What are you doing today???

[haydensmom]

What is one thing that you have planned today to do with your child? I need some ideas. I'm working on being a better mom. :hi: I feel like I've been slacking in the activity department, so I need some ideas. What are you doing? What do you do? HELP. :laugh:

[bridgetwu75]

We are making a pizza for lunch....and painting with cars. Not in that order.

[haydensmom]

Oooh maybe I'll make a pizza for lunch. GOOD IDEA! Yes!

[mjh8406]

thanks for posting this!

Honestly, lately....it has been running errands....I just can't seem to keep up with the housework and errands! DH has been really busy with work so any downtime I use for myself to keep us all sane!

I used to go to Borders for storytime. I am lucky and have lots of children museums in my area and would take Evie there often.

With Hayden, you could make some birdfeeders from pine cones with pb and birdseeds. Your LO could play in the birdseed as long as she doesn't eat it I guess! I used to keep a small tupperware container filled with oatmeal when Evie was that age and would put random objects in it like spoons or blocks for her to dig through and if she ate it then oh well!

[Pammieann]

Oooh, we're doing an exciting check-up at the pedi.... can't get enough of those!!!!!:laugh::laugh:

[Julbella78]

I told Hannah this morning that when we get home we are cleaning the house. She seemed excited. :laugh:

Can you take the kids to the library? My library has a children's area with a large kitchen set, several train and lego tables, a huge doll house, dress up clothes, computers, and tons of books. We usually go once a week b/c I work and Hannah loves it.

[sarahlynn]

I'm taking lucea to story time at the library tonight :)

she loves it..we went last week for the first time thanks to our daycare telling us about it..

they do a craft project..than play a game..than read stories and sing..

its a great mama and lucea time for us once a week.

~~

[sarahlynn]

oh like at home ideas sorry :) i have popsicle sticks ready to make houses and things..not sure if that will get done tonight though maybe this weekend..

[macksmom]

Not much since I am 35 weeks pg and sick with a head cold!

But I was hoping to at least make some Valentine's Day cards to send to family....

Right now she is sucking on a lemon! I let her try it and she liked it! :laugh: :crazy:

Oh and we are waiting for the guy to come fix the dryer.....:eyeroll:

When all else fails I end up baking something (like cookies) or bread. Although once I have this baby and want to lose weight the cookies may need to stop.....:winks:

[nosweetangel]

we're making valentines day cards for daddy and the grandparents tonight.... with finger paint... lord help me! :crazy:

[ColtsFan1912]

wow I don't know. I'll probably take him for a walk. Maybe let him play in the front yard. . .we have no grass its all sand so he likes it :D

[maine06]

:( working. But, tonight when I get home, we'll probably do our regular thing... including making 'smoothies' in his play kitchen.

Our new favorite thing, though, was a krismas present from my mom. It's a big, black, chalk mat that we can use to draw with sidewalk chalk inside! he likes the change from drawing with crayons, and, likes when I draw 'his shadow' (trace him on the mat... it's big!)

I have weds-thru sunday off, and we need to do some more paintings to repalce the holiday ones we have on our fridge and cabinet. Hopefully it will be warm enough to go outside and tap our trees! DH is making maple syrup this year!

[Mrs JS]

don't look at me. Our big activity of the day is going to be sweeping the snow off of the car and then going to the grocery store... :eyeroll:

[bel]

we are packing!!!!!!! we go on vacation to the beach tomorrow :woot: :woot:
what else can be more exciting than packing beach toys and coloring books for the ride??? :P

[11-12-06]

We went to kindermusik...tomorrow we are going to story time at the library. Thursday I think we will make a valentine craft for Daddy to take to work even though he never remembers to do so. :eyeroll: and friday we are going to a playdate but I can't remember where...

[jazzmom]

This morning we ran errands, then came home and she painted on her easel while I put groceries away. Then she put heart stickers on a piece of paper...that took her a good 20 minutes and she had a blast. It's going to be a Valentine for Grandma and Grandpa.

