Let the kids feel responsible and a part of their routine by giving them options. You can lay out two shirts and let them choose a shirt, let them choose to wash their face or brush their teeth first, or allow them to either help you set the table or get you the food you need from the refrigerator.
Yogurt Parfaits: All you need for this is vanilla or plain yogurt, blueberries, cut-up strawberries, and granola. Let each child make their own parfait, even if they add a little too much granola on top. Special Toast: Of course, you can pop some bread into the toaster, spread jam or peanut butter on it, and serve the kids that. But who wants to be boring? Once the bread’s toasted and you’ve got your spread on it, get everyone involved by making faces on it! Use apple slices for the mouth, grapes for eyes, and blueberries for the mouth. Eggs and Bacon: You can easily crack several eggs in a bowl, mix them together, and cook them to make a large batch of scrambled eggs for breakfast. Bacon’s easy to cook as well; just follow the directions on the package. Cereal: Ah, every kid’s favorite. Avoid cereals with a high content of sugar, unless you want the kids bouncing on the walls! If the kids have any dairy allergies or are lactose intolerant, substitute normal milk for milk made out of almonds, cashews, soy, or coconuts. Fruit Salad: Cut up any type of fruit that you’d like to incorporate into the salad (e. g. apples, orange slices, grapes), then let the kids stir in whipped topping or powdered milk. If you don’t have either, vanilla yogurt works!
Pretend to be pirates trying to find treasure in the living room Play dress-up with costumes and other silly accessories Read stories Build a race track for cars or marbles Make music with pots and pans Do finger-painting. Why not finger-paint on aluminum foil with yogurt? Dance to kid-friendly music. Baby Shark is a very popular song for little kids these days, or learn Go-Noodles on YouTube, which are fun, silly dances for kids of all ages. Make treats everyone can enjoy (e. g. edible peanut butter play dough) Draw pictures, then cut them out into big puzzle pieces and put it back together String colorful cereal onto dental floss or yarn
Take them to your local library if they offer storytime for younger children Order fun science or history kits that are suitable for small children Take nature walks and explain something to them, such as the metamorphosis of a butterfly if you see a caterpillar. If it just rained or snowed, talk about how rain or snow forms. Then dress appropriately (a rain jacket and rain boots if it rained and warm winter clothing if it snowed) and jump in puddles or play in the snow! Pick flowers and find leaves, then press them into an old book. If it’s fall, gather leaves from different trees, tape them to colored paper, and label each leaf from whatever tree it came from.
Warm weather ideas include: Visit your local playground Kick a soccer ball in the backyard Blow bubbles (you can make bubble wands out of old wire hangers and dish soap out of dish soap and warm water in a metal pan) Draw with chalk Chase butterflies Run through the sprinklers. Too stormy or cold? You can: Have a dance party Build a blanket fort and watch a movie or read under it Bake cookies (always supervise the children if you want to use the oven or stove) Play children’s board games (e. g. Candyland, Operation, etc. )
