Keeping the baby and toddler busy while trying to work with the older children can be a frustrating challenge.
There were days where I felt like there was nothing I could do with my older children because the youngest ones were so time-consuming.
I’m going to share with you some of the different ways I’ve found through the years to keep the toddler and baby busy.
To start with, I tried very hard to have us all eat breakfast together. I would always cover the table with a tablecloth. For me, this was the perfect time to do a Bible devotional. I would choose the verses I wanted to be read and have my oldest child read them aloud. The baby strapped into the high chair, and the toddler strapped into their booster seat, all with food(me feeding the baby). After my oldest child read, I would then write the verse(s) on the whiteboard that I kept in our dining room and read our quick devotional. We would then talk about the devotional, with me asking each child questions. We would pray and then sort of split up. I would ask a child to clear the table and remove the tablecloth. The older children would stay at the table while I took the baby and toddler into the other room and washed them up and got them dressed. While I was caring for the littlest one(s), the older children would do their copy work. If they finished early, they could read silently from books I’d place in a basket on the table, work on their Awana verses or practice handwriting.
I would then bring the toddler and baby back into the dining room and busy them with our busytime activities while doing lessons with the older children.
So, now for the big questions, how did I keep the baby and/or toddler busy?
I cannot express the importance of keeping these items in a separate basket! I kept a separate bin of “quiet time” activities just for them. Keeping the baby and toddler busy is so much easier when the items are not played with often.
In my quiet time bin were:
Babies:
Teethers(I liked to use the freezer types)
Soft books
Large foam puzzles
Large plastic beads
Busy boards
Board books
Toddlers:
Felt boards
Lift a flap books
Bristle blocks
Tinker toys
Dominoes
Puzzles
Plastic drainer with pipe cleaners
Lace toys
I am not going to pretend that this always went smoothly. There were days where even this did not work.
When it got to be too much, my answer was usually to take our outdoor time early and immediately.
After quiet time and outdoor activities, I would lie the baby down for a nap, and I would have one of my older children practice their reading skills with the toddlers.
This then gave me some time to work with the other older children at the table. Once they were quietly working on whatever assignments I gave them, I would make lunch.
We would all eat lunch together, clean up together and then everyone would lie down for rest time.
The school-age children would listen to a book on tape, while I worked one on one with my oldest.
Once the toddler and baby were both sleeping, we would all go to the table and work on a project or two. Since most of our learning was project-based, this worked perfectly for us.
By the time the baby and toddler woke up, everyone just went about working on their projects or start cleaning up.
I know the days of trying to get things accomplished, with a baby and/or toddler in tow can feel overwhelming and be discouraging.
Trust me though, it won’t be long until you’re missing the chaos.
Our children grow so quickly. It’s important to not let yourself become frustrated. This chapter will quickly move on to a new chapter.
Enjoy the snuggles and interruptions while you can.
