4 Easy Ways to Keep A Preschooler Busy (While Trying to School or Otherwise Engage an Older Child)

As my homeschooling journey begins, (my Kindergartner starts next week), so does my very stressful journey of trying to keep my preschooler happily engaged while I am paying attention to her older sister.  Weeks ago, I started hoarding items from the Dollar Store (foam stickers, pipe cleaners, foam puzzles, googlie eyes, etc.) and scouring Pinterest for ideas.  Aside from the obvious Dollar Store item activities, (painting, sticking stickers on anything and everything, playing with foam puzzles,) below are my top 4 activities for keeping a preschooler busy - they are easy on you, fun for the kid, and most importantly, are not going to cause a mess that will only give you more work at the end of the day!  I hope your preschooler enjoys them, and that they provide you with whine- and cry-free time with an older child :).

1.) Homemade Flubber

Make it in advance, provide a few props (I use Playdoh dishes, molds and cutters) and let them go to town!  This stuff keeps my preschooler busy for up to an hour on some days.  The recipe can be found on this website.

2.) Color Sorting Activity

All you need to make this activity are multicolored pom poms from the Dollar Store, 4 old jars, and red, yellow, blue and green paint or tape.  Paint the lids of the jars and a stripe around the middle of the jars, (or paint the whole jars if you're feeling crafty).  You can also use colored tape (I used tape for the green one because I didn't have any green paint on hand).  Then have the preschooler sort the pom poms into the jar of the proper color.

3.) Build-Your-Own Felt Cupcake

I saw this on Pinterest, but it didn't have any instructions.  It intrigued me, though, because my preschooler plays the "Build-Your-Own Cupcake" app on my husband's iPhone all the time.  So, I used some felt and other items that I had on hand to make the cupcakes (sorry, I know they're sad -I'm not very crafty - and I only had about 30 minutes to make them!).  All I did was print out some cupcake and candy templates online and glue them to a piece of thin cardboard.  I then cut them out and used a hot glue gun to attach the felt.  I happened to have a strip of Velcro with an adhesive side lying around, so I cut it into pieces and attached only the rough side to the cupcake "decorations".  They stuck very nicely to the felt, and the girls had fun building with them. 

 

4.) Scissor Cutting and Tracing Exercises

I found this printable scissor cutting exercise (and a BUNCH more of them) on this website.  There are also some quality, printable tracing exercises on this website.  What preschooler doesn't want to play with scissors?!

 



Easy Garlic Cayenne Oxymel Recipe For Cold & Flu Season (Start Preparing Early!)

What, you may be asking, is an oxymel??  According to herbalist Rosalee de la Foret,

"Oxymels are herbal preparations that date back as far as the ancient Greeks. They are made by combining herbs with both honey and vinegar.  These sweet and sour preparations are specific to the respiratory system and can be used for bronchial complaints, especially when there is a lot of mucous present - such as coughs that are thick with mucous.  I learned from herbalist Paul Bergner that William Cook, a Physiomedicalist of the 1800s preferred vinegar as a menstruum for issues of the respiratory system. He felt that it concentrated the herb’s actions to the respiratory system.  Honey in itself offers us a wide range of benefits for coughs and sore throats. It’s anti-microbial, inhibiting the growth of pathogens as well as slightly expectorant. As most of us know, a spoonful of honey can soothe a sore throat."

Now that you know what an oxymel is, this recipe is a quicker version than most others, which usually include the infusion of the herbs in the vinegar for several days or weeks.  As a result, this recipe probably produces a somewhat weaker end product, but let me tell you, it doesn't taste that way!  Just a half teaspoon cleared my sinuses right up!  This is most likely not a preparation that you will be able to get your kids to take, (while I was making it, my kids covered their noses and wouldn't come near the kitchen,) but it's definitely worth having on hand for cold and flu season.  Plus, I think it would make a yummy salad dressing.

Without further ado...

