Quarantine Activities For a 3 1/2 Year Old
As a teacher, I have some experience entertaining my boys for days at a time in the summer. This quarantine though has tested my skills at entertaining. F is 3 1/2 and G is 18 months; these activities are more suited for F. I find if I can keep him entertained for a longer period of time, I can focus on the shorter attention span of G. It certainly has been a blast but challenging too. Here are our three favorite activities that take up some of our days at home.
Painter’s Tape Track
For Morning Movement: On chiller mornings when it is impossible to get outside to move, I have found that having F tape a track down in on the hardwood tests his planning skills but also his fine motor skills. This particular track is still in place around our living room and kitchen. After he spends 30-45 minutes building the track, F and G spend time tracing their cars around it. The track is always changing with a new “short cut “here or there.
Cookie Decorating
For the Afternoon Lull: I would have never guessed that F would be occupied for so long with this activity. Tonight, he spent over an hour decorating cookies. I have tried it where he puts the icing on but that was somewhat frustrating for him, so this time, I iced and he decorated with different sizes of sprinkles. Of course, there is a few more calories consumed during this activity than maybe another, but he takes lots of pride as we.eat the cookies after dinner. G helped us out for about 10 minutes but did far more eating and smooshing the icing than decorating!
Caterpillar Butterfly Growing Kit
For a Unique Education Experience: This one was recommended by Live Life Larson, and it was a hit! We watched the caterpillars grow and then build their cocoons. I unfortunately did not read the instructions in time about moving the instructions to the butterfly case, and they actually emerged as butterflies in the caterpillar canister. We released them in time, but didn’t get to watch them move around as much. I almost want to order another one and do it right, but it was engaging for F and he asked about them every day and learned about caterpillar and butterfly transformations.
