Let's share our ideas for entertaining babies

There have been a few posts lately about screen time and how much TV/videos are ok. I think we all agree that there are times we need to keep our babies occupied, but we also need to get our own stuff done too. I thought we could all share our best ideas for baby entertaining on a time budget...here are a few things I do:

**When I shower and get ready I take them with me and let them play with mascara, toothpaste tube etc....I sing loudly in the shower...they get excited at the blow-dryer (usually buys me about 25 minutes in which I can surprisingly accomplish all my rituals)


**I play "momma's cooking show" with them when I cook dinner - they sit in their bouncies and I let them smell the ingredients, I talk them through the recipe, open the fridge for them to gaze at the colors, let them hold the measuring cups and touch different foods like oranges or tortillas...etc.

**I can do a pilates video with them laying right beside me (I know this won't go on for long as soon as they're crawling I'll be done with that) I face them away from the TV so they are watching me.

**We have loud music hour from 5-6:30 (the hour my older kids usually get sucked into nickelodeon crap) and I dance around cleaning and singing

**we go for drives...I grab a coffee through the starbucks drive through and go for a scenic drive by the river or in the hills...my girls don't generally sleep in the car and they love to watch out the window. I can make my phone calls, drink my coffee, say my prayers whatever...not the best choice for the environment but I'll make up for it by walking everywhere as soon as the weather permits.

**my 8 year old needs to read for 20 minutes a night for school and so I always coordinate that for a time when the babies will listen...she feels important reading to them and they think she is absolutely fascinating!

What do you do? I need more ideas!!!

 

Wow! Those are great ideas! I'll occasionally strap on the Snugli and teach the boy I am carrying how to make daddy's sandwiches or salad. I also let them sit in their high chairs with toys (though they are usually happier chewing on their hands). I'll be checking back to see some more ideas!

 

those are good suggestions!

Mine are only three months so right now they are easy. I put them in their boucy chairs so they face me and I make googly faces at them, sing them goofy songs. We play tummy time and sitting time. We go for walks or take baths. When they get older I'll use some of your ideas for entertainment.

alot of people told me that twins don't really need t.v, they play with each other most of the time.

 

QUOTE(girls! @ Feb 27 2008, 11:37 AM) [snapback]643346[/snapback]
**my 8 year old needs to read for 20 minutes a night for school and so I always coordinate that for a time when the babies will listen...she feels important reading to them and they think she is absolutely fascinating!


By the way, I really love this idea. kinda killing two birds at once. Your twins are entertained and your oldest is getting her reading in. It's great

 

I move rooms, go outside, and give them anything that is not a "toy". As long as it is safe, any household item that is not meant to be a toy is extremely entertaining to my 9 month old Jack and Lily. Also, fussy baby + take outside = happy baby (in my house anyway).

I push them around in the laundry basket. I give them shoe boxes to bang spoons on. I even let them play with our tennis raquets ( I watch closely, of course). I have also read to take shaving cream and squirt some into a little plastic baggy, seal it and stick it into another sealed baggy. Mine loved this and carried their little bags around everywhere for a couple of days. They like to smush it and move it around etc...

I follow them around crawling behind them on the ground and they laugh like crazy. They are also into emptying things right now so I basically let them empty pretty much anything they want. Oh yea, they also like to walk behind anything and push it so I turn a couple of boxes and laundry baskets upside down and they kind of play bumper cars. This, of course, is more fun than playing with the expensive walker toys that we have purchased for them.

I also give them magazines to leaf through and tear up. My DD likes to put everything in her mouth but I watch fairly carefully. DS will just rip things up for hours but does not put anything in his mouth - thank goodness.

HTH
Amy

 

I just have one new one,

my girls' new favorite thing is to empty their dirty laundry basket and then fill it back up again!! They can do it about 10 times in a row and not get board!! I love it because they are cleaning up after themselves each time!!

 

Great ideas!