Easy Garlic Cayenne Oxymel

4 ounces apple cider vinegar (with the "mother", if possible)   5 cloves garlic, pressed
1/4 cup fresh sage*
a few sprigs of fresh thyme*
a small handful of fresh rosemary*
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
5 ounces raw honey
*Note:  When substituting dried herbs for fresh, use 1/3 to 1/2 the amount.  Dried herbs are always stronger.*

Directions:
Heat apple cider vinegar to a boil.  (Make sure the garlic is pressed and the herbs are roughly chopped at this point).  Remove from heat and add all ingredients but the honey.  Stir and let steep with lid on for 15 minutes.  Strain through a coffee filter or cheese cloth.  Add honey and reheat ON LOW until just combined - not too much or the honey will begin to lose enzymes.  Pour into a glass jar with a plastic lid (or make sure there is some type of cloth or plastic wrap between the oxymel and a metal lid due to the vinegar content), and place in the fridge.  Will keep for up to one year.  Dosage is approximately 1 tablespoon as needed for colds or congestion.  Can also be mixed into a cup of tea.

*This recipe is from this website with slight alterations

***Keep an eye out for an Elderberry Elixir recipe for cold and flu season, which is a more "adult" version of my Elderberry Syrup recipe, coming soon!!***

Detox Project: Easy Sea Salt Face & Body Spray

 This is by far one of the easiest (and cheapest) of the detox projects I have done thus far, and I was amazed at the results!  I have "hormonal" skin, (i.e. acne), and for the past month I have sprayed this on my face after showering or before bed every night.  It has cleared up my acne better than all OTC and prescription creams I have tried - no joke.  And it smells great, which is another added benefit!  Give it a try - I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.  The recipe is originally from this website, but I re-wrote it below the way I made it for the sake of ease. 

Easy Sea Salt Face & Body Spray    

1 cup pre-boiled (heated to almost boiling) or distilled water        

1 Tablespoon sea salt

1 generous pinch Epsom salt

10 to 20 drops lavender essential oil           

Directions: Add the salts to the water while it is warm.  Then let the water cool if you are using a plastic spray bottle.  Pour the water and salt mixture into the spray bottle and add essential oils at the end.  Shake well.        





Oatmeal Energy Ball Recipe

This is possibly the best energy ball recipe I have found!  Unfortunately, I scribbled it on a piece of paper after seeing it on Facebook, so I have no idea where it came from.  They are delicious, however, and have been given rave reviews in my house by adults and children alike.  The recipe takes about 10 minutes from start to finish, and the last batch I made lasted in the fridge for approximately 3 weeks.  Too good not to give them a try!


Oatmeal Energy Ball Recipe

1 cup quick oats
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup flax meal
1/2 cup almond butter (or peanut butter, but I prefer the taste of the almond butter)
1/3 cup honey
1 tsp vanilla extract

*Optional ingredients include coconut or dried cranberries.*

Directions:  Place all ingredients in a bowl and mix well.  Form into balls with clean hands (if your hands get too sticky, you will have a hard time).  Place in an airtight container in the fridge.  *Makes approximately 20 balls.*

Detox Project: Homemade Bug Spray!

I never had to use bug spray growing up, since I was a city girl, and city girls don't need bug spray.  However, after having children and moving to a house with a heavily wooded yard, I found myself in dire need of some.  The problem is, I refuse to use the chemical-laden kind available at the stores.  So, in that case, what's a city-girl-turned-country-girl to do?  MAKE HER OWN!  I found a great recipe on this website, and it has variations depending on the types of essential oils you have on hand.  Due to it being a very rainy summer around here, the mosquitoes are breeding quite rapidly and plentifully.  So, I doused myself with this bug spray just last night and went out to the woods at dusk.  I couldn't believe it, but it actually worked!  Not a single mosquito bite, despite the fact that I was practically in a swarm of them for at least a half hour.  Give it a try!  Next spring, I'm definitely going to make the more powerful Vinegar of the Four Thieves Insect Repellent variation. 

