WHAT ACTIVITIES WILL KEEP A 2 & 3 YEAR OLD BOY'S

[jus]

Hi Guy's, need some :idea: on how to keep a 3 year old entertained, we can cut & stick, paint, play doh etc, but after 5mins he want's to do something else he must be like this at nursery as his teacher said he's never still
,his 2 year old brother will sit and play on his own with the shape sorters but when he's quite the older child will go and take things off him and make him scream, this morning the younger child was playing with the leap pad story book, he turned it on and I asked him to press the green circle, but before he could do it himself the older child had done it for him the younger child started screaming , I explained to the older child that his younger brother as to learn to do things himself, but the older child will not listen, at the moment I'm only minding these 2 , don't know how they will be if I get any more children. plus when EYFS starts sept 08, I don't know how I'm going to do obsevations and assessments on the 2yr old if the older child is here as he will be doing it for him. give some advice guy's:thumbsup:

[sarah707]

There's no magic formula I'm afraid! I'm looking forward to hearing how others deal with it.

I have this problem too, especially now baby is moving, 2 year old is just sooo jealous and won't leave him alone. I have bought a playpen to keep baby safe for when I am out of the room and I try and keep the 2 year old amused with other things...

But as soon as start to interact with baby, over he comes to push, bite, shout etc to try and get all the attention on himself.

Have you spoken to parents? I know in this family, it happens at home and is being dealt with by consistent praise for older one and by both parents working together to keep each child amused - impossible when you're on your own though!

I am hoping it will get easier in time! :D

[ma7ie]

Sorry I can't help either, but I'm interested to know too.

[fionamal]

What about lego, building blocks, mr potatoe head, stickle bricks, magnetics, brio train set

These the the things my 3 year old plays with on a daily basis

[jus]

Thanks Sarah, I've spoken to the mother she's one parent, the children have no daily routine at home they don't have a time to go to bed, the 3 year old shouts at her like a dog one day I had to tell the child that he should not speek to his mum like that. I have also told her to stop giving into them when they demand something she gives it them to keep them quite. The older child normally falls asleep when he's going home 5.30pm and she'll put him on sofa when she gets in and then he stay's there till he wakes up 9pm then he won't go to bed, I told her to put him in bath jim jams on and put him in bed, as they are up early to come to me for 8am and he's at school 1pm til 3pm and then leaves me tnite 6.30pm. jus

[crazybones]

Try getting them outside. I have just spent 2 hours in the garden with two 2 year olds, one of whom has no attention span to sit and play. They have had the sand, the water, the toys and just ran and ran, even had a picnic. I am filthy and wet and so are they but at the moment they are sat together in vests and jumpers with a gingerbread biscuit watching Thomas and it is so peaceful. I am having a cuppa then will redress them for school run when hopefully they will both fall fast asleep along with me probably.

Annie x

[jus]

What about lego, building blocks, mr potatoe head, stickle bricks, magnetics, brio train set

These the the things my 3 year old plays with on a daily basis

I have mega blocks but he'll tip them out play for about 10mins then leave them for someone else to pick up. Thanks jus

[louise]

My Son is 3 and Mindee 2. Everything sounds the same here. Its been great now that my son is at preschool every morning now. Now i get to have conversations with mindee with out him buttin in. Also things like what colour is this? Mindee never gets a chance to answer.

Craft also last a few mins here aswell. I spend more time tiding up then doing. They arent to bad on playing unless i start to ask mindee q's then my son comes over.

[avril]

Hi

Have you tried toddler groups, the park (now the weather is better), the garden as Annie suggested, experiment with messy play, after all activites encourage the children to help tidy up use positive encouragement sticker rewards or treat. Build up structure to the childs day keeping him occupied.

Any help??

Avril x:)

[jus]

Hi

Have you tried toddler groups, the park (now the weather is better), the garden as Annie suggested, experiment with messy play, after all activites encourage the children to help tidy up use positive encouragement sticker rewards or treat. Build up structure to the childs day keeping him occupied.

Any help??

Avril x:)

Thanks, he goes to nursery in the afternoon, picked him up today at 3pm and the nursery teacher ask if I would like to learn him something so I said yes, she replied would you teach him to sit still and listen and also ask is mum to try it on the weekend, the only time he sits still his when I give him time out. got a reward chart but he thinks he can have a sticker even if he's been naughty. jus

[avril]

Hi

I would say maybe fighting a losing battle if no support from the mother and nursery are also asking you to teach him to sit still.

Avril x:)

[Heaven Scent]

Young children love to be involved in activities which they feel are important so I would keep him busy running about doing jobs for you but split them up e.g. if you need some papers putting in the bin (re-cycle Of course) give them to him 1 at a time and refer to what you are doing together as work. Say something come on lets do some work together and say this is great we are getting loads of jobs done together make him feel valued and make the 'jobs' seem important and ask him if he likes doing jobs this will help build up his concentration and self esteem and eventually he will become more independant at first he will come to you every few seconds for approval but you tell him to go back because its not quite finished and he will do it because he wants to feel a valued member of your group. Any little job will do emptying the dishwasher with you plastic and blunt items obviously, drying up give him a washing up bowl with a little water and suds and let him wash up his snack things and dry them up - you will probably have to do it agian for H&S reasons but what about it he will be busy and feeling so grown up and proud of himself.

