Step 1: Acquire beans. Put them in one or two large, clear plastic tubs. Provide measuring cups and smaller containers. Put the whole collection on a blanket or sheet. |
Step 2: Place toddlers in front of beans.
Step 3: Relax! Take some pictures. Check your email. Make dinner.
Five to twenty minutes of independent toddler play, guaranteed. Bliss. Love this idea? Check out Creative With Kids for more!
2 comments:
Looks like a good idea. I'm a bit concerned my boy would try to eat the beans and possibly choke. How old were they when you first tried this?
Hi, Rich! We tried it at around 20 months, I think. Supervision and knowing your kids is key—my guys were long past the everything-in-the-mouth phase, but still liked to test that particular limit. So we reinforced the limit of "no beans in the mouth" by putting the beans away. We still enforce the "no beans off the blanket" rule that way. Now, at 27 months, they pretend to eat the beans and just drop them in front of their mouths. Beans are the key to many days' meal preparation now! You can start off with sitting right there and watching carefully. Tell him, "these beans are for playing" if he tries to put them in his mouth. And then put them away if he does it two more times.
Also, you can start bigger than beans—when we bought the beans, we also bought a bulk bag of pasta. Great for stirring in pots on the floor, dumping, etc. Hope this helps!
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