Independent Play: Quiet Boxes

Winter is here in full force, and it's brutal!  Temperatures have been below freezing for a solid couple of weeks now.  After two weeks in (comparatively) warm Texas, Utah feels like the arctic tundra.  The cold temperatures and nasty air quality mean that we have been spending a lot of time entertaining ourselves indoors. 

I ran out of ideas this week and decided to put together plastic tubs of activities that would encourage independent play.  Here are some items that would be great to keep your preschooler busy during these short (and looooong) winter days:

1. Match it Game

2. Lace and Trace Game

3. Woodland Connectagons

4. Mighty Mind

5. Big Book Of Big Machines

Great Gift Guide For 3-5 year old

a) wooden bead kit {$24.95)/ b) pattern blocks and boards {$19.99}/ c) camera {$44.95}/ d) hand bells {$34.99}/ e) feel and find kit {$29.95}/ f) sneaky, snacky squirrel game {$16.00}/ g) cash register {$26.41}

     I had a little panic attack this weekend when I realized how close we are getting to the holidays! Yikes, I have not been prepping like I usually do.. I threw this little gift guide together for the rough age group of 3-5 years old. I am trying to think outside the box this year for hazels gifts, and here are some of our top favorites.

Everyday Storytelling

     Storytelling is something that I am asked to do all day. Almost every time we are in the car for longer than 10 minutes, I hear 'moma, tell a story!' I make up all of our stories. They almost always involve a forest, any kind of animal, and something specific that happened in our day, or week even. Little foxes end up getting lost from their mother at the park, a bird hurts his wing and has to go to the doctor to get it checked out, three kittens have to learn to share a toy that they find in the sand. My stories are very simple, but can go on for 10 or more minutes. Even when driving with multiple children in my car, everyone stops to listen to the stories. It may be the different voices that I do, or the dramatic emphasis' that I put into the animals and their specific problems, or solutions. At any rate, story telling has saved our lives many-a-tired drive home from nana's house. My two year old likes to choose the animals for the stories, and from there we just improvise.

     A few months ago we bought Tell Me A Story cards from eeboo. We LOVE them. They give children the chance to tell their own story. Each card has different artwork on it, and in each pack all the cards have a similar theme. Kids who are not yet reading love the chance to 'read.' I highly recommend them, they make improvising a story very easy - with a photo to nudge the story along. The cards come in several different sets; Little Robot's Mission, Animal Village, Fairytale Mixup, Circus Animals Adventure, and the one that we have, Mystery in the Forest.