Little Blue House Posted June 24, 2011 Share Posted June 24, 2011 I'm wanting to prepare workbox type activities for my 2 1/2 year old to do while I work on school with my older kids. Any ideas for what to put in there? I'm thinking of things that can fit into a container and he can somewhat independently pick a box and keep himself entertained for a 5-10 minutes at a time. Puzzles, pay doh, ?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kipling Posted June 24, 2011 Share Posted June 24, 2011 This thread has some good ideas: http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=276793 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4maybabies Posted June 24, 2011 Share Posted June 24, 2011 I'm in the process of doing the same thing for my 20-month-old little boy. Right now some things I am thinking of: -Lacing beads -Peg boards -magna tiles -Sorting games -Lacing boards -objects to put in muffin baking tins....like those colorful pom-poms you use for crafts...only have him sort them into the right color tin. he'll use tongs to help with fine motor. -I found a nail board activity at learning resources. I *know* my boys would love this. Plastic hammer, plastic nails, and a board. I just have to justify spending $30 on it. I'm looking for something cheaper somewhere else. I'll be following this thread for more ideas! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Little Blue House Posted June 24, 2011 Author Share Posted June 24, 2011 This thread has some good ideas:http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=276793 Thank you for linking this thread...off to read. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Little Blue House Posted June 24, 2011 Author Share Posted June 24, 2011 I'm in the process of doing the same thing for my 20-month-old little boy. Right now some things I am thinking of:-Lacing beads -Peg boards -magna tiles -Sorting games -Lacing boards -objects to put in muffin baking tins....like those colorful pom-poms you use for crafts...only have him sort them into the right color tin. he'll use tongs to help with fine motor. -I found a nail board activity at learning resources. I *know* my boys would love this. Plastic hammer, plastic nails, and a board. I just have to justify spending $30 on it. I'm looking for something cheaper somewhere else. I'll be following this thread for more ideas! Good ideas! The crafty stuff (pom poms) would be really fun. He'd love the nail board too. I need to check out magna tiles...have not heard of those. Are peg boards the same as geo-boards that you use with rubber bands? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThreeBlessings Posted June 24, 2011 Share Posted June 24, 2011 I set my toddler up with a book bag with different activities in plastic baggies. Some of these would not be appropriate for a little one that puts small objects in their mouth. Here are some I think weren't already mentioned- 1. safety scissors like my first fiskars with construction paper 2. construction paper 'books' with stickers 3. squares of dark paper with pieces of chalk 4. squares of scratch paper with scratch stick 5. bag of buttons to admire and sort 6. pipe cleaners to bend and mangle, lol 7. construction paper cut into shapes, glue stick and paper 8. foam shapes and a foam sheet to arrange the shapes on (no glue here so they can be reused) Also I made a three ring binder for her because the big kids have one too. I printed file folder activities on cardstock and put them into page protectors. Also I printed letters to trace and lines to trace and put them in the page protectors. They can use dry erase markers on the page protectors, as long as you don't let the marks stay too long because they will stain. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evangeschool Posted June 24, 2011 Share Posted June 24, 2011 -I found a nail board activity at learning resources. I *know* my boys would love this. Plastic hammer, plastic nails, and a board. I just have to justify spending $30 on it. I'm looking for something cheaper somewhere else. I'll be following this thread for more ideas! I have seen people make there own nail activity board.. I think they used a piece of styrofoam, golf tees, and a hammer. I know my little one would love that! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stacie Leigh Posted June 24, 2011 Share Posted June 24, 2011 (edited) We have lots of Lauri "See the Difference" puzzles, a peg board, etc... MFW has a Pre-K recommended list of stuff that was a help to me. (We don't use MFW otherwise.) Here's a link: http://www.mfwbooks.com/L0467026D66D929016809021+M50+ENG This Montessori blog also has endless activities and ideas for toddlers that can be used regardless of your overall approach (Don't let the first few scare you... They're not all that messy! ;)) http://chasingcheerios.blogspot.com/ Edited June 24, 2011 by Stacie Leigh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
morosophe Posted June 24, 2011 Share Posted June 24, 2011 I've been drooling over the Activity Bags books, but haven't yet ordered one. Still, it does seem the kind of thing you're looking for. I particularly like the fact that each bag can be picked up and put away out of my children's reach because, after all, my preschooler and his siblings make enough mess as it is! The price of the $15.00 e-book (for, say, Preschool Activities in a Bag Book 1) should be offset a little by the fact that the activities described are meant to cost $1.00 or less per bag. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fruitofthewomb Posted June 24, 2011 Share Posted June 24, 2011 I really like this website. She does exactly what you said you wanted to do. Browse around. She shows her set up and has lots of printables. Other people link in with their ideas on Mondays. http://www.1plus1plus1equals1.com/TotSchoolIdeas.html I tried this with my 2 year old but she just wanted to do what big sister was doing. I ended up not using a lot of things I made/gathered for her (which took me a lot of time) because no matter what activities she had and how much she liked them, nothing compared to what big sis was doing. So now I let her sit with us and do a simplified version of whatever big sis is doing. My advice is to give it a test run with a few things before spending a lot of time and money setting it up for your little one. Make sure it will work for you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scrapbabe Posted June 24, 2011 Share Posted June 24, 2011 http://www.christianbook.com/making-preschool-years-activities-encourage-independent/valerie-bendt/9781885814098/pd/814089?event=WL&item_code=WW Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4maybabies Posted June 24, 2011 Share Posted June 24, 2011 Thinking along the lines of this... http://www.amazon.com/Jumbo-Easy-Grip-Pegs-Pegboard/dp/B0007PC952/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1308941047&sr=8-7 My boys love to hit stuff;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tjlcc Posted June 24, 2011 Share Posted June 24, 2011 A few hits here have been: the Cheerios book stringing beads on a pipe cleaner bingo markers and plain paper pom poms and an empty egg carton magnets and a baking sheet bendaroos homemade playdough c-rods gluing macaroni and beans on paper Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjand6more Posted June 24, 2011 Share Posted June 24, 2011 We love Do A Dot markers(more like paints) and the books. The books are worth the $4.99 to me as the pages are more rigid than copier paper and I think it would really add up in ink cost to print off pages! We use these ONLY during read aloud or math time with the olders. I am NOT a fan of mess, but this seems to satisfy his need for messy play with a VERY small amount of clean up. Here is a link: http://www.christianbook.com/5-pack-shimmers-washable-markers/pd/368004?event=BB&bookbag=1&item_code=WW Here is a book(there are a lot to choose from) http://www.christianbook.com/under-dot-art-creative-activity-book/pd/368015?event=BB&bookbag=1&item_code=WW Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZooRho Posted June 24, 2011 Share Posted June 24, 2011 Paula's archives has some things too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rbsmrter Posted June 26, 2011 Share Posted June 26, 2011 -I found a nail board activity at learning resources. I *know* my boys would love this. Plastic hammer, plastic nails, and a board. I just have to justify spending $30 on it. I'm looking for something cheaper somewhere else. I'll be following this thread for more ideas! This isn't exactly what you are talking about, but I got a wooden box from Hobby Lobby (when it was 40% off) and some wooden golf tees. You can also find inexpensive wooden boxes at Ikea. The box was about 4 inches tall and 8 inches wide. I filled the box with clay (Sculpey, I think?? It's just important it's the kind that doesnt harden). The kids hammer tees into the clay and then fill in the holes when they are done. My son loves it because it's squishy and I can allow him to do it independently since the tees are a little more toddler friendly than nails :001_smile: The hammer is a wooden toddler friendly one from a tool set. All together I think the whole thing was between $10 and $15. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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