Taming the TV habit

[dabittymama]

Ok all you moms and teachers out there!!!! With such a cold winter my girls have been watching too much TV, IMO at least. They don't really play with many toys and mommy can only stand painting and coloring (well with Sadie coloring with crayons is still more snack time than anything...).

We do a tea party every day and an art project read books upon books but after that I am at a loss. Any ideas to keep them entertained that don't cost anything (that is key) and don't invovlve the TV? I really just want it to be warm enough to go play outside again!

 

[petey111]

We've had a lot of fun playing BINGO lately. We do have Disney bingo, but originally, I made bingo cards that had shapes and colors on them. There are websites that are there that can make BINGO cards for you (or you could have the kids make them with stickers and stuff). I love PBSkids.org for those times when I'm really wanted him to play on his own, but have it be a little more educational. Ben's also been very into helping me bake/cook lately. You could check out kid cookbooks from the library. There are also some really good activity books at the library as well. We found that our state park has an awesome playland and is really inexpensive. You could also check out kids exercise videos from the library and have them do those if you aren't feeling up to heading out somewhere.

I talk a good talk, but Ben's watch way more than his fair share of t.v.

 

[maggie i.]

Going back to the dim recesses of my memory--fort building was always popular. Either with cupboard doors or tv trays and cushions and a blanket.

If you buy in bulk, toilet paper rolls make great building material.

There's the home-made play-doh. I spy. Origami. Paper Airplanes. Charades (like zoo animals). Cutting up old magazines and putting the pictures of ...what I want to be, where I'd like to go, If I had a dog, etc... and make a scrapbook.

 

[katg1006]

Here are some things...

1. Have a scavenger hunt with them. My son loved this! Make them a map and hide clues after they go to bed at night. Then you can all do the hunt together to find the treasure! The treasure could be cute little necklaces to wear to tea time?

2. How about baking day. Maybe you could all bake some cookies together or healthy muffins.

3. What about doing the potato art thing....where you cut a potato in half and use that as a stamp. Might be a little messy but something to change up the normal art routine.

4. How about having Story time...where each one can pick their favorite story or they could be creative and tell you a story.

5. My friend let her kids finger paint in the bathtub one day when she was desperate *LOL* Not sure how messy that is..I haven't tried it.

6. Set up an indoor bowling thing with cups and a soft ball. I have done this and it keeps them busy for a while.

 

[petey111]

Oh...we've been building forts a lot too.

I also have a book at school that I forgot about. It's called "I Love Dirt" and it's got ideas for all seasons for encouraging kids to enjoy the great outdoors. I saw it today and thought of you Jos. =)

 

[cellomom]

i say tv is okay!! LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

actually when cora was Kalin's age, we didn't have a tv...which is probably how she learned to read so quickly!

I say check out fiveinarow.com and see if you can do that to kind of "start" school...i know i've given you that site before. We loved it! but honestly, my kids can play and play and play with their toys and keep themselves occupied for hours! Of course, now that they are older, their toys are Wii and computer and xbox...and imaginary friends!

i'm sure none of that helped!! LOL!! i still say tv is great!! especially Little Einsteins...which Lil (almost 7) watches like crazy everyday!! over and over!!

 

[faerywings]

tee hee, imaginary freinds. Did Sally have to put Darth Vader into time out again?

Everyone has great ideas, and given a bit more coffee, I am going to try to add to you list.
Buuuuuuut... as a mom of some older kids..... I am going tot tell you that a couple of months of watching tv isn't going to kill them-- esp under the circumstances.
Joslyn- make sure that you take time off , your pg, mom to 2 very little ones *and* work a hard job with a crazy schedule!

When Scott was born- til 2yo he rarely watched tv until I was on bedrest with Cait and then after Cait was born. Actually he liked the computer better than the tv. But Even if I cuddled with them, or read abook of my own, or even spent a tv show amount of time cleaning up, it helped out so much.

 

[LindaPete]

I guess I'd echo what Chris said. A little TV won't ruin them. I have two research projects of my own who both graduated high school with better than a 4.0 GPA and were both number one in their class. Both successfully off to college on great scholarships.
I can't say enough how important reading is! I have no idea how old your kids are, but anything you can do with reading will set them up for success in the future. It will be spring soon, just hang on a little longer

 

[t_a_l_i]

It is hard. I totally get where you are coming from. Especially during the winter here ... it rarely gets decent enough to take the kids outside. And I can only do so much driving trucks on the floor and building blocks before I get crazy.

Ella loves scavenger hunts. I have been doing them with things that start with the different letters of the alphabet, to help her learn more about that. Like, I have her find something that starts with A, B, C... etc.

We also do a lot of board games. Memory, Bingo, Chutes and Ladders, all that. She loves it.

The boys are happier playing with whatever they find on the floor, so I don't have as much trouble keeping them happy.

Ella gets bored very easily. And she tells me this. lol

 

[Merkee]

What about dress up? Or store? We used to set up all kinds of shops and that was good for hours multiple days. Of course expect to share your canned goods from your pantry. They could do toy stores or libraries too.

I forget how old your girls are.

 

[LindaPete]

Oh Merkee - great idea. I totally forgot about store and dressup!

 

[Jodie McNally Designs]

I'm a mom and a teacher.

Lily LOVES to do dance party. We just crank it up and dance crazy for as long as we can. She is old enough now to play math and some beginning reading games on the the Disney Channel website, and she also love to do "Paint" on the computer.

In all honesty...with some of the great new shows on Disney (Imagination Movers, Little Einsteins, etc..) I'm okay with her watching because she is ALWAYS learning from those shows. She also loves to play her guitar and make drums out of stuff around the house.

Lily is 4.5 and is obsessed with board games like Monopoly Jr, Yahtzee Jr, and Candyland. We are SUCH board game people, so we are loving it that we can all play together now!!!

Hide and seek, I Spy, etc...are fun games, too!

I think the fact that you are caring enough to ask shows that you are an awesome mom...so don't worry so much. LOL!

 

[jesspo]

awesome ideas, ladies. you are all so creative! not sure how old your little ones are. my ds will be 2 in 5 days. eeeek - where did the time go?!? he loves arts and crafts! crayola makes some great "mess-free" products - i think its called color wonder? he loves the color wonder finger paints and is amazed when the colors magically appear on the paper - but not on the walls! lol totally fascinated by this.

i also get some great ideas from this blog...tons of fun stuff on here! especially the silly songs and great book recommendations. ds looooves books!

good luck!

 

[VickiStegall]

all of these ideas are so great! I have a couple that alyx used to love - maybe they'll help in a pinch...

~ blowing bubbles in the bathtub (not actually taking a bath, but with the little wand thingies) since you dont want the soap residue anywhere else

~ playing with flashlights (just by themselves or shadow puppets)

 

[dabittymama]

awesome ideas, ladies. you are all so creative! not sure how old your little ones are. my ds will be 2 in 5 days. eeeek - where did the time go?!? he loves arts and crafts! crayola makes some great "mess-free" products - i think its called color wonder? he loves the color wonder finger paints and is amazed when the colors magically appear on the paper - but not on the walls! lol totally fascinated by this.

LOL, my girls are almost 3 and 18 months. We loved color wonder for a while, but the 18month old usually just EATS them...so I just went back to good ole' fashion crayons b/c they are much cheaper!

We've been loving these ideas. I actually made an indoor sandbox last week. I took bags of different colored beans and put them in the old baby bathtub. Gave the girls some funnels and spoons and they have loved that. Thankfully the dog eats anything that falls out .

Vicki~ I'll have to do the bubbles b/c Kalin has been begging me to blow bubbles every day for a week.