This afternoon my dad is coming to watch her for a few hours while I get some work done...they will probably go to the Children's Museum, or maybe the library.

Oh, we did birdfeeders the other day, with pine cones and peanut butter. That was fun! We keep checking out the window to see if we can see any birds munching.

[DIVADLX]

The weather is pretty nice so we will probably either walk to the neighborhood park or drive to the really nice one where Stella can ride her tricycle and Theo his stroller. If it is too cold, we might just go to the mall where they can play at the indoor play area - which is actually a little better since then Theo can play too.

Tonight, as with pretty much every night, we go to the Y to go swimming together.

Yesterday we took a walk around the 'hood and she cycled, and then we went to the neighborhood park to play.

Sometimes, when Theo has slept really really badly, flame away, but we have movie day, where we watch a couple of movies. Mama needs it every so once in a while.

Sometimes I will put Theo in his highchair for a snack and play Hi Ho Cherrio or Memory with Stella. Just those 15 minutes of one on one time seems to charge her mama-quotient up.

Mostly, I just try to get out almost every day to go do something fun. Often I will ask Stella what fun she wants to have and usually she will come up with something pretty easy and fun. Then in addition to having fun, she also feels important and feels like a contributing member - you know?

[hanvan]

Jenn-we love movie days here :)

Today I cleaned up a bunch this morning and then I read some valentines books to the girls (mostly reese. Saige doesnt like books) and then I cut a bunch of different size/color hearts out of construction paper and we glued them to another piece of paper and then put glitter on them. :)

Now they are both napping but when they wake up we're going on a run and then I'm making dinner. Oh so exciting here haha

[katie]

We went and working in the Church nursery this morning - we made Valentine placemats for our party in class next week (and will do the same Thursday morning)

This afternoon we're packing our house getting ready to move. :crazy:

I found a ton of cute ideas for valentine's crafts that we'll do a few of over the next week.
http://www.everythingpreschool.com/themes/valentines/art.htm

We're planning on doing the marble heart painting next week in the Church nursery with our class and then we'll make popsicle picture frames and glue conversation hearts on them.

Over the next week at home we'll do the puffy painting probably. I think we'll also do the bird feeders that have been suggested as well as get our bird feeders up at the new house and planting flowers in our new flower bed. Then we'll also make Valentine cookies for our potluck after the nursery next Tuesday. We'll also take on or two afternoons to go to the park to get out of the house as I'm sure we'll be sick of packing/unpacking.

Another easy fun thing to do is put some shaving cream on the table and let them smear it around. Abby loves doing this! We sometimes use it to draw our letters in and work on learning the rest of our alphabet. Clean up isn't usually too bad and it smells good.

[EvandAl]

Nothing exciting here. It's a little chilly so this morning I took John to Chick fil a and we ate breakfast and he played in the indoor area. Then we picked up a few things at walmart.

I just bought birdseed the other day to make feeders so we'll do that in the next few days.

Plus we are slowly working on Valentines crafts and need to start working on something for daddy's b-day.

We have lots of movie days here :P or just random play not always something planned :winks:

[haydensmom]

At least 3 days a week, we go to the gym which has a huge fun kid-zone for Hayden. He loves it! We read, have playdates, read, color, he helps me cook, we play ball, work on the alphabet, do puzzles, play games, etc... but I feel like I need to do more. I def feel way guilty that we don't do enough crafts. :(

[macksmom]

At least 3 days a week, we go to the gym which has a huge fun kid-zone for Hayden. He loves it! We read, have playdates, read, color, he helps me cook, we play ball, work on the alphabet, do puzzles, play games, etc... but I feel like I need to do more. I def feel way guilty that we don't do enough crafts. :(

Crafts can be as little as just drawing or cutting out shapes and gluing them on paper. Sometimes I cut stuff out of old magazines and we glue it on paper with a glue stick. I can tell you while I enjoy them and I think they are good for kids - her interest lasts about 5 minutes, 10 tops! So don't beat yourself up about it. Hayden is still pretty young and if he is anything like Mack, has the attention span of a fly so the crafts aren't something I do too much of....