Also get him involved in preparing food give him a plastic knife and let him cut a banana into slices for his snack, et him help to set the table etc etc. It might all seem very time consuming and he might say he doesn't have to do it at home etc etc but build it up and make him feel that you need him. Give him an orange cut in half and let him squeze it to make his own juice to drink for snack once they get into the swing of this it can keep them busy for hours.

When you are seeing to the little one have a doll with accessories for him and say lets sort out our babies and encourage him to do the same for the doll as you do for the baby and get him to help you when changing the baby by getting you things even if they are within easy reach of you. Bear with it and it will pay off. If mum is on her won with two little ones she will probably be saying things like you just play or watch tv or whatever while I get on with my work and what this says to him is my work is important and you and your games aren't so just get him involved in the things he sees as important and then join in his games and gradually build up the emphases on the games and other activities. Even ask him to go to the other side of the room to get you things you don't really want thank him very much for them and tell him how useful he is Keep the item for a while or talk to him about it, suggesting to him that it was fun and interesting and getting him to admit that he enjoyed exploring it he'll think he did because he enjoyed having your 1-1 attention for a while then get him to take it back to exactly where he got it from an thank him for doing it and again suggest to him that he had fun doing that and what he did was really useful. All the time you will be building his self esteem and giving value to all the activities he is engaged in throughout the day and eventually take away your attention little by little. Always involve him in everything you do with the baby if he is not absorbed in an activity and play games that involve both of them even if they are things like clap hands include both childrens names. You can always give 1-1 to the baby while the older one is at nursery.

Perhaps I'm teaching my granny to suck eggs here but its worth giving it a try. If I've not made much sense as I'm rushing this do pm me.

Celine

[jus]

Young children love to be involved in activities which they feel are important so I would keep him busy running about doing jobs for you but split them up e.g. if you need some papers putting in the bin (re-cycle Of course) give them to him 1 at a time and refer to what you are doing together as work. Say something come on lets do some work together and say this is great we are getting loads of jobs done together make him feel valued and make the 'jobs' seem important and ask him if he likes doing jobs this will help build up his concentration and self esteem and eventually he will become more independant at first he will come to you every few seconds for approval but you tell him to go back because its not quite finished and he will do it because he wants to feel a valued member of your group. Any little job will do emptying the dishwasher with you plastic and blunt items obviously, drying up give him a washing up bowl with a little water and suds and let him wash up his snack things and dry them up - you will probably have to do it agian for H&S reasons but what about it he will be busy and feeling so grown up and proud of himself.

Also get him involved in preparing food give him a plastic knife and let him cut a banana into slices for his snack, et him help to set the table etc etc. It might all seem very time consuming and he might say he doesn't have to do it at home etc etc but build it up and make him feel that you need him. Give him an orange cut in half and let him squeze it to make his own juice to drink for snack once they get into the swing of this it can keep them busy for hours.

When you are seeing to the little one have a doll with accessories for him and say lets sort out our babies and encourage him to do the same for the doll as you do for the baby and get him to help you when changing the baby by getting you things even if they are within easy reach of you. Bear with it and it will pay off. If mum is on her won with two little ones she will probably be saying things like you just play or watch tv or whatever while I get on with my work and what this says to him is my work is important and you and your games aren't so just get him involved in the things he sees as important and then join in his games and gradually build up the emphases on the games and other activities. Even ask him to go to the other side of the room to get you things you don't really want thank him very much for them and tell him how useful he is Keep the item for a while or talk to him about it, suggesting to him that it was fun and interesting and getting him to admit that he enjoyed exploring it he'll think he did because he enjoyed having your 1-1 attention for a while then get him to take it back to exactly where he got it from an thank him for doing it and again suggest to him that he had fun doing that and what he did was really useful. All the time you will be building his self esteem and giving value to all the activities he is engaged in throughout the day and eventually take away your attention little by little. Always involve him in everything you do with the baby if he is not absorbed in an activity and play games that involve both of them even if they are things like clap hands include both childrens names. You can always give 1-1 to the baby while the older one is at nursery.

Perhaps I'm teaching my granny to suck eggs here but its worth giving it a try. If I've not made much sense as I'm rushing this do pm me.

Celine

Thanks for the advice I'll give it a try and let you know how I get on. Jus

[angeldelight]

Hows it going with this ?

Angel xx

[Chell]

I agree with whoever said about being outdoors. At that ages boys just seem to be dirt magnets. At that ages DS loved being outdoors - digging, playing on trikes, poking things with sticks was a favourite pass time and looking for snails and bugs. He is almost five and still likes these things.

At three he had no interest in drawing, painting, etc whereas DD loves those things.

[angeldelight]

Yeah Chell and it does not change when they are older haha

Angel xx