Activities/Games Archives - Deep In Diapers

In Activities/Games

4 Creative Ways To Play Outdoors With Sidewalk Chalk

May 14, 2018 No Comments

I love getting my kids outside to play as often as possible. There’s something fun about nature and learning opportunities seem to abound. From counting rocks to finding colors in the leaves and sky, being outdoors is something I try to do with my kids any day the weather is nice enough to allow it.

One of the things we’ve recently discovered is sidewalk chalk. There are so many fun things to do and ways to play with sidewalk chalk that keep my kids entertained for hours. Here are three of our favorite ways to play with chalk.

1. Draw letter, shape or number roads.

I love the idea of channeling a two year old’s boundless energy while giving them an opportunity to learn. One of our current favorite activities involves me drawing a bunch of shapes or letters on the side walk in a line and calling them a road.

Read: 5 Learning Games For Preschool Boys

We run up and down the road shouting the shape or letter that we’re stepping on. Sometimes we back up the road and we make truck backing up sounds. We also go up the road sideways or really slow.

I’m pretty sure our neighbors think we’re crazy, but we have a ton of fun with our sidewalk chalk roads and it’s an easy way to teach letters, numbers or shapes.

2. Sidewalk Chalk City

We love drawing sidewalk chalk cities. The city usually has all of our favorite restaurants, our friends’ houses, library, bank, and grocery store. Once we get all the important landmarks drawn, the fun begins.

I let my kids take toy cars and trucks outside and they drive them all over the city. They pretend to get money at the bank, groceries at the store and of course they make sure to get fries and chicken at our chalk Chic-fil-a (the kid’s favorite place to eat).

They usually are entertained and having fun for a long time driving their trucks and cars all over the driveway.

3. Chalk Mailboxes

My son loves this game. He plays it all the time. I draw a bunch of mailboxes all over the driveway. Then he hops on his trike and pretends he’s the mailman. He drives all over putting sticks in the chalk mailboxes and pretends the sticks are mail.

To extend our playtime, I’ll draw the number six on a mailbox and tell him to deliver mail to mailbox six. He’ll then take the mail and drive over to the mailbox with the number six on it and put the mail in. He’s having fun, getting energy out and also learning his numbers. A win-win in my book!

Read: How I Keep My Kids From Getting Bored With Their Toys

4. The Old Fashioned Way – We Just Draw Stuff

Sometimes we just go out with the chalk and draw for fun. My son comes up with really creative ways to use chalk. He drew a huge scribble on the sidewalk the other day and told me he was a snowplow and the scribble was snowmelt on the road.

I have fun watching my kids draw and use their imaginations.

We have had so much fun this spring outside with sidewalk chalk. What are some ways you’ve found fun to play with chalk outside?

Keep Reading

In Activities/Games

6 Easy Activities To Keep Young Toddlers Entertained

March 12, 2018 No Comments

My toddler gets bored so easily. I’m trusting this is because she is very intelligent and likes to learn and experience new things, or at least that’s what I keep telling myself. She keeps me on my toes trying to think of new ways to keep her entertained. In order to keep my sanity and hers, I often end up running to the kitchen in search of a new activity to satisfy her curiosity.

If you’ve got an easily bored toddler like mine, you’ll love some of these activities I’ve found helpful to keep my toddler happy.

Toddler Activity One – Sour Cream Stacker (Ignore the sticky on the craft sticks…my toddler is messy!)

One day out of desperation, I ran into the kitchen. I searched frantically for anything I could find that would keep my toddler from being bored. Out of desperation, I rummaged through the Tupperware drawer, hoping to find an answer there. I found my answer in an old sour cream container. Taking a large knife, I made a hole in the top.

Once the hole was made, I gave my daughter the container and a bunch of craft sticks. My toddler began sticking the sticks in the hole and pulling them out. Mom win. My daughter has another activity to do that she loves.

Toddler Activity Two – Kitchen Utensils

My toddler loves using any kitchen utensil as a toy. She paints the walls with a basting brush. She loves the sound the whisk makes as she shakes it. Kitchen utensils make great toys for a toddler.

I pull out all kinds of funny utensils to see what my toddler does with them. She’ll hit the floor with a wooden spoon or go nuts on measuring cups. No matter how loud she gets, it’s always worth it to have a few minutes where she’s busy and out of trouble.

Activity Three – Hotel Keys and Gift Cards

For some reason, my toddler loves to walk around the house with something in her hand. Maybe it’s because she’s a girl and loves multi-tasking? Whatever the reason, she just loves holding things.

A few weeks ago, I set her up with a bunch of old gift cards and hotel keys to play with. She loved it.

Activity Four – Rocks in Containers

This activity is so basic, but it’s always a hit in our house. I just raid the Tupperware drawer for some old leftover containers. Once I find some that still have lids, I run outside and find a few small rocks, acorns, or sticks. Then I put them in the containers. Once my toddler has a container, it just takes a couple minutes before she realizes that she can shake it and it’s noisy. Her face lights up and she’s shaking away keeping busy.

Activity Five – Kitchen Drawer

I have one drawer in the kitchen that my kids are allowed access. I have it stuffed full of plastic lids, containers, cups, pretty much anything I don’t use that much but is plastic or not breakable.

My kids love it. They love opening the drawers and pulling EVERYTHING out and scattering it all over the floor. Then they play restaurant, feed their stuffed animals or any other crazy game they think up. Currently, my toddler loves bringing me all the plastic cups she can find in the drawer to have me take a drink from. Having their own drawer keeps my kids out of the areas in the kitchen that have breakable items and lets them hang out with mom in the kitchen while I cook.

