Today’s question comes from email:
Any moms or dads with preschoolers have ideas to occupy my little one when she’s having a bad flare and I need to keep her from running around too much? (Besides movies and picture books?)
Some Suggestions
Craft supplies – crayons, stickers, glitter glue, etc.
Puzzles
White board with markers – my kid loved this
Leapster
That’s all my brain can come up with this morning. AG’s gastritis recurred last night, so we’re both home, feeling the sleep deprivation big-time.
Who else has tips?
Feel better AG!!
Crafts crafts and more crafts! If she likes music you could consider a xylophone or keyboard or some other instrument (might not be good for your ears!). If she’s creative she might enjoy writing stories with some assistance. Puzzles are another good activity.
When I was a kid, my parents got me into piano lessons so I’d have something to do when I was flaring. I also liked painting (especially fingerpaints) at that age.
I was always a curious type, so my parents could easily entertain me by taking me on a quick walk and picking five things to learn about… Back then, they’d take me to the library and show me how to look stuff up in an encyclopaedia and so on, but I’m sure you could manage the same with the Internet now. If your kid’s the type to be always be asking “what’s that?” and “why?”, that can keep them occupied for quite a while.
Lacking that, maybe try educational games and/or teaching her how to write a bit (when I was that age, I liked anything that made me feel like a “big girl”).
Now during bad flares, my son loves to watch the Lord of the Rings trilogy — it calms him down more than any other movies (maybe because it’s so intense it really distracts him). But when he was a preschooler, we would play cards (Uno, Blink) or simple boardgames like Trouble.
PLAYDOUGH!!!…It’s not normally allowed at my house…because I can’t stand the mess (only because my kids aren’t careful) but a well timed pull out of a “forbidden” thing can keep a kiddo occupied for hours.
Usually, when my little one is flaring, she’s DOWN…running around just doesn’t happen, so I don’t have to worry TOO much.
Good luck.
I also concur with the leapster (and now, the DS…) it also helps keep her occupied during neb treatments. Especially when she’s hooked up to the neb for at least 30 minutes.
sticker books…like this ( http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Fancy-Nancy-Loves-Loves-Loves-Reusable-Sticker-Book/Jane-OConnor/e/9780061235993/ ) or this ( http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Sticker-Stories/Anna-Pomaska/e/9780448424927/?itm=6&USRI=sticker+stories )
maze books, dot to dot, even schoolwork type workbooks are fun at that age. Glue, tape, beads and pipe cleaners. card games…go fish is easy to teach and play. Board games. Computer time…NickJr and Playhouse Disney have nice websites, and I think that PBS kids does too.
Awww, my comment didn’t take yesterday lol. (Curse you, Google Chrome!) Apologies if this isn’t as good! ;D
Definitely agree with Amy and the others on crafts!!
Here are some other “quiet time” activities we use at work (I work at a daycare), for ALL the kids (age 4-12), during the long summer days:
-Board games, puzzles
-Books, books, books (I know you said beyond books, but I LOVE kids books)
-Play doh (<3)
-Colouring. Lots and lots of colouring.
Here are some other ideas, many of which are stemming from the childcare assistant/education student in me:
-Pre-school activity books. The lurvely educational kind with numbers and letters, etc. I loved these as a kid.
-Those dry-erase writing mat things with letters and numbers and pictures and stuff for tracing.
-"Make-believe" stuff. We had a whole box of stuff that fit into this category, and it was a hit with the younger kids at work. Felt boards/characters, paper bags and construction paper for making into puppets. Another idea that would require some adult help would be to make puppets to go along with one of her favourite books.
Danielle mentioned instruments and music, which is AWESOME. I've never seen a kid sit still and make so much noise as when we got bells in the music centre at work
.
-BLANKET FORTS. Once you get a kid in one of those, they mostly don't want to come out or move for awhile.
This blog has a lot of good suggestions, too:
http://blog.lessonplansplus.com/2008/06/quiet-time-activities-for-preschoolers.html
my miss monkey she likes the BBC miniseries version of The Lion The Witch and the Wardrobe to watch… we also do computer time, (she has a list of sites shes allowed to go on… noggin.com, nickjr.com, disney.com, pbskids.org, sprouts website is also good)
Also.. AquaDoodle… all the fun of drawing and none of the mess
Wonderful ideas, everyone!
And Smscott, I’m going to see if I can find that version of Narnia in my library system. My non-asthmatic LOVES that series.
We specifically bought the Leapster for those flare-ups, but I also keep a supply of arts & crafts projects, puzzle/crossword books, and certain DVDs that can only come out when my son is down. It’s hard to get him to stay down, so he’s learned that these items are special for those bad days.