I'm going a bit post-crazy tonight!

Does anyone have any simple ways to entertain our LOs while at home?

My fave tip at the moment is to give him a couple of saucepans, wooden spoon, balloon whisk etc while I'm trying to cook a meal and give him a bit of dry pasta so he can "cook up a meal" on the floor. It works with varying success but at least I get a few minutes to myself to chop and cook! He also loves helping me with the housework so I give him a duster / dustpan and brush and get Henry our hoover out. I hope he's as good at doing the housework when he's a teenager :-)

Any other top tips anyone? I do get the feeling Samuel does get pretty bored at home at the moment as his behaviour is so much better when we're out of the house.

J x

Lexi is the same loves helping me do the chores, I am actually thinking about buying her her own little pink Henretta Hoover although v expensive for what it is. I also got her a wee brush and dustpan set and she loves it.

Have you tried stickers Lexi loves them and can keep her occupied for a while as get dinner etc organised. Infact the other night she had made a lovely wee display on the radiator with hundreds of stickers, bless! Also she loves hidding in empty boxes and under the washing, strange child lol. Anything else that involves mischief or the word "NO" and Lexi will be more than happily be entertained. Can't think of anymore things just now but will post if I do.

an older child!! lol,
freya is child number 2 so she has phoebe to keep her entertained while i get on with a few things, mind you thats not always a good thing, i was prepearing dinner the other night and the 2 of them were in the garden phoebe is nearly 5 and quite sensible so i thought that they would be ok for a few minutes, but i can out side to find the both covered from head to toe in mud! apparently they had been naking mud pies then thought that it would be fun to throw it at each other!! oh well at least they wrere having fun. other than that freay loves any thing to do with abbay dolls she is also quite in to little people and musical instraments at the moment. if i do really need to get things done i starp freya into her high chair with some colouring stuff and she will happily do that for about 15 mins before she is bored and wants to get out a cause havock angain. xx

Amelia is quite good at playing for a while. I agree, having other kids in the house is entertainment enought. She loves the boys trains, cars etc.. She is happy to push her baby around and tuck it in with covers.
I made playdoh the other day...so easy!!! i put her in her seat and she played with that for a good half hour. We made worms etc..

Play Doh recipe
2 cups of flour
2 cups of warm water
1 cup salt
1 tbspn of veg oil
1 tbspn of cream of tartar powder

vanilla flavouring( to make it smell nice otherwise it is rank)
colouring

just throw it all in a pan and heat it up for few mins. Once it starts to set in one ball then take off heat, leave to cool for a few mins then take out and knead. Simple as that.

Amelia loves colouring too and has those fat triangle shaped crayons.

d xx

Great tips - thanks as ever. I thought Samuel was a bit young for stickers but will try that. Wow you're lucky Flickaty that Freya is happy colouring in her high chair. She sounds so content. Maybe boys are different but S just wants to climb out of his at the moment!

Love your playdough recipe but you are way more Delia than me Dee! I think I'll be lazy and buy some :-) We got some in a party bag the other day actually and S LOVED it! Crayons good too actually

Any more tips anyone?? I like this post....

x x x

Give him a cupboard that's "his", we have one that's full of odd tupperwares that she loves emptying and refilling. Also a load of empty pots and pans and a wooden spoon make a great drum kit!!! Also a big fan of stickers or stick sticks as she calls them lol! ELC do a set called Happyland that we started collecting a couple of years ago and both of mine will play with that for ages. DS is 4 and still loves it so it does last!