We have started a new evening tradition of naked tummy time. We do it right before bedtime (when they tend to get fussy), I just strip them down, put them on a big blanket and go to town. They love to be naked and it buys me 30 minutes of non fussing before the bedtime ritual starts. Just be sure it's a washable blanket.

 

WE love naked time just before bed. (I leave diapers on)
THey love to attack the telephone book, who cares if it is ripped.
Exercauser/Jumperoo facing each other, they laugh and laugh.
Washing hands-after eathing they love to play in it ( I thought I should just let them sit in the sink and play in a small stream, but i haven't yet)
Eating graham crackers in the high chair
One in the bumbo and one on the floor trying to grab each other
Bath time (with bath seats it is a lot of fun as they splash everyone)
Watch mommy cook with on going dialogue
Mesh feeders with frozen peaches (or anything else)
Playing with empty food items (boxes, plastic cans, etc a new toy is always great)

 

Great thread! Keep the ideas coming !

I'd never even thought about trying to exercise and let the babies watch, but I bet they would get a kick out of me doing my Tae-bo video, lol. I'll have to try that!

My seven year old has been an awesome baby entertainer, too. They love to just watch him, it doesn't even matter what he's doing! He can just dance around in front of them or play with his toys. They especially love to watch him sword fight. I am always so happy for him to get home from school because I get a short break from entertaining babies.

 

Our babies love to watch us exercise. We take them out in the double jogger and the dog and I run out front while Dad pushes the stroller so they can watch us, and they get a big kick out of it. We are quite the caravan out on the running path!

We also play peekaboo all the time. I have an empty box that I put over my head, then dd's then ds's heads. Over and over and over again.

They also love books when I read as absolutely fast as I can and/or use funny voices for the characters. I never thought I could read dr. suess so fast! They think its hilarious.

DH has been playing guitar for them occasionally too, and the other day he let baby girl strum it a bit, and she was fascinated.

 

I do a lot the things that have already been listed like baby dance party, mamma's cooking show, and emptying and filling the laundry basket! Actually I let them 'help' fold the laundry and they LOVE LOVE LOVE it! Meara will hold onto the piece of clothing I hand her and walk around the room with it, while Ana pulls everything out of the basket. Then they try to push the basket around.

I also read to them a lot. I have most of their books memorized right now because of the number of times I've read it! Ana will now grab a book and crawl into my lap to be read to.. as a book lover myself this is just the sweetest thing. I also change up rooms. We go into my bedroom where I have two big closets with mirrored doors and they can look at themselves in the mirrors forever!

 

QUOTE(xavier2001 @ Feb 27 2008, 02:57 PM) [snapback]643522[/snapback]
Great ideas!

We have started a new evening tradition of naked tummy time. We do it right before bedtime (when they tend to get fussy), I just strip them down, put them on a big blanket and go to town. They love to be naked and it buys me 30 minutes of non fussing before the bedtime ritual starts. Just be sure it's a washable blanket.

My boys love to be naked too. If they get really fussy right before bed, I always take their clothes off and let them roll around on the floor in their diapers. It always cheers them right up!

 

Oh ladies I love all your ideas. We also do naked nighttime, with diapers on, for about a half an hour every night. I am amazed at how things have switched around on us, 8Pm is no longer fussy baby time it is extremely happy baby time, I think it is probably because it is the most structured time of day!

BEsides the laundry basket emptying I mentioned in a PP, My girls also now like to open any drawer and empty it, my "dangerous" items have NEVER been down low so I knew this day was coming and I can feel completely safe letting them destroy the kitchen together!

 

Awesome ideas. We're going to have to try naked tummy time tonight!

 

Oh, great thread, and lots of great ideas!

Some things my babies love:

-"Helping" with chores, with ongoing commentary/singing

-Watching "laundry tv" - we have a front-loader, and they love watching the clothes spin around, and then playing with the door when it's open

-Singing songs, being talked to in general

-Reading together

-Being held upside down, especially close to the other baby - both the upside down baby and the right side up baby think this is just hilarious

-Pulling CDs off the shelves

-Going jogging with mom

-DH playing piano for them, and then letting them "play" it too

-Simple toys and non-toys: sets of nesting cups, stacking rings, blocks, spoons of any kind (table spoons, measuring spoons, wooden spoons), measuring cups, tupperware, cardboard boxes, empty peanut butter jars, clean empty yogurt tubs and lids...

