What are some activities i can do with my 3 year old?
My daughter has a short attention span. We usually make cookies together every Friday, or every other Friday but whenever I try to do anything else with her she gets over it in about 5 minutes. We've learned all her shapes colors and numbers but she will not do her ABCs she also won't do worksheets I've printed (tracing, coloring etc) All she ever wants to do is watch tv but I try to keep it off during the day because I don't feel its good for her. She watches mickey mouse clubhouse and Dora every morning for about 2 hours. I don't have a lot of money right now, and she has tons of toys but she's just not interested even when I play with her. I need some activities that are free or at least low cost to do that she will like that will keep her busy. I do tons with her and try to keep the days full but she just bounces around and its really har to get her to sit still. even if I take her out to the park first. Which she also gets over after about 10-15 mins.
?2013-09-19T15:46:57Z
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Have you tried giving her books. You can take her to the library issue some good books like that of mickeys mouse and Dora and read them to her. She can sit and flip pages and you can just make up your own story and read to her that she can relate with the pics in the books while you do your work in the kitchen or clean the house. Involve her in house cores as well like keep these clothes in the basket, teach her to fold clothes, even give her loads of color pencil and tell her to assort them acrding to colours or give her writing books. Don't just give her toys when she wakes up prepare for her differs rent activities like that in nurseries. Put all her dolls in one corner and ask her to play mama mama with the dolls, put all the balls on other corner and ask her to arrange the balls according to sizes , play hide and seek with her , take her to different play groups play nursery rhymes just the sound that she can hear not any visuals, be friend with different parent with kids her age
I noticed my daughter's attention span getting worse the longer the TV was on. We cut her waaay back and only allow 1 hour of TV per day now. It was irritating to me that she wouldn't focus on anything at all because she was always too concerned about her cartoons. My husband and I only watch TV when she goes to sleep. Period. It sucked at first, but it's amazing how much we get done, now! LOL
I know it seems like a lot, and I'm not passing judgment on you... just letting you know what worked for us! It is a lot of work to keep a toddler entertained, but if you cut back on the TV, they actually do a much better job at finding other things to do (and also at playing with their other toys). It's really important to recognize this behavior now, because when it's time for her to go to school, she'll have a much better attention span and take direction from her teachers more readily.
After a couple of days, her attention span miraculously got better. She started more imaginative play. (She's 2 1/2, by the way.)
She loves Play-Dough, paint, puppets, coloring books, going to the park, going for "nature walks", playing with water/watering the garden, making mud pies, "reading" books, playing with bouncy balls, blowing bubbles, counting and sorting, puzzles, stickers, making forts/tents from sheets and chairs, riding her tricycle, feeding the ducks, walking our neighbor's dog, picking wildflowers, playing with trains/cars/trucks, going to grandma's, going grocery shopping (I hand her everything and let her drop it in the cart), "helping" me do anything around the house (sorting laundry, loading the dishwasher, sweeping the floor), etc.
The key to success is making sure you stay involved with your daughter and praise her for a job well done. So many of us are busy that we expect our children to self-entertain while we do our own thing... but they really just want us to give them attention.
make a solution of bubbles and let her run catching the bubbles you blow, then take turns. you can teach her some dance, yoga, or build forts or tents out of chairs and blankets and let her play with her dolls inside, have a real tea party a tea party is the perfect way to teach her how to serve sit nice, and act while at a formal tea, Make a big floppy hat to wear at tea, go to a goodwill store to get all sorts of dress-up clothes and outfits for the tea party, Buy these clothes and accessories ahead of time and put them inside a trunk or a tickle trunk make one if you don't have a special dress-up box have her pull out the easy to do dress up clothes don't worry if the clothes and high heel shoes are too big Carve a pumpkin together and get ready your home for fall by pressing leafs and collecting dry weeds and flowers for a Thanksgiving wreath and decorations have her set the table for meals or let her give her dolly a bath at the kitchen sink Hop scotch on the sidewalk all sorts of things including outings to the library and museum Have you made play doh ? recipes can be found on line Good luck Have fun !!
One way to teach her the alphabet is to use objects, like pretzels, cheerios, licorice sticks, etc. So, for example, you can draw a giant "K" on a piece of paper, and then she can place pretzel sticks on top of it. Voila! She knows how to make a K. Or you could use shortened pipe cleaners for that, just make sure she does not eat them!