It is pouring rain as I type this, and I have two 3-year-olds to entertain indoors. Hee. Do you like how I’m implying that if it weren’t for the rain we’d be out in the healthful fresh air? Even if it weren’t pouring rain, I’d still have two 3-year-olds to entertain, and for at least part of each day I’m looking for ways they can entertain themselves while I get some work done. A girl can dream.
And so this is the first in what I hope will be a series of periodic posts in which I test out easy, low-mess, low-parental-involvement activities for young children to do. This is new territory for me, so I hope you’ll have mercy with the lameness of ideas. And could you please generate some of that mercy right away, because the first activity I “thought up” was Dry Pasta in Cake Pans.
(The funny splotchy mark on the table near Edward is from another project. Hint: metallic gold paint is PERMANENT. To EVERYTHING.) (The polkadotted things are my shoes.) (Why the children are so completely unsurprised by the sight of their mother standing on the coffee table is a mystery.)
Intention
Children should make designs/pictures with the dry pasta; the cake pans should keep the designs/pictures contained
Supplies needed
- one cake pan per child
- dry pasta in assorted shapes
Pre-activity time
One minute: taking pans out of cupboards, putting in some dry pasta
Time activity lasted before someone was whining again
Five minutes, but then I made an adjustment (adding more pasta) and they lasted another 15 minutes
Parental assistance required
Set-up, plus periodically leaving the computer to go tell them not to throw the pasta, not to take each other’s pasta, that it was okay that it kept rolling around, that all right fine I would add more pasta so it wouldn’t roll so much, and please stop eating the pasta, and okay fine eat the pasta I don’t care
Mess
Low, and it was easy for the kids to help clean up
Noise
A little clattery, that’s all
Clean-up time
One minute: pasta can be put in a bin for later play, or back in the box if the kids had clean hands while they played, or what I did was pour it into a pan of boiling water and we ate it for lunch
Unexpected complications
Children eating the dry noodles; some of the noodles were too roll-aroundy to be played with
Next time
I’ll use butterfly pasta or other non-rolling options, or I’ll do a full layer of the rolling noodles so they keep each other from rolling, and I’ll get some of that multicolored pasta for better designs
Something I’ve done babysitting that kept a 4 and 5 year old occupied for TWO HOURS!!
Hollylynne | October 14th, 2008 at 11:07 pm
Sorry, hit return and posted before I finished! Anyhow . . . the activity that kept them going for two hours was SHRINKY DINKS. I cut out a bunch of shapes and punched holes in them (for stringing onto necklaces and keychains later), gave them a pile of colored pencils and they were off. I had to get involved for the baking portion of course, but most of it was drawing time which they did solo.
Hollylynne | October 14th, 2008 at 11:09 pm
I have a 3 yr old, and I’ve recently tried making jewelry with noodles, cheerios, beads, etc. Found by much trial and error that it works best when she strings it on a pipe cleaner (much less spilling). This occupies her for about 10 minutes straight, which doesn’t sound like much but it’s enough to let me get some dinner started. I love your idea of posting what you’ve tried, and can’t wait to see what’s next!
I just told my husband last night I was going to google “Toys to occupy preschooolers.”
Liz | October 14th, 2008 at 11:39 pm
How about different pasta shapes and they can sort them?
Sharon | October 15th, 2008 at 3:21 pm
You can do this with dry rice, too, and it’s super easy to make your own colors — just put a little food coloring in some rice in a ziploc and shake until the color’s spread around. The coloring part is fun kid activity, too.
Jan | October 15th, 2008 at 7:39 pm
Sometimes even 5 or 10 minutes of them playing without help, is a big help to Mom!! Good idea, Swistle!
Lee | October 16th, 2008 at 3:03 pm
Packing peanuts are a big hit too, especially if you put the peanuts and the kid in a big box. Also, when my boy was 3 he LOVED playing with dried beans. Ran them through a funnel, stirred them up, swirled hands through them. They were awesome!
Heather D | October 17th, 2008 at 6:06 am