Mommy's Busy Box

The girls and I had a great time putting together a box of neat activities and ideas for our sweet friends who are about to add child #2 to their family. This box is full of neat ideas for some intentional activities to share with the older sibling. This was also a $1 Michaels pencil box.

Here's the inside of the box. If all the supplies needed were small, they are clipped to the card to make it easy. The clothespins say: Easy, Later, and Plan (meaning this one might take some advance planning). This busy box would in itself make a great frugal gift for a 2nd time mom. The ideas for the busy cards came from my own kid's memories, Slow and Steady Get Me Ready by June Oberlander and some of them from a great preschool activity blog: Frugal Family Fun.
I included a box with some of the supplies ready to go for many of the activities and just some other activities just for fun. This was a hodge-podge of stuff to be used with kid tweezers - or to be placed on colored paper with tweezers to make a color match game.

In a perfect world - where mommies get plenty of sleep and babies don't cry too much - it would be great to shoot for 5 Intentional things with that older sibling every day:

1. Bible time - this one could be done with Daddy or at bedtime all together. 3 year olds can start learning verses and retelling Bible stories they've heard.

2. Outside play -That's an easy one.

3. Paper time - cutting, coloring, crafting, or drawing.

4. Music time - just a few simple songs - maybe some active songs like Greg and Steve, a clapping game, or my favorite books of the Bible rap. Ideally, this would be intentional music time - with dancing or playing, waving a ribbon. singing - not just music in the background.

5. Learning time - book time, alphabet cards, or just simply counting or talking about colors and shapes. No big production needed. Don't stress about this one - just talk to your kid and ask them lots of questions!

This list is not meant to convict or overwhelm, but to help young moms somehow capture some simple structure out of a life that is often dictated by toddler tirades and poopy diapers. The best advice is to keep it simple, but be INTENTIONAL. Plan your week and then do whatever you can to set yourself up for success! Make things easy for yourself!

Okay, you have to come back to my blog later in the week when I share the last part of this gift - and the part the girls and I really enjoyed.