LDS General Conference Toddler Attention Presents

Wasn't General Conference this past weekend awesome?! (Don't know what I'm talking about? see here or here or some awesome quotes from the weekend here) I have to share with you guys something- I have an almost 3 year old and a 6 month old and I listened to every talk. Store this away in the archives for October!

1. I went to the Dollar Store on Saturday morning ( I had been planning to all week but I didn't end up making it until the very last minute) and I bought treats, coloring books, little toys, and other activities listed below. 
2. I wrapped 6 things per session and divided them into bags. I did this so PB wouldn't open all the treats or activities in one session.
3. We set a timer on my husband's iPhone to go off every 20 minutes. This was flexible. We started with a 5 minute timer so she got the concept. 
4. We told her she had to be in the room and behaving to get the treat. She went off and played upstairs in the playroom for a bit. When she got back down we set a shorter timer so she could get another treat. 

It wasn't perfect but basically it took her the 20 minutes to get bored with an activity or eat her treat. If she finished early there were the activities she had already opened to occupy her. We brought in her little picnic table and she sat and did her activities at that table. 

She did awesome. I was worried that she would get upset that we were watching TV and it wasn't her show and Heaven forbid it wasn't "ELSA!" (Please tell me we're not the only ones that have watched it 20 times in the past two weeks). There were moments of mischief and she did take a good nap on Saturday so she had a bit of a break but overall it was a great experience.

Here is the list of what I bought:

• Two coloring books (big flop she didn't want to color at all)
• Velvet coloring sheet (like here but seriously don't buy it there because I got it at the Dollar Store)
•  Magic Paint booklet (like here I got it at Michael's) 
• Furreal Spinner (like here)
• Jewelry Links (like here)
• Candy- Fruity Tootsie Rolls, Airheads, fruity Mike and Ikes, Sugar Babies. I chose these because I could separate each one out into multiple presents
• Snacks (not from the Dollar Store) Goldfish, animals crackers, fruit snacks

Here are a couple pictures we took of the girls.

In the #10 can there are crayons and she's painting with water in the bowl in the Magic Paint book she got

 I also pinned a bunch of other ideas found here on Wayward Girls Crafts' Pinterest page.

Here is a post from last year that we did as well. None of the Pinterest pictures are working but the links work. 

Do you have an idea that works for you?

Young Toddler Distraction- from the Dollar Store

Thanks for all of your great input last week! I loved reading all the comments! I have the perfect old purse for PB to use and I'm gathering up old keys and credit cards. That is still a work in progress. I think that would be great to take to church. She has started to try to go through other people's bags when she is thwarted by the zipper on mine.

I did finish up a basket of things that I collected. Your comments really inspired me to look at her daily activities and what she loves to do which are:

1. Make a mess
2. Pretend (or for real) write. She carries anything pen-like around the house with books or pads of paper and pretends to write. I call her my little reporter.
3. Shake and throw things
4. Take lids off of containers

So I made the activities accordingly. So I got all of the things at the Dollar Store. I spent $9 and I used a bunch of stuff from around the house- especially the recycling bin. Here is what I bought:

• Balloons
• Cheap Playdough
• Puff balls
• Counting foam cubes 
• a coloring book
• A "glow slate" (see picture)
• Cheap crayons
• Colorful mini popsicle sticks
• A bin to put it all in 

Here is what I made with them:

For her mess making spirit. I cut up scrap fabric into "wipies" and put the puffs and squares in there too. One of her favorite things is to pull all the wipies out of the container.

For my little reporter. I cut the top off of the glow slate and hot glued a ribbon with the pen attached. I got the cheap crayons because they are less likely to write on things that are not the coloring book.

I took the cheap playdough and stuffed two of the little containers worth into a balloon. I put another balloon over that and tied them off. The can stack the containers or take the lids off and throw the playdough 

My grandma gave me the container for the popsicle sticks. It is a Crystal Light packet container. She kept one at her house filled with old fashion clothes pins. I used a small water bottle and filled it with glitter, beads, and rhinestones. I hot glued the top on. It took a lot of hot glue because I didn't get it on right.

Tonight PB gets to play with her basket for the first time. I am in charge of an activity tonight where I need her very occupied. I'll let you know how it goes! Thanks again for all of your comments last week!

Toddler Distraction Question- Help Please!

I decided last week I was going to put together a box of things that would highly interest my 15 month old PB. If I am sitting in the room with her she sits and plays if I stand up and walk to a different room she is glued to me whining. Yes, I know this is very typical but I would like her to learn independence as well as strengthen her fine motor and problem-solving skills. I have looked at many Pinterest boards and pins as well as done a Google search for ideas but they all violate the rules that I want for my box-o-distraction:

Please note a few things about this picture: how tired she looks (no nap), the cat is sitting on  folded laundry (no more folding for Mom), PB can reach just about everything. 

1. Mess free. I can deal with picking up pieces but not paint, spaghetti, or shaving cream.
2. Activities on her level. She is not interested in matching or counting yet. 
3. Inexpensive. I'm not spending $5 on an activity when my toddler only has a 30 second attention span on a good day.
4. Safe so she can be unsupervised. The whole reason I want this box is so I can get dressed or make meals without PB being in danger of hurting herself on the hot stove or curling iron because she is glued to my knee cap.

I do have a few ideas that I plan on doing: a wipe container with fabric squares she can pull out, balloons filled with play-doh, and a water bottle with water a beads inside. 

So now I'm asking you faithful readers:

What would you put in an Early Toddler Distraction Box?

Links and tips are much appreciated!!

Click here to see what I came up with