Tips To Keep Your 3-Year-Old Engaged!

Keeping your energetic 3-year-old busy indoors is no easy task, especially since toddlers have a short attention span and quickly become disinterested in their toys. Read on to find out some useful tips and ideas to keep you both entertained indoors.

Tips To Keep Your Three-Year Old Engaged

1. Let’s create a schedule:

   It helps to have a schedule. It’s best to include fun learning activities and games in this schedule. Make time at the end of each week to plan the following week’s activities
   • Once you take into account eating, bathing, napping and sleeping, you’ll probably be left with three to five hours a day of activity time
   • You may plan a good mix of physical activities and learning games and choose from indoor sports to arts and crafts, to letting your toddler watch some television, but not too much, for pure entertainment
   • Plan your activities around the time your child is most energetic, for example, after an afternoon nap

2. Physical activities:

   Physical activities help in channeling your 3-year-old’s energy by getting him involved in these fun physical activities
   • You may engage the child in physical activities through indoor sports. You don’t have to go outside to teach your child games like cricket, badminton, basketball, bowling and so on
   • Make space in the living room or dining area and you are ready to play with her
   • Other indoor games like hide and seek, peek-a-boo, tag, catch, and jump rope are simple ways to get your child running around the house
   • Or you could look at what games are great for your child now. Try playing in different rooms around your home to keep the game interesting

3. Make housework fun for your child:

   Involve your 3-year-old in household activities like you may ask her to pass clothes pegs while you hang your laundry, set the mats for dinner, put back the dishes or dust the table. Clap and praise her every time she does a good job. This will encourage her to keep doing it and you’ll get your chores done faster!

4. Dance your blues away:

   Turn up the volume (not too loud, of course) and let your child dance to her favorite tunes. If you have more than one child, then you can make it a competition for extra fun. Or better still you may also join in the fun

5. Hurdles to cross:

   You can build an obstacle course for your child using cushions, chairs, buckets or other objects that won’t hurt her. Then race with your child to the finish. Remember to clear the space of sharp objects, tables with sharp corners, before you indulge in the game

6. Balloons everywhere:

   Instead of buying an already-blown balloon, get a few balloons and blow them. Your child may want to throw them around or play balloon tennis. Balloons are safer than balls as they are less likely to break stuff around the house. If a balloon bursts, make sure to throw the shreds away immediately

7. Teach in a playful way:

   Indulge in games that teach your child through playful manner like building blocks
   • Most building blocks have letters or numbers on them and come in different colours
   • You may teach your child the alphabet or how to count while she has fun playing with the blocks
   • Flash cards are another way to teach your child in a playful manner. You may make these at home or buy them from the market. Usually one side of the card has a letter on it and the other side a picture of something beginning with that letter
   • Puzzles are another way to keep her occupied. Show her how to do one and watch her complete a puzzle

8. Read me a story:

   Reading books together would help you to introduce your child to nursery rhymes and stories by getting her in interested in books. Read aloud and encourage her to copy you

9. Let’s get arty:

   Let her get arty and indulge in drawing, coloring, and painting. You may use coloring books, though plain pieces of paper work just as well. You may try all kinds of painting methods to keep her involved. You can try finger or hand painting. You may cut vegetables like lady fingers or potatoes, dip them in paint and stamp them on paper to create fun shapes

There are numerous activities that you may do with your three-year-old and keep her engaged indoors. Please do share your feedback and views on the same in the comments section below.