play-doh. All of our store-bought dough was dried out, so I made some actually pretty great homemade stuff. Cbear did pretty well with this and plastic cutlery, but needed help with cookie cutters. Freaked out when she couldn't make a play-doh gingerbread man by herself. Jellybean ate it.
Old wipe box toy. Not sure what you'd call this, but Jellybean actually really liked it. Use an old wipe or tissue box and let her put bottle caps/lids through the opening. Downside: you will have random lids scattered throughout your house.
Pipe cleaners and strainer. This kept Cbear occupied for several minutes as she put the pipe cleaners through the holes. I did that part for Jellybean and showed her how to take them back out. She looked confused and bewildered, then toddled off to try and steal Cbear's strainer. Bickering ensued.
Eyedropper fizzy activity. Fill a flat container with baking soda, then pour food color and vinegar in a bowl. I gave Cbear an eyedropper and showed her how to drop the vinegar in baking soda to make colorful fizzies. Cbear really loved this, but it escalated quickly to "look how much fizzy it makes when I pour in the whole bowl of colors!"Jellybean squalled while I tried to distract her with colors, then play-doh. Same results as above.
Watercolor painting. Cbear got regular watercolors, which she's used before and does pretty well. I gave Jellybean colored paper and a small amount of plain water, which she proceeded to dump and then suck on the paintbrush. Sigh. I'm seeing a recurring theme here. I then just gave her a wet rag to suck on.
Yarn lacing with foam board. I went on and on about how this would be a fun game, and when I actually gave it to Cbear her exact words were, "can I just have a ball of yarn instead?" I let them play with balls of yarn one day, which were tangled all over the house and around them so bad I had to cut them out of the yarn shackles. I guess I chould just do that again, but it makes me twitchy. Anyway, I showed Cbear how to "sew" the yarn, she did one hole, then said, "can you help me so I can be done?"
I'm sure there are more activities I'm forgetting, but that's all for now. All those pictures I saw on Pinterest of children quietly and independently doing these activities are just not reality for us. We'll keep working on it. So, anybody want to do a busy bag swap? I'm running out of ideas!
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