Busy Preschool Activites - part 1

I find that when I give my younger boys something to do, then I am able to focus better with my older ones. When I do this I also must be realistic with the activities and how much time I will get out of them. I can not expect certain things to keep them busy for hours. But some will, for example play-dough my kids LOVE play-dough. Even with I do work with my older kids it is in pockets of 30 here and there mixes with other things. So these activies work well. Also I do not do these everyday. A lot of times my younger ones just do "free play" but when they do that to many days in a row they start to fight a lot, and get in to trouble so I try to balance it out. Here are some of the actives they like to do. 

 Toys and water in the sink. classic, they love it. I given them things that I know will sink and float and we talk  about that some, but mostly they just like to splash and play- then I give them towels to clean it up when they are done.

 This is not one of his favorites, but he will do this, He will also throw them in the trey. This keeps him busy for not more then 15-20 minuets but still good motor skill activity.

 This is Joey- I got him off Amazon the company is Melissa and Doug, they have a girl one too. My boys love to play with this, they will enjoy this activity for about 30 minutes give or take depending on the day.

 We have a rice bin with fake bugs- that I have shared on there they like that,  and this is similar, I already had the lentils, and the small pots the boys got at a craft they made at Lowe's build and grow activity, and I already had the fake flowers. I thought this might be to "girly" but you know they really liked it. There is a fake shovel in the box too, so they liked digging and shoveling the "dirt" into the pots and pouring them back and fourth. They will play with this for about 30 minutes- give or take I always put a sheet down to try to contain it.

 Another Fun activity we have done are they squishy gel ball things- they are actually meant for flowers  but they are fun to play with and squish up, and made a mess with. I got I think 12 pkg for $5 on amazon of the cheap kind. I took two pkg and let them soak over night, (I think I did it a little two long) and they swell up to the size of the little get bouncy marble size balls! They like to play with these for 30 minutes or so. When they are done I just keep a towel over then on the shelf, they will eventually dry out, and I have been told you can just soak them in water again. Even if they break I just still let them play in the squished up ones. HERE is a link to something like what I got.

 I think I have shared these before under the Lego ideas but the younger boys really love this! They like to build a maze but they dooo still need my help with that, once once it is set up, they love to roll the marbles in them. They will play with this 15-20 minutes give or take.

 This is another Busy bag Activity. One day when we went to Lowes for their build and grow activity I went by the hard wear section and got a bunch of random screws of all different sized and shapes, then I got the matching nut that went on to it. This was actually harder then I thought, and I had to have someone help me. But I ended up with about half a dozed. Then I also got some different Luggage locks, one with a key and one with a number combination.

They Love this bag it is one of there favorites of the quick busy bag activities I have put together. They just dump it out and then find the match, they like to open and close the lock with the key, and you can set the combo lock and I do that and just tell to them and have then try to line up those numbers, they will play with this for a good 15-20 minutes.

I know that it may not seem like a long time, but if I can have that much uninterrupted time, I can usually get through a good chuck of things with the other ones. Then read a book to the younger ones or then they play some. I try to balance structure, and unstructured activites, and be organized.  I have a general outline "plan" for the day, but usually we just go with the flow and do what we can.