From left: Wyatt Bootes, 3, Carson Cowser, 4, and Tyler Webb, 4, play with Legos building blocks at Barb’s Care-A-Lot early childhood preschool in Harborcreek Township. JARID A. BARRINGER/
Kids have only been out of school for a few days, but if you worry that your youngsters need constant entertainment, remember — they have to learn to entertain themselves. My kids loved Legos — at every age. We had that exact same red board in the picture at left — it helped keep the Legos grounded. If you haven’t introduced your kids to Legos yet, don’t wait. There’s a package for nearly every age from under 2 to 12 and over. Even Sponge Bob is a Lego! And, yes — there are princesses and castles. The Erie Times-News featured a great article today on how to give your kids some quiet time that doesn’t include the TV. Read it here. It includes:Books — create your own library. We had books for every age group from picture books to those spooky Goosebumps novels.Arts-and-crafts corner. My Hoosier was grand central station for construction paper, glitter, markers, crayons, glue and more.
Puzzles. Kids and adults love puzzles. We often got them from the library, and we had a United States puzzle that we all enjoyed. As your kids get older, you can put those thousand-piece puzzles together.
Do anything and everything outside. We played hoops, soccer, hockey, rollerbladed and jumped in the kiddie pool. We lived across the street from a park with playground equipment was plentiful and a baseball field and volleyball court were always in use.
Take advantage of the outdoors — in between the raindrops!
Pam Parker is the editor of Lake Erie LifeStyle, Her Times and House to Home at the Erie Times-News in Erie, Pa. She is the mom of three and stepmom to three.