 

I don't know WHY it is, but for some crazy reason, if I need to get my fusser (Aiden) to hush, I give him a water bottle or a medicine syringe. That child is enamored by them. My mom commented the other day when I sent out pictures & asked why Aiden always had medicine syringes in his hand! LOL, lucky for me, I work at a hospital & can stock up on them! (BTW, I get the ones without the rubber stoppers that can get dislodged)

 

My girls have just started walking so we take strolls in the garden (it still summer here) and look at the grass and plants and I let them play in the sand too. They love this. This is also our naked time without a nappy. We are pretty enclosed so no peeing toms. In the bath i let them play with with cups, they love to see the water run out.
I too get my 10 year old to read to them.

I usually make things up for the to do when the time calls for it.

 

Big fans of naked time - they zoom around the house naked before bathtime. I also bought a bunch of board books that they love to flip through and look for pictures of dogs. Mirrors are fun too. The latest game involves them getting on each side of the door to their bedroom and "peeking" around to see if the other one is there. Hilarity ensues.

 

QUOTE(benderboys @ Feb 28 2008, 03:38 AM) [snapback]644326[/snapback]
Mirrors are fun too.


My babies love looking at themselves, especially DS. I give them a bath on the bathroom counter in front of the mirror. He is always admiring himself. I don't blame him, he is quite the looker

 

QUOTE(fuchsiagroan @ Feb 27 2008, 05:39 PM) [snapback]643888[/snapback]
-Being held upside down, especially close to the other baby - both the upside down baby and the right side up baby think this is just hilarious



My Ashley was the "head down" baby in womb. And now SHE LOVES being held upsided down, I think we carry her upside down more than right side up sometimes!! She acts as if this is her "normal" or something, just completely calm being held that way. Alyssa thinks it is hilarious. DH says to Ashley "I am getting worried about you I dont think anyone should be upside down as much as you are." Oh and if we are not holding her upside down she is trying to get herself upside down, kind of in a summersalt possition but never flips over! CRAZY baby!

 

Great post! Here are some things I've done during the day to keep them entertained...

- make a "club house": throw a sheet or blanket over the kitchen table and let them crawl under (they LOVE to crawl under things) and play
- put the cushions or pillows from the couch on the floor and let them jump around and wrestle in the pile
- let them go "bowling" (I saved old Gerber's Puffs containers and line them up so the boys can throw balls at them)
- fill laundry baskets with diapers, folded towels, stuffed animals, etc. and let them empty them out and fill them back up
- they love to push empty diaper boxes around the house
- we go outside and blow bubbles, swing, slide down the slide, push their wagons around, and they "bark" at the dog
- we gave them old remotes (without batteries), cell phones, and keys to play with
- I filled old water bottles with water and glitter and little plastic toys, they love looking at them and shaking them around
- they LOVE to knock down anything that's stacked (blocks, books, pillows, diapers, anything!)
- they also love to put things on their heads (hats, boxes, bowls, etc.)
- we go into the kitchen and let them throw little plastic balls around on the tile (they make a loud sound - the boys love it)
- they love cruising around furniture so I put toys in different spots on the couches and tables and they work their way all around the living room trying to get to the toys
- we do an Old Macdonald puppet show behind the coffee table (they look at me like I'm nuts)
- I keep a pot of kitchen stuff (whisk, basting brush, measuring cups/spoons, etc.) within their reach in the kitchen
- they love to play with their fridge magnets
- my emergency plan (always buys me a few minutes if I need it) - give them a box of tissues or an open container of wipes... they'll spend a good five minutes pulling out every single tissue or wipe

I have learned that they love to play with anything that's not a toy! We have SOOO many toys that just sit in baskets because they boys have gotten bored with them so fast.