The Homestyle

Last week I introduced my new series Toddler Time to you. This week I’d like to give you a fun idea for keeping your toddler occupied while you do an activity that demands your attention and focus. (For me, I find these activities most helpful and sanity-saving during our homeschool time.)

This week the activity is one I call Tiny Chores.

Now, they’re not really chores at all – nothing helpful is actually getting accomplished at this point.

But I have noticed that one of Ryah’s favorite things to do is to imitate me as I do things around the house. She loves to sweep and is the first one on the scene to wipe up a spill (not surprisingly because she is usually the one who spilled it). So, I’ve come up with a few things that Ryah can play at to be just like Mommy:

• Wash dishes. One day I put several towels on the floor, filled a dish tub part way with warm soapy water, and set it on Ryah’s little play table. I got out her plastic play dishes and gave her a wash cloth. She spent forever pretending to wash those dishes over and over. Yes, she was drenched when it was all said and done, but all I had to do was slip off her dress and she was ready to keep going.

• Sweep, mop, or vacuum. Of course Ryah isn’t really able to clean the floors, but she sure does like imitating the motions I make while I do these things. I’m currently on the look out at flea markets, garage sales, and on Craigslist for a set of kids-sized cleaning toys. In the meantime, though, I let her pretend with the real stuff. (I don’t usually give her water, by the way. In this picture, I had actually been doing the mopping, and she joined me for a few minutes.)

• Put laundry into or out of the drier. Our laundry room is directly beside our school room, so occasionally I give Ryah a small basket of clean clothes and let her transfer them back and forth from the drier to her heart’s content. This isn’t usually an activity that last for more than 5-10 minutes, but she enjoys it just the same.

• Dust. I’ve written before about how much I like the Swiffer 360 Dusters. They are easy to use and don’t use any sprays or other product, so Ryah can easily take one and spend a few minutes “dusting” all her toys… and Mommy… and the dogs… )

• Organizing silverware. This is one I’m looking forward to trying with Ryah this week! I have a set of plastic silverware and an empty silverware drawer organizer. While Will is doing some seat work, I plan to talk to Ryah about the names of the utinsels and show her where each type belongs. Then, I hope that she will work on dividing all the silverware up in its appropriate compartment.

Do you have any “tiny chores” that your toddler enjoys doing?