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The arrival of a newborn marks many changes, and many situations where need to handle your older children with more care and attention. If you have a toddler, it can be a bit challenging, as his sensitivities still run high. How do you keep your toddler busy while caring for the newborn, so you can pretty much make the best of the time at home? Here are our 10 picks:
1. Flashlight Games
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“Enter at your risk, covert operation on the way”. Hang this signboard outside the kids’ room and play flashlight games while your newborn is asleep. Flashlight puppet shows and flashlight hide-and-seek are quite fun. You might also try a flashlight catch-an-object game.
2. Potato Stamping
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This is an all-time fun. Make potato cut-outs using cookie cutters. Try pulling out some interesting shapes that will excite your kids. You could use water colors or acrylic paints to do some potato stamping. Let the impressions dry on paper. Your kids may also want to sign them!
3. Egg Family
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Draw smileys or other expressions on eggs using a marker pen. You can have a mini play by your breakfast table. It will leave your kid giggling.
4. Letter Recognition Game
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Get few alphabet cards. Or make your own cards; upper case on one side and lower case on the other side. Shuffle them and spread them out randomly on the floor (if indoors) on the deck (if outdoors). Set a timer. Ask your child to pick the card with a specific letter and spot the upper or lower case. The other way would be to ask him to group all the upper or lower case cards facing upwards together. What a fun way to teach the alphabet with the cases.
5. Discovery Basket
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Make a discovery basket. Fill it in with unbreakable or non-hazardous objects from your kitchen, wardrobe or the bathroom. It could include a mix of things with different textures, smells, shapes, and colors. The idea is to stimulate your child’s sensory perception and his ability to relate to the sounds they can make, the way they feel on touching and their smells. It keeps out the possibility of your toddler pulling down the house with his prying business, as you fetch him most of the things at one place.
6. Balloon-Badminton
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Make a balloon racket. You could use paper plates and anything that is long and sturdy, say drumsticks or simply any form of sticks that can serve as a handle to this paper racket. Make a pair of these rackets so one could serve the balloon and the other can hit it back. Just bear in mind that you don’t keep bursting them often and wake the little one up.
7. Sock Mopping
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If you or your kids have worn out socks, then you can put them to some good use to do some mopping. Get you little one to become a master cleaner with them. He can do some dusting or mopping on tiny spaces for his age and size ;)
8. Coin Dropping
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Inserting a coin through the lid can improve your toddler’s gross motor activity. Make it a bit more adventurous by hiding the coins in different areas of the house. Your kid will persevere until he has found the next coin too and has dropped it into the box. Simply ensure he doesn’t attempt to swallow any coins.
9. Read Books
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Introducing your toddler to book reading is essential to develop an interest in books. It is one of the easiest things to do when your newborn is sleeping. It’s in no way noisy; there is no mess involved, and it can pretty much grip your child’s fantasies. Build a little children’s library of books!
10. Magnifying Glass Exploration
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It’s an activity that can hook kids for any lengths of time. Get your kid a magnifying glass. Dish out some objects – books, maps, flowers, leaves, stickers and just about anything that can go under the magnifying glass. They will be amazed at how it works. “We just thought they get bigger under the glass…” ;)
Try these activities. Your kid will never feel left out while engaging in fun activities like these. How did you manage to hook your toddler while caring for the newborn? Share your tips below!
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