Planning Busy Activities for Toddlers During Homeschool

When I first started homeschooling, I could not imagine what I would do with the other children while I focused on a child’s lessons.

Now, I realize that the best thing to do with those littles is to have them learning right beside their older siblings.

Of course, having an abundance of ideas (or a closet full of educational toys) available to keep the young children busy is always helpful.

Planning for homeschooling with young children

My mother taught me a valuable lesson early in my parenthood: Keep excess toys in the closet and rotate. Each time you pull something from the closet, the child will act like they have a new toy.

So, I keep everything under lock & key. Not really, but I do have a child-safe spinner on the closet door.

When it is time to settle around the table for school time, I start the younger children with a stack of worksheets that I have printed. One day, they will use Do-A-Dots. The next day, washable markers. Dry erase on page protectors. Crayons. Water and paint brushes. Chalk. ROTATE.

Next, I pull two or three educational toys from the closet. We never get rid of an educational toy and after nine years, we have a nice collection. ROTATE.

(Note: If you are thinking about the expense, just keep a running wish list and when someone inquires about what to buy your child for a birthday or Christmas, mention a few from your list.)

Finally, I have one or two skilled activities available.

Sometimes, when I need to spend time specifically with one child, I can have the other older sibling work with the youngers to accomplish these projects.

I am willing to bet that you have enough stuff in your home already that you could put enough projects together for a week. ROTATE.

Busy activities with items you (probably) have already

NOTE: As you well know, tiny objects should be kept away from young children. Small + small = BIG trouble. Not all of these activities will apply to all ages. Please use your own discretion when selected games for your child and keep a watchful eye.

Balls (various sizes)

• Place balls in an egg carton
• Roll balls through cardboard tubes
• Hide a ball under disposable cups
• Balance balls on golf tees hammered into styrofoam
• Roll balls across the floor to ring a basket on its side
• Float in water
• Transfer by spoon to a small-mouth bottle
• Roll across a wall using continuous contact with hands

Laundry Basket

• Make a train
• Lace ribbon or string through the slats
• Pretend its a boat and use large spoons for oars
• Toss a big ball into the basket
• Give stuffed animals a ride
• Shove pompom balls through the slats

Jumbo Buttons

• String buttons on chenille stems
• Move buttons from bowl to bowl
• Sort the colors and shapes
• Make simple patterns
• Lace string through the buttons
• Sew to felt and have felt squares with slits for practice
• Drop in a clear, plastic vase filled with water

Paint

• Use Q-tips with washable watercolor paints
• Press with do-a-dot markers on fill-in-the-blank pictures
• Squish together two colors of liquid tempera paint or finger paint in a gallon freezer bag zipped and sealed with packaging tape
• Let colored water drip from a medicine dropper on a coffee filter
• Paint… with pudding

Hairbands/Ponytail Holders

Cookie Cutters

• Use with playdough
• Sort by color or shape
• Toss onto a dowel
• Lace together with string
• Cut sandwich bread

Dry Beans

Chenille Stems

• Twist into shapes
• Lace through a colander
• Push through holes punched in a plastic lid
• Sort by color or length
• Thread large beads
• Poke into an egg tray or styrofoam

Beanbags

• Flip with a spatula/turner
• Toss into a laundry basket
• Push through a hole in a box
• Stack
• Play “catch”

Our favorite busy (but educational) toys

I love collecting educational toys and games and stashing them in our hall closet for those moments during homeschool when I need extra time with one of the children. This is a double blessing when it comes to the littles since they can only have their pick from the closet during school.

Storage solutions for busy activities

• Organize by activity in gallon-size plastic bags and hang from a rod using binder clips and rings (Small Potatoes)
• Store miscellaneous, age-appropriate items together in a plastic storage container (Learn with Play at Home)
• Dedicate a closet to educational toys and busy activities (Meet Penny)
• Use plastic shoe boxes and organize by day of the week (Tweetie Pie Baby)
• Gather activities into pencil bags and place in a plastic basin (The Princess and the Tot)
• Keep everything together in one box (Raising Arrows)

 

Preschool printables

• Meet Penny Free Printables
• 1+1+1=1
• Confessions of a Homeschooler
• Homeschool Creations
• Spell Outloud
• Education.com
• Have Fun Teaching
• 2 Teaching Mommies

More great resources

• What about the Little Ones? from Habits for a Happy Home
• What the Toddler Does While Mom Homeschools at Raising Arrows
• Tot School (with tons of ideas) from The Unlikely Homeschool

 

Find more on my Pinterest boards.

How do you plan for toddlers during homeschool time?