25 Ways to Keep Your Kids Busy – Sans Television!

By | July 17, 2013

We are ‘mid-summer’!  Are you running out of ideas yet?!  See below for a great link to some television and electronics free ideas!

It may surprise your kids to learn there was life before television. Also, before DVR’s, before remote controls and before Dora the Explorer. At one time, parents kept their kids independently busy without the aid of television, freeing up valuable time to wash dishes, make phone calls, churn butter, scare away dinosaurs — whatever responsible grown-ups did back then. Experts have warned us that televisions make lousy babysitters, so here are 25 TV-free suggestions to keep your kids entertained.

 

Make a Ball Mazekids4_0
Good for ages: 2 and up

Ever wonder what to do with all those paper towel or toilet paper rolls? Don’t throw them away, make a maze for the kids! Recreate this craft from A Happy Wanderer and cut the cardboard cylinders in half and glue them cascading down the long side of a large cardboard box. Let dry for a few hours. Sit up against a wall for support and let the kids drop balls, cars (or really, anything that rolls!) down the path. It’ll keep them entertained for hours, and keep all those toys off the floor — at least temporarily.

 

 

 

 

 

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Sumo” Wrestling

Good for ages: 5 and up

King size pillows + Dad’s old t-shirts = sumo wrestling fun. Seriously mama, when you can’t tell your hyper, rambunctious, filled-with-way-too-much-energy kids to take it outside, let them wrestle, sumo-style, with this fun idea featured on allfortheboys.com.

 

 

 

Kiddy Car Washkids12
Good for ages: 4 to 6

Turn your kitchen sink into a toy car wash. Round up the plastic spray bottles and buckets you have lying around the house and fill them with water. Set up the bottles, sponges and dry rags and let the kids “wash” their mini toy cars and hose them down with your sink’s sprayer. Yes, you might want to stick close to the kitchen while they’re doing this, and yes, you’ll need to mop up some water when they’re done, but they’ll have a blast.

 

 

 

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