Activity Six – Newspaper and Mail Wads

I let my one-year-old and three-year-old tear up the old newspaper and take turns throwing it in our recycling bin. They loved every step of this activity. From tearing up mail and newspaper to wadding it into balls and throwing it in the recycling bin. It was a big hit. Both of my kids were entertained and not fighting for about half an hour. I consider that a big win in my book.

These things have been sanity savers for my kids. What are some things you’ve done to keep your kids entertained?

Read: 5 Learning Activites For Preschool Boys

Keep Reading

In Activities/Games

How I Keep My Kids From Getting Bored With Their Toys

February 19, 2018 No Comments

Are your kids bored with their toys? Does it make you mad that all the new Christmas toys they received are already forgotten? Do you just wish your kids would just play toys instead of bothering you? If so, let me share my secrets with you.

Read: 6 Easy Activities to Keep Young Toddlers Entertained

A year ago, I discovered something powerful. If my children hadn’t seen a toy for a few weeks, they felt like it was a new toy. They were excited about it, they wanted to play with it, and they were engaged. It hit me that if just hiding a toy for a few weeks kept them from getting bored, this was something I needed to do regularly.

That’s when I began a toy rotation with my children’s toys. Every Monday, my children get “new” toys. While the toys aren’t actually new, they are ones they haven’t seen for several weeks. And boy do they get excited about them. My three-year-old son has told me many times that Monday is his favorite day. Why? Because he gets new toys to play with.

Here is how the toy rotation works

The way I approach the toy rotation is simple. My son has a toy box in his room. That toy box gets filled each Monday with a tub of toys from his closet. I divided all his toys into three large tubs. One tub contains firetrucks and police rescue vehicles, the next has farm toys, and the third contains construction vehicles.

My son puts the old toys from last week into a tub and puts the new toys into his toy box. Then all week long, he plays with the new toys. It really works and he loves it.

I loooove Mondays. I get new toys. – Three-year-old

Why I love the toy rotation

The toy rotation really helps curb boredom in our house. The play stays fun and exciting because the toys are always fresh and new each week.

Secondly, I love the fact that it makes picking up toys easier. If my son had every toy he owns out to play with during his playtime, he would be overwhelmed when it came time to pick up the toys. He has tons of toys. The toy rotation minimizes the number of toys in his room. When it comes time to pick up, having a smaller amount to pick up makes the job seem more manageable.

Rotating my children’s toys has been a lifesaver. When my kids seem bored, I pull a new tub out in our playroom and boom, kids are happy! What are some ways you’ve found helpful to keep your kids from getting bored with their toys?

Keep Reading

In Activities/Games

5 Learning Games for Preschool Boys

February 12, 2018 No Comments

I love activities where my toddler can learn through play. However, raising a preschool age boy, I’ve come to realize that all our games have to involve some sort of vehicle or my preschooler loses interest fast. So here are a few of our favorites.

Counting Practice with Mailboxes

This has to be one of my preschool boy’s favorite games. I simply draw mailboxes on our sidewalk or driveway using sidewalk chalk. Then, I write numbers on the mailbox, I usually try for 1-10. Next, I pick up a pile of sticks or rocks and tell my preschooler to deliver the sticks to the mailbox.

For example, I hand him a stick and say could you please take this to mailbox 6? Or here’s a package for 2, and he’s going to be so sad if you don’t help him deliver it. This keeps him busy for a long time. He absolutely loves pretending that he is the mailman. He drives his trike (Mail truck) to each mailbox and puts the stick or rock in. This game has been a huge hit in our house.

Cars Number Recognition Printable

This is an awesome printable from totschooling.net. My preschooler absolutely adores this game. He loves driving the cars on the printable road and finding the corresponding gas pump that matches the car’s number. I threw the roads in sheet protectors and laminated the cars and he loves playing with them. He loves making the noises the gas pump does as he fills each car up with gas. The printable goes up to number 20, so it’s a great way to work on matching skills and number recognition all while your preschooler is playing and having fun!

Letter Practice With Letter Road Game

This game has been awesome for us. It’s not only good for learning, but it gets some of that pent up energy out! When the weather is nice, I take my kids outside and I draw a road of a bunch of “N”‘s or whatever letter I want my preschooler to practice. I call the line of letters a road. Then I get crazy with the letter road.

We pretend that we’re big semis and we walk up and down the letter road honking. Next, we try to jump down the letter road. Then we go really fast down the letter road. We try to keep it fun and keep doing things up and down the letter road. It’s a great game to get some energy out and also teach your preschooler or toddler letter recognition.

Little Blue Truck Activities

If you haven’t read the little blue truck books with your preschooler you need to. The books are so cute and of course have trucks in them, which will keep your little boy excited. There are tons of activities online to do with little Blue Truck, but I really like the matching toads to trucks letter recognition activity found at totschooling.net. My preschooler enjoys matching the toad to the right truck.
<br />

Counting Practice With Tractors

My preschooler loves playing with tractors, so this game is perfect for him. I found a deck of flash cards at the dollar store that we use with this. I place a flash card out on the table and ask him what number is on the card. He will tell me and then I have him get that many pieces of corn and put it into his tractor’s wagon.

We go through the deck of flashcards and let him practice over and over again counting corn. I’ve really seen an improvement in his counting since playing this game.

It’s fun finding a game that incorporates play and learning!

Learning Games Are Great

I love games that keep my preschooler interested and keep him learning. What are some games that you’ve found helpful for teaching your boys colors, letters, shapes and numbers?

Need Ideas to Keep a Young Toddler Entertained? Read: 6 Easy Activities For Young Toddlers

**This post contains affiliate links. I receive a small commission at no cost to you when you make a purchase using my link.

Keep Reading