Thriving Parents

shifting Parenthood from barely surviving to thriving

Activity Box for LONG days

I always keep a box of things on hand for rainy or snowy days.  But honestly, it comes in handy the most for those days that are 
L O N G.  You know those days, right?  The ones that feel like they are never going to end.  The ones where you swear if your children don’t kill each other, you might kill them yourself?  (I’m speaking figuratively here, not literally!)  Those are the days I’ll pull out our box and find something new and fresh for them to do.  Often I’ll take a favorite book that I’ve read one too many times and put it in there, as well.
Recently I went out of town for a long weekend.  For some parents that might not be a big deal.  For me?  It was HUGE!  I’d never left the girls before.  Well, I’d never left them for longer than it took for me to birth them a new sibling.  And even then, they came to visit me all the time.
When I was planning to leave for my 4 day trip, I knew Matt was ridiculously capable of taking care of the girls.  However, I was fairly confident that he’d be in for a little shock on how to entertain 3 girls all by himself for so long.  Our girls are great – but you have to keep them moving.  Even if you don’t entertain them and they entertain themselves, you need to keep changing the scenery.  
Before I left I made a small trip to Target.  {that may be the funniest sentence I’ve ever written – like ANY trip to Target is small!}  I scoured their dollar sections and created this activity box of things to do so that at any given time, Matt could pull an activity out to distract the girls.  Please forgive the quality of the pictures.  I took them close to midnight with improper lighting.
This was the note, I put on the top of the box.  I think I was having a lot of Mommy guilt when I wrote it since I titled it a Mommy loves you box.  What was I thinking?

These are Highlights Hidden Pictures posters.  They are huge and amazing!  Our girls were first introduced to the Hidden Pictures in Highlight’s High Five magazine and they now occasionally use the app on our phones.  The best thing about these posters is that when they are done, the back is self-checking.  Which pretty much means they can flip it over and see if they got all the answers right all by themselves.  They could also color in the rest of the poster.

To say that we love all Leap Frog products is a severe understatement.  So when I saw these cute books in the dollar bins, I knew I had to buy them.  Kate & Caroline’s book were perfect for their age but they didn’t have a great one for Rebecca (who is almost 3).  Her book was a reading book that Matt read to her.  It was still cute and she LOVES books so it fit her well.

I love that Target always has great $5 selections of DVDs.  I tend to pick one up before we take a road trip or to save for a rainy or snowy day.  This was a strawberry shortcake one that focused on what people want to be when they grow up.

I absolutely adore this book!  It’s two stories combined into one.  You start on one side and read the story from the perspective of the mom and then flip the book over and read the story from the perspective of the son.  The only thing that could have made it cuter was if it was about a girl!

I found this cute pack of play dough with Easter molds in the lid.  They were small so they’re just the right size to be used a few times and then tossed out when they start to dry up.  When the girls start to get too physical with each other, I either send them outside or to the kitchen table to work with play dough.  I need to keep those hands busy!

I was so excited to find Mr. Bubbles bubble bath in the dollar section.  A bath, especially a bubble bath, is the best kind of distraction for the girls.  We usually bathe them all together but if we bathe them separately, it definitely stretches out the time they are separated which changes the group dynamics.

I included three little herb gardens that they could plant.

I added a box of Oreo cookies as a treat but needed to write the note on the front.  😉  My children (and husband!) have a sweet tooth and I was sure they’d eat them all but they didn’t.

Long story short:  everyone survived, including me!  I was kept pretty busy so I wasn’t missing the girls as much as I thought I would be and I didn’t cry at all.  That’s a win in my opinion!

What are some small items that you could put in a box to entertain your kids?

xoxo
–k

Kristina Grum is a Certified Parent Educator who has over a decade of experience working with children, including being a classroom teacher. She currently teaches parenting classes in her local area and writes about shifting parenthood from barely surviving to thriving.

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  1. Michelle says

    I didn't know there was a Highlights app! Checking that out right now and I'm totally doing this when Dave and I go to Mexico this fall GREAT idea Kristina!

    • KristinaGrum says

      Thanks, Michelle! In the Apple market it's listed as Hidden Pix. I'm not sure what it's called in the Android market. There's a free version and an expanded paid version.