I have all the ideas (and more) for school aged child. But what the hell do I do to keep preschool child occupied at the same time?!

[cerealmilk]

For school aged child: School has sent a million ideas, the internet is advertising a billion ideas, I’ve been put on WhatsApp groups and Facebook groups, all with ideas. I - in fact - have too many suggestions and ideas that it’s almost overwhelming.

But for preschooler... (almost 4) nothing. And keeping preschooler busy while schoolchild does school stuff is impossible as he wants to be doing what his sibling is doing and he’s bored and being indoors is not his favourite.

So please share your lockdown preschooler ideas! We’ve done painting, playing with water, and free play galore. What now?! (He’s a really outdoorsy kid, so this is tough on him / me because he’s climbing the walls and picking fights with sibling!)

I ha e a just 4 year old and 18 month old and am finding this a total nightmare! Attention span is about 5 minutes, younger one can’t do games or activities older one can and just tries to crash through things! I saw this toddler activity timetable on Facebook which is utterly insane but might have odd things on there you could try (my 4 year old liked rescuing his mini paw patrol figures from a big bowl of water with kitchen tongs but again only lasted 5 mins!)

Ooh will save that, thank you!

Haha good tip on the pair of tongues in water (mine loves anything to do with water, which is quite messy!).

It’s so hard to keep them happily occupied, isn’t it?

I have nothing helpful to add as my delayed 3 year old keeps putting toys in my hand saying ‘mummy play dis one’ while I try to help the 5yo, look after the baby, and DH wFh all in the same room. Just saw your post and thought... these are my people! Hopefully someone has tips ❤️

Have you had a look on Twinkl? You get a free month, we've got two kids 3 and 8, which is proving a bit of a nightmare to keep both happy.. but have found some of the resources on Twinkl to help.

For example today we did a bubble paint science experiment that both were happy with doing, and found a couple more for the rest of the week to try.

It's worth a look, they also have a daily plan you can follow for different ages.

Welcome nighttime!! We are also trying to do it all in the same room (school, home “office”, play space). Ahh!

covetingthepreciousthings - I keep hearing about Twinkl but had totally assumed it was school-aged kids only. Thank you, I’ll have a look! I’m sure I was sent some kind of free trial in one of the group WhatsApps too...

I don’t really have any ideas just want to say that I’m in the same boat (nearly 5yo, 3yo and baby) and I feel you. It’s a total nightmare. The 5yo is actually pretty keen but her school work is constantly sabotaged by her demanding younger siblings. Someone is always crying. It’s horrendous!

My 3 year old son actually had a better day today when I gave him "work" of his own to do alongside 6 yo dd...so I gave him an age 3-5 maths English book because I had one lurking in the cupboard from when dd was little 🤦‍♀️ but I'm sure you could find similar worksheets on Twinkl to print or just make your own up, they are literally like "tick the biggest object" , "colour all the squares in red" stuff like that. Also printed some colour by numbers sheets off and they do addition colour by numbers for older kids.

When all else fails I get the play doh out for him and tell dd she can join in after 10 minutes reading or maths so I'm not being too unfair!

Or get the older one to teach the little one? My dd was also reading questions to ds which I figured is helpful for both of them

Aah the triangle of trauma, as I call it. Homeschooling my 8yo. Occupying a 3yo. Trying to work myself. So far I have used a combination for play-doh, dancing to Alexa and the iPad, with a smattering of dinosaurs. If you’re more creative than me, I did come across these ideas

I have the same problem! 6 year old loves learning and doing worksheets but 3 year old has the attention span of a gnat and then becomes destructive. To make matters worse I have a 3 month old who spends half the day screaming and needs constant rocking in the sling. At least the maternity leave means I'm not really trying to work as well...

Feel free to have a look at my business Facebook page.

I'm sticking as much as I can find on there. Hopefully some ideas to help. I usually work with children aged from 12 months to 8 so a wide range bit I'm sharing lots of things.

www.facebook.com/LittleJeffercakes/

I have a just turned 5 year old, a 3 year old and a baby. My 3 year old is interested in learning her letters, so she has some 'work' to do while DS is doing his. As a poster above said, I'm getting stuff from Twinkl for her, things like pencil control worksheets. For maths, I'm trying to do more practical maths so she can participate by holding things etc. She also likes it when I give her the same worksheets as DS and write the answers on for her to trace over. It's still a struggle though, she gets bored and disruptive before he's finished. DS wouldn't have sat down even this much as 3.5 though, so I appreciate I'm fairly lucky with her. Would your DS do jigsaws while you are doing school work at all?

Nursery sent through a treasure hunt for her which was very successful (find something green, soft, like a cloud etc). Depending on budget, the Gotrovo treasure hunt game is very good for keeping them physically occupied around the house.

My older 2 also like Andy's wild workouts on iPlayer, and the shorter Cosmic kids yoga on Youtube (they have dinosaur ones that are more for boys).

Some ideas.

Pop them in a bath naked with some paint. They learn about colour mixing, get to roll around and make mess and you can contain said mess and clean it.

Similar, bit bath crayons in the shower.

A bucket of water and some sponges and let them loose in the garden to 'clean' everything.

Pairing socks. Maths skills and one less job for you!

Cutting up old magazines or catalogues

Stickers. Never underestimate stickers

Get them out for an hour. You can go out to exercise. So run them, give them a list of things to find - something pink, something hard, something animals like to eat. Mentally tire them.

And don't be scared to stick them infront of paw patrol* for half an hour. Sometimes we all just need a breather.

*Other bloody annoying cartoons also work, pick their favourite and have a brew.

My son was 4 a week ago. Twinkl is our saviour. Pencil control worksheets and cutting worksheets etc. Masses on there.

Another good one is give simple tasks when they start to get bored - sweetie, Fred hasnt finished yet can you just help mummy sort out the coloured pencils so they are neat.

Fred just needs to finish this can you find me all the light colours so mummy can pop some washing in / help hang up some washing / load the dishwasher etc. 4 year olds are brilliant at learning life skills.

I have a 6 year old and an almost 4 year old and I have decided to take a very relaxed approach to the home schooling. My DH is the working away so it’s just me with the kids for the foreseeable. I am doing lots of Lego with them, nature walks, playing in the garden and doing the odd worksheet the school sent home when we have an opportunity. DD loves to read so she will do some reading independently in the mornings normally.

My opinion may be an unpopular one but I figure that we are in the middle of a global pandemic and my children’s health and happiness is of the utmost importance. As well as all of our mental health. I know I just won’t cope well if I try to make our day have a strict structure and I don’t think it would work for my kids either due to my younger child not being ready for that.

Fair play to anyone who is finding its working for them and their families but I think for some it’s creating a whole load of stress and it isn’t worth it.

I have a nearly 3 year old and have been collecting every cardboard box that came into the house for the past 2 weeks.

Today we made pirate ship however she did not give a hoot and enjoyed flinging / colouring / building and smashing the boxes more than my artistic masterpiece end product