Please tell me I am not the only mama whose children go crazy wild from 4:00-6:00pm? I know many days they are hungry, tired, and ready for a new face (AKA DADDY!) And well, honestly let's face it most days so am I!!! Usually during this time of day Baby Brother needs to be fed and dinner needs to be prepared. It is just a hard time of the day. I found that I was becoming a really grumpy Mommy during this time of day so I began brainstorming how can I make this time of day better. Here is what I came up with: Rotating Activity/Stations/Centers-Whatever you would like to call it!
I set up 4 stations near me in the dining room area and set a timer for 10 minutes. When the timer goes off the boys rotate to a new activity. It has worked brilliantly this week!! Less fighting, more engaged boys! Who could ask for more?!
Some of the things we've tried are:
- Playdoh
- Squinkies in a salt tray
- Legos
- Big coloring books on the floor
- Puzzles
- Mr. Potato Head
I am sure more ideas will come to me as we continue this new fun activity time. My goal is to keep them engaged while I try to multi task during this hard time of day.
I am pretty sure I originally saw this idea at one of my favorite blogs ever,
Meaningful Mama., where she shares a tip, craft and character development strategy daily. Be sure and hop over there for some awesomeness.
What do you do to keep your family happy during this challenging time of the day?
This is a great idea! I can see how this would make things a little more organized. Thanks for linking up to Thinky Linky Thursday!
ReplyDeleteLori @ Cachey Mama’s Classroom
What is squinkies in a salt tray? What are the boys playing with in the muffin tin? I love this idea as that time is so hard on everyone!!
ReplyDelete