I started to go a little stir crazy while home part-time with my daughter (from age 0 to almost 3).  Two days a week together was a blessing AND a quest. A quest to keep my sanity without much adult interaction and come up with fun things to do with a constantly evolving little person. I dragged her to cafes in the name of more caffeine, shuffled to the library to share germs and shrieks at story time, and made trips to the grocery store-an adventure as I narrated the whole time (yup that’s me talking to my baby about how to pick a ripe avocado).

I also tried to get creative about how to keep us both engaged AND not break the Sesame Street Bus bank. I give a ton of props to the teachers and other inventive people who post their crafts on the internet, and to the hive that are my friends in the “been there done that” camp who I poll for ideas. Some ideas have been a raving success and others a terrific flop. Here’s my top five hits and I hope you’ll share yours.

Play at home

Obstacle course

Great for crawlers to toddlers. Take couch cushions, pillows, tunnels (blankets draped over chairs) and arrange them so your little one has to navigate. Crawlers/early walkers might be enticed with favorite toys along the way. Toddlers / preschoolers can widen the circuit and incorporate hula hoops, jumping jacks, and somersaults. If you’ve got small cones from sports classes, a yoga mat to jump over, dig them out! Get them moving, hide some items and it is also a treasure hunt. If it’s a wet dark rainy day, use flashlights, open up the umbrellas and twirl.

Cost: free just use what you have.

Tape It Up!

Age 2 and up.

Use your imagination. Tape can be a parking lot for cars or a hopscotch court. Maybe a train track and more. I use Scotch Blue Painters Tape (sticks well but won’t ruin your rug or wood floors). My girl loves her Thomas trains and matchbox cars. We use the tape to create a parking lot, race track, or train track and she spends hours driving the cars around within it. Add a tissue box garage / or paper towel tube tunnel and it’s even better. Use Duplo blocks or other toys to add roadside attractions. Also a hit at Grandma’s house who has a long wood floor hallway and we made a course to race.

Cost: $5.99 for a 60 yard roll of the Scotch Blue Painters tape.

Build a Fire Engine / Bus / Truck

A huge hit from 2 and up (especially with friends over) is to build and pretend to drive a fire truck. Chairs of any size lined up in a row. Construction paper for cutting out wheels and taping to the chair legs. Steering Wheel (we use the top of our salad spinner because it has a “horn”, but could use pot lid or other), plastic firefighter hats (bought on sale after Halloween at Target). We (or friends) take turns driving. As she got older we also perched stuffed animals on our couch or other places and tried to “rescue” them.  We make silly siren noises. We read fire truck stories.

Cost: Free or up to $5 for the hats and/or construction paper.

Dance Party

Around 3 my daughter became interested in dancing and listening to songs. I created a play list on my iPod that is a mix of kid songs (Mickey Mouse, Sesame Street, They Might be Giants) and some of my popular music (Mamma Mia, Cindy Lauper, and others with good vibes and no harsh lyrics). We have a Bose dock with remote but could play off a computer or something else. Her current favorite song is “Hooked on a Feeling” or as she calls it the OOOH-GA Chucka Song. We dance silly. Best part-no judgement of your dance skills (or lack thereof) with this audience. She gets her dancing shoes and twirly dress and has a blast.

Cost: Free if you have a good music collection. Could be a few dollars to download songs or borrow CDs from a local library.

Rice Box Treasure Dig

A hit between 12 -24 months. Take the biggest container you have (I used a Rubbermaid under bed storage bin — long and shallow) and fill with white rice, small pasta or mix it up with different textures. Add measuring cups, utensils, and for fun bury some cars, little people or other in the rice and dig them up. I was amazed that my daughter would spend an hour sifting, pouring, digging.  To avoid huge clean up I laid out a table cloth or sheet underneath and then just shake and toss (or reuse) afterwards. Alternative is “sink/float” water play. Fill same container with water, add dish soap for bubbles, and find all sorts of utensils, plastic toys and pour, sift, see what floats or sinks.

Cost: $5-6 for rice/pasta.

What are some of your favorite free or inexpensive home activities?