Fun Stuff

I am teaching an arts and crafts class at the Taylor Ranch Community Center on Monday Mornings. It's great for kids and parents. You can go to www.myspace.com/craftcorner_abq or email me at ____@____.com or call ###-###-####

i was a single mom workign full time and going to nursing school ust 12 yrs ago. i had a 16 yr old son and a 3 yr old. my son worked so he could help support us because i was only making about 350 a month. i knew that they had just gone through a traumatic event and their lives changed drastically and didnt want to make things worse. i knw its hard but i spent all my off time with the boys. we always had dinner and breakfast together. that was a rule. we scheduled classes and work arund that. when i got home from work/s school we all did housework toether and then had game board nights, library nights or park nights. i would take hot dogs and cook them at the park. once a week each child had a date with mom. on mondays, i would spend all my time with my youngest and he knew it was his day. his brothe could nto interrupt us unless it was a 911 emergency. on wednesdays it was his brothers night. we would just talk or hang out in his room. i tudied for one hour after they went to bed and then got up at 4 or 5 in the morning depending on hoe much homework i had and did it in the orning . i felt like i could study better because i wanst so tired. to this day we have date nights. i am remarried but jay and i still have our night. cant do it with my oldest because he is married. anothe thing we would do is when we had saved up a little bit of money or when i got anothe scholarship we sould take the money , devide it in half go tothe first stop sign flip a coin, heads right and tails left and kept doing thatuntil we used up half the money on gas, food, treats etc. then tourn back and do the same thing home. we plyed math games using eh money, the miles on the fcar. the miles to a certain place. we stop at feilds and met cotton farmers, we stoped everywhere we had never been able to stop and see things because their dad was always in a hurry. we wuld pack lunches so we used math when we went to the grocery store etc. as result, both my sons are very thrifty. they think twice about spendign money and both have savings accounts for a rainy day.

I buy my son spiral notebooks and he loves to 'work' in the books, while I am billing for our business. He also likes to practice his writing skills on reusable writing boards. You can find them in the learning section of Walmart or at a learning store.

I also keep him busy with a cash register with play money. He will play with it for almost an hour! He is counting, learning and having fun all at the same time. Play-doh is also a fun idea-throw a spin on it and take 15 minutes to make homemade playdoh and let him pick the colors. Once made he will know that you took the extra time to spend with him and it should keep him occupied for awhile. Let me know if you need any more ideas, I feel like I am always trying to find new things for my children to do while I work from home.

There are lots of websites of activities.

Here are just two-

If you like to do crafts try
Kidscraftweekly.com

If you like to use everyday things from your home try mine
at
play-activities.com

HTH
M.

Maybe stuff he can do at the table with you while you do work. Things like playdough with cookie cutter shapes, cars, blocks, etc... Other ideas include a little kitchen (yes, even for a boy ;)), dress-up clothes (fire fighter hat, ties, etc....), a craft center (construction paper, crayons, markers, watercolors, etc...). And there is always books!!!

Have fun with teaching. I taught before being a stay-at-home mom and LOVED it! I did 1st and 3rd :)

some libraries have books on tape/cd still, there is music cds that are fun like backyardagins (which can also be found at the local library) doing crafts-painting, www.familyfun.com
is a good website. Or even computer games - www.starfall.com is great for learning abcs and still fun.

Hi!
Things that come to my mind:
Play-doh;
painting with coolwhip or something else safe that he could possible ingest while you are working;
building landscapes with his blocks for toy cars;
legos;
look through books of course;
if there is TV have him dance along to the Wiggles for example;
color a picture of a favourite character (most show's online pages seem to have activity pages that offer coloring pages);
not sure if 3 is a little early for glueing pictures with pasta etc?,
if there is room enough some indoor ball playing so he can get rid of some energy?
maybe also dress up as pirate/fireman etc. and build the appropriate scene with pillows/blankets etc?

Hope this helps!
D.

Big huge pieces of butcher paper make an awesome canvas. You can even spread it over the whole table so there's no missing and ending up with marker on your table. You can put out a huge variety of things to use like stickers, stensils, textured things to do rubbings with, water colors, markers, etc. Or you can put it on the kitchen floor and he can draw roads for cars, etc. You can buy big paper at a teaching supply store like Teaching Tools or Lakeshore, but I'm sure that it's available other places too.

I do a lot of crafts with my three year old. I buy macaroni or we go outside and collect leaves and have her glue them on construction paper. She loves it! He could do that while you do your homework.

I have three children, am a single parent and work full time. My two boys, 3 & 2, love the play kitchen. I have found wooden food sets are wonderful, they can "cut" them apart and velcro them back together. This activity helps me with laundry, dinner, homework with my 8 year old and some days I even get to read some of the newspaper.

3 yr olds l-o-v-e to do the dishes. especially fun if you have a double sink. they also are good at helping to make dinner by getting the bowls or stirring or mixing. the refigerator can have the neccessary ingrediants on the bottom shelf and your 3 yr old can be asked to get " the round bowl out or the red bag or "find the apples". but washing the plastic cups is the funnest because they are playing with water and bubbles and pouring water from this to that. just remember plastic and lots of towels. 3 yr olds love to dress up too so maybe a neat apron with pockets will make it more enjoyable, This adventure helps to make trying new foods easier also.

How about arts and crafts? My little boy is the same age and he loves to color and cut paper and play with stickers. You can always get the markers that just write on paper if you are scared he may color on other things in the house. Also my little boy loves puzzles and building with blocks. Hope your boy enjoys some of this!

Hello. I would give him "homework" too. He could color, or write, or whatever. Even if he just scribbles, he feels part of your life. You could also have him do playdoh or something where he could create something. Puzzles are good as well and prepare kids for reading. They make ABC ones that are wood and have a picture underneath. There are also the ABC games that kids could play. They have words and sounds.
Hope this helps.

I let my daughter use the child scissors and she cuts up magazines and glues the pieces onto a bigger piece of paper. It's something she can do right next to me at the kitchen table. That way I can get my stuff done, but she still feels like we're having time together.

As long as he has interaction with you, he'll never be bored. Take lots of study breaks to play ball, hide and seek, cars, dance for exercise, see who can do more sit ups. We've moved a lot, and the best times my 3 year old boy has had was when I would take a break from the stuff I thought I had to do just to give him tickle torture. That's where you you get the big belly laughs. My son always put down the toy, playdough, crafts, individual activity, video game, after 2 minutes. But when I took time to wrestle with him, he would say, "you're my best buddy."