This is what I used:

1/2 Cup boiled or distilled water
1/2-3/4 Cup witch hazel
30 drops lavender essential oil
20 drops peppermint essential oil

There are more variations of essential oils that you can use here.  Give it a try!

Cranberry Chocolate Coconut Granola Bar Recipe

I spent months and months tinkering with various granola bar recipes, only to find many of them had a ton of honey, or fell apart, or were too crunchy.  Finally, I ended up updating my original granola bar recipe with more readily available ingredients and this is what resulted!  Tropical Traditions posted my recipe on their blog, and you can find it here.  (Note:  The recipe shows maple syrup, but I prefer to use agave nectar instead.  Same amount.)  These are ridiculously easy to make, yield a 9x13 pan full and are really, really yummy.  Plus, you can add or subtract ingredients according to your preferences, dietary restrictions or what you have on hand.  Hope you enjoy them!

Tales From a Stay-At-Home Mom: "I'm Watching You!"

I was in the bathroom with my two daughters, and we were "doing nails".  I finished my younger daughter's toes, and then went to pick up the bottle of hot pink nail polish that my older daughter had picked out for her fingers.  Of course, she hadn't told me that she had already unscrewed the cap, so when I picked it up by the lid, the bottle went crashing to the floor and hot pink nail polish went flying (and I mean flying) all over the linoleum tile and cabinets (I'm still thanking God it missed my new white rugs.  White?  Really?? What was I thinking??).  It was the end of a very long day, and that was the last straw.  I started to lose it.  At that moment, when every curse word known to man was running through my mind and I started scolding my daughter for unscrewing the cap, my two-year-old said, "I'M WATCHING YOU!".  She said it in a sing-song voice that was reminiscent of something you would see in a Stephen King movie, but I don't think that's what stopped me dead in my tracks:  It was the fact that, in that instant, I realized that she was watching ME.  She was watching MY reaction in that situation.  In fact, she was watching every one of my reactions in every situation throughout every day.  The weight of the thought certainly took the wind out of my sails.

I still have no idea why she said it, or what she even meant by the comment.  I half want to think it was the Holy Spirit warning me through her - because not only was she watching my every move, but so was God.  My reaction to the nail polish debacle was not a graceful one, as it should have been.  My immediate thought was not to extend mercy; it was to punish.  The nail polish was only another mess in the string of messes that I clean up on any given day, and nothing was stained permanently, so I really didn't have anything to be upset about.  Just the fact that I had to clean up another mess when I had a whole laundry list of other things to do to get everyone ready for bed was what upset me.  I could make excuses all day long to justify my reaction in this situation, (or any similar situation, for that matter,) but it doesn't change the fact that I was wrong.  I reacted incorrectly, and my daughter called me out on it.  My two-year-old knew my response was not what it should have been, because I take time to try and correct her behaviour when it is out of line.  Obviously, she was returning the favor!

As mothers, we don't only teach our children their ABC's, how to have good manners, and how to tie their shoes or clean up after themselves.  We teach them - by our own actions and reactions - how to act and react to stressful, upsetting, frustrating situations.  For example, if I yell and scold and punish every time someone makes a mess or breaks something, I'm going to send the message to my kids that that's the normal way to respond to a mess or a broken item.  In that case, I would also be sending the message that the floor or broken object is more important to me than the person who made the mess or caused the breakage in the first place.  I would be placing undue significance on objects rather than my precious children, and years of that kind of behavior could certainly have a negative impact on their fragile psyches.  Now, don't get me wrong, obviously there are times when scolding or punishment might absolutely be necessary, but nail polish on the floor when it wasn't even her fault in the first place?  Ah, no.  My linoleum tile and cabinets are not worth wounding my little girl's spirit.  Join with me this week after Mother's Day in making an effort to be aware of the words you are speaking to your kids each day and the tones you are using when you speak them.  Let us be women who speak life - who speak with wisdom and have faithful instruction on our tongues (Proverbs 31:26, paraphrased).