Tag: <span>activities</span>


If you live anywhere in the between Washington D.C., and New York you are most likely well aware of the great heat wave that has been sweeping our neck of the woods for the better part of the week. The heat and worse yet the humidity helped simplify the list of activities we could partake in down to two: the pool or play indoors. Having tried the latter on Saturday, Evan and I piled the kids into our car and braved the 1.25 hour ride to my in-laws so that we could all jump into the pool and try to keep cool. The girls enjoyed their time at Grammie and Pop’s house and so did we. Sophia and Eliza played with toys that are new to them and Evan and I got to unwind in the country.


In other news, we’ve recently gotten into a few new (to us) books, crafts, and activities and thought we’d share our fun finds here.

Life

 

 

We have found that as kids get older, their activities and toys, thankfully, get more compact. While Eliza’s most favorite toys and activities are big and bulky, Sophia’s favorites can fit in a basket or two. She loves to craft and we keep a steady supply of crayons, markers, papers, stickers and the likes at home. She likes puzzles and can do the likes of these and has recently begun to play board games. We love the tea party game and also have a ladybug game that is great. Sophia is learning about taking turns, following directions, winning and, of course, loosing. This list is not all-inclusive but presents a good snapshot of a morning’s worth of activities for Sophia. I’ll likely create a separate list for her crafts.
Screen Shot 2015-03-30 at 11.16.37 AM*Images courtesy of Amazon and Community playthings.

  1. Magnetic Dress Up
  2. Tea Party Game
  3. Crayons
  4. Legos
  5. Unit Blocks
  6. Scissors
  7. Play-doh Fun Factory
  8. Stickers

From the Rocking Chair

A dear friend of mine from graduate school recently welcomed a beautiful baby boy. She and her husband live far away in sunny California and even though we would love to have frequent play dates, we make do with emails, texts and the occasion calls. She recently asked for advice on toys to keep her little guy (a few days shy of 6 months) occupied and I was only glad to share what worked for our girls. I put together a small list of toys that have been the best bang for our buck and are most effective at keeping kids occupied and grow with your child.

Screen Shot 2015-03-25 at 10.31.00 AM

The list tries to balance what I would call old-school toys such as blocks and books with new-fangled, battery operated ones. We prefer toys that evolve their functionality as the child grows. For example, the stackable (item 5) blocks can first aid a child in learning how to pull nested blocks out which practices fine motor skills, then children can practice cause and effect by crashing built-up towers, moving to learning words and objects, and finally learning how to stack the blocks themselves. Have other suggestions? Add them in your comments.

  1. Where’s Baby’s Belly Button?
  2. Musical Table
  3. Learning Walker
  4. A Taggy Hedgehog
  5. Stackable Blocks
  6. Music Player
  7. Mozart Magic Cube
  8. Stuffed Rattle Ball
  9. Large ABC Alphabet Toys
  10. Rhyme and Discover Book

From the Rocking Chair