Constanze, is mum to Noa (2yrs), originally from Germany but now living in Manchester.
She loves setting up simple and fun activities for her daughter to let her happily discover and explore freely and Constanze can enjoy a few minutes recharging time and a coffee or tea. Win win!
She strongly believes in a balanced family-work-me life and made it her mission to inspire others with activity ideas for babies/ toddlers and family hacks to create a few well deserved minutes of tranquillity in your days 🙂
So let’s see how she’s done it with this simple, beautiful and effective idea…
What did you do?
Firstly, you need to go and collect your main ingredients: some lovely wild spring flowers. We found some on our daily morning walk through the neighbourhood, maybe you have some in your garden or in your home. Lots of daisies and dandelions everywhere these days!
Take a little basket so your little one can collect some beautiful treasures.
Then all you need is:
- a bucket or tray
- some bowls and scooping utensils e.g. a little soup spoon, milk jug or measuring cups.
- I would recommend doing this outdoors but if you do it indoors use less water and ideally a tray or spill mat so if water splashes (it will :)) you are prepared. For any kind of water play, having a towel close by is also handy;
I always recommend only using as much water as you are happy to clean up in order to avoid exceeding your personal messiness level tolerance. Happy mum/dad equals happy toddler and it’s no fun if you can’t relax during the activity 🙂
So lastly, just add water, a good splash of milk and a few drops of food colouring of your choice in the bucket. My daughter will be 2 in July and is currently fascinated by water, mixing it, pouring it, scooping it or transferring it, so this occupied her for a good 20 mins while I had some me time to enjoy a cup of tea and start chopping the veg for dinner. Win win!
For the activities I do, I try to use ingredients as often as possible. In this case I decided to freeze the remaining flowers and milky water. I used normal ice cube trays, a few flowers in each tray and then covered with the milky coloured water. It’s still in the freezer waiting to be played with – ice is another great sensory material for toddlers and babies 🙂
What’s your next project idea:
The weather has been so nice recently, so I am focussing on a few outdoor ideas. Noa loves sand but we don’t have a sandpit at the moment, so I am planning on setting up a mini sensory beach on a tray in our garden. We love simple, sensory play so can’t wait to set this up some time this week – summer here we come!!!
How are you finding being housebound with kids so far?
Our first week was manic with 2 full-time jobs and a super busy toddler but we have found a good routine by now and I honestly have to say we quite enjoy this slow-paced environment around us and spending more time together.
Any tips to help people when they are housebound with kids?
Find a routine that works for your family in this new normal. Structure your day in time batches and work as a team with your partner and kids (if they are older). Focus on the positive aspects of this, I know it can be hard and every day is different, but this is so much about your mindset. Stay positive!!!
Tell us what you think about the Housebound with Kids Facebook community…
I think it’s great to see how people share ideas to help others. I mainly enjoyed the inspiration for new toddler activities 🙂
