3 Ways to Keep Your Kids Busy During a Weekend Dinner
It’s Friday night and you’ve made it through a long week. Maybe you are having friends over, maybe you just want to enjoy a glass of wine and some guacamole. *This can also work with some modifications if you are taking them out of the house. This can also work for brunch, apps, etc…you get it.
Here are 3 ways to keep the kids busy for a happy-hour-or-so!
One:
Get them involved in the snack making. If my kids think what they are doing is important, they want to be involved! So I make a big deal of making the snack for so-and-so reason or person and how I’m so thankful to have their help. I usually just give them dumping or mixing jobs - but pick something easy and not super-messy. EX: if you are making guacamole, line up all of the ingredients on your cutting board and have them dump them all together and mix. If you have 2 kids - the other can be mashing the avocado!
Two:
Educational apps. I prefer this to YouTube (though I can’t say I don’t do that too). For example I love Ricky Zoom for my kids.
(This is also a show on NickJr. So it’s nice to have the parallels there) Anyway - PJ especially loves to have an interactive play on her iPad - so the online preschool games included here - like bike washing (!!) are especially her jam. There are matching and sorting games, too, which are designed to develop cognitive abilities. Carmen and PJ have both started a new school since we moved -- Ricky also goes to school and can help them relate to the fun and challenges of that experience. The show focuses on teamwork, community,and friendship.
Most important fact!! You can use the app offline, hallelujah, no need for WIFI or data - which is great if you are out and about with a shotty connection.
You can download the app by searching for “Ricky Zoom” in the Apple App Store or on Google Play.
Three:
Set up a scene. There are a few pieces to this - my older daughter (4) likes to draw and color, but my youngest (2) can only do that for about 2 minutes. For Carmen, I would set up a special card she needs to make for XYZ-person and that will keep her busy. I’ll give her some direction along the way but she is pretty creative on her own. For PJ, I would set up a scene with toys - ex: a fort, or a doctor’s office, or a school - or if you are out to dinner, small toys on the table work too! When I am packing things to-go, I often think about what can “go together” to be a complete set or scene to keep them busy. Set the scene, or the project, for them, play for a little bit until they get absorbed by it - and then walk away!
Hopefully, this helps you enjoy a little bit of adult time this coming weekend! If you have any other awesome tips - please include them below!
This post is sponsored by Ricky Zoom but all opinions are my own.