[hollyn]

Today we went to gymnastics, then ran a errand. Now I'm trying to get her to take a nap but we have been at it a hour and she is still awake. Not really sure what we will do the rest of this week. Sat night we will be going to family fun night at our church.

[haydensmom]

Crafts can be as little as just drawing or cutting out shapes and gluing them on paper. Sometimes I cut stuff out of old magazines and we glue it on paper with a glue stick. I can tell you while I enjoy them and I think they are good for kids - her interest lasts about 5 minutes, 10 tops! So don't beat yourself up about it. Hayden is still pretty young and if he is anything like Mack, has the attention span of a fly so the crafts aren't something I do too much of....

Yes the gnat-like attention span drives me a little batty when I spend 40min getting something ready and he does it for 10. :laugh:

[DIVADLX]

I think the simpler things are the more fun they are. Stella had craft time this morning - I fed baby brother and she had her art bin out and was drawing, cutting out shapes, etc. It was a lot of fun for her.

I don't think it always has to be structured for it to be fun. Heck - chances are I never would have gotten a drawing of a "rain coat" out of it.

[Amanda0102]

Crafts here consist of cutting out sections of egg carton and painting them to look like a catepillar or spider. Then they dry overnight and are decorated the next day with pipe cleaners, pom poms, googly eyes, markers, etc.

Same idea w/popsicle stick creations, but Mommy has to have some foresight and glue them together the day before the painting...

[11-12-06]

I change my answer to SCRUBBING desitin off of Pj and then putting him in a pack-n-play for naptime because we CLEARLY aren't ready for a stinking big boy bed...life sucks today.

[jazzmom]

Stickers are totally crafts! Try to see if you can find some of the puffy-type stickers...I just bought an entire container of hearts from Target for $1. The backs are really easy to pull off and they can just stick and stick and stick (preferably to a piece of paper!). I did this in the fall with leaf stickers from Hobby Lobby. This time I printed out Valentine pictures from an online coloring page site and she decorated the paper with the heart stickers.

[tracilyn]

Mason likes to bake with me so we made stained glass cookies this week. He has been sick so today he is just chillin watching horton hears a who!!

[haydensmom]

Well we've danced like crazy people, had a snack, raced to see who could pick up all the straws the fastest that, Ava got everywhere, made blueberry muffins, and he's now watching Dumbo while sitting on the potty (I'm feeding Ava and getting ready to make dinner). This is pretty normal for us, so I guess I'm not as much of a slacker as I was harping on myself for being.

I tried to do coloring, cutting paper, and gluing hearts onto paper crafts and he didn't want to do any of them. :lol: Here I am beating myself up for not doing crafts and he refused anyway. :laugh: Kids.

[Heather J]

Ohh, I love the idea of the big chalk mat. That sounds awesome!

Jess, it sounds like you're doing a great job! Don't be so hard on yourself. You're a great momma!

[AugustMommy]

we do tons of stuff:

talk on toy phones, look at books, color, finger paint, sing, dance, watch DVDs, look at videos or play games on the internet (fave is www.sesamestreet.org)
we watch gold fish or koi in our ponds, watch the dogs play,
we go to the park if the weather is nice, if not we go to the library or shopping, we visit relatives, look for birds, play peek-a-boo, count blocks, play with Magna Doodle...one side is a doodle board & has magnet shapes that you can stamp on, the other side has a chalk board that has lines on it to learn to write ABCs or names.

Today was a bit different...we had a snow day! Today was LOs 1st time playing in snow! So exciting! We played & looked around the yard...then we walked down our driveway to see the neighborhood kids playing. (school went 2 hrs. late) We laughed & laughed at them!