10 Ways to Keep Your Kids Busy

(While You Have to Wait)

Do you ever end up in places like the ER, in a car line, in stand still traffic, at the doctors office, or some other place where the wait seems to take forever some days, especially when you have little ones in tow? If you answered yes to any of those you have to read the rest of this post that my guest writer Julia Richardson is sharing with us today on ways to keep your kids busy while you have to wait somewhere!

10 Ways to Keep Your Kids Busy (While You Have to Wait)

Written by: Julia Richardson

Every mother knows that having to wait anywhere with children is on our top trying-moments list. Anywhere from waiting in line, to waiting for food at a restaurant, to waiting in the doctor’s office, these moments want to make us pull our hair out. This is the situation I found myself in on Sunday when I rushed us to Urgent care because my 6 year old had a weird rash. We waited for an hour just to go back and the whole time I was wishing I had planned better.

My boys are 2 and 6 so that can be a challenge in of itself because they are at this point where they like the same things but they do things differently. My 6 year old doesn’t like to share because the 2 year old doesn’t play right and the 2 year old just doesn’t want to share. So for an hour Big E (the 6 year old) laid in the floor fiercely explaining why toy cars drive on the ground while Little E (you guessed it- the 2 year old) ran all around the office making his car fly in the air. Well, ok not the full hour because I ended up handing over my planner to let the boys draw with a couple of spare pens I had but still I should have had a better plan.

So once we got home I hatched that plan and I came up with the Wait Bag. This is where I can keep those 10 ways to keep your kids busy while you have to wait somewhere! Now I’m sure this isn’t a new idea and that people have been doing things like this for ages but if you haven’t I’d like to introduce it to you.

Qualities of a Great Wait Bag:

The Ideal bag would be something that you can fit a folder of paper in and have plenty of pockets for other small items. Also you want to be able to leave it in the car at all times so that the Little Ones (LO’s) only have access to it when they are having to wait somewhere. If your diaper bag allows for you to be able to fit things like this do it! One less thing for you to tote around. Unless you’re leaving the diaper bag with a caregiver on a daily/weekly basis. Little E goes to a sitter at least 2 times a week while my husband and I work so putting those things in his diaper bag wouldn’t be practical since we don’t wanna make it difficult for caregivers to find things in it.

The Top 10 Things to put in it to keep your kids busy while you have to wait:

1. Small toys

-My suggestion would be to have a few small toys, no more than 10, such as small figurines, dolls, or hot wheel cars. The perfect figures or dolls would be small enough to fit in a ziplock baggy and they could be animals, dinosaurs, or soldiers. Anything that can be found at a dollar tree so that they are easy to replace if lost or broken.

2. Blank paper and a small pack of crayons or markers.

-This is great for the obvious reasons, to keep their little minds and fingers growing. But you can also use this to draw streets for hot wheels to drive, or homes for dolls to live in, and farms for the animals.

3. A favorite short book or two-

Having a book with you has always been a favorite suggestion because we love to read. If you get them really engaged by making silly voices and sounds it can keep them still for at least 10 minutes. It’s also great to get a book that has flaps for them to flip up or a “find book” where they have to search for items to help keep their attention. This is where it’s also important to keep the bag away from the kids until you’re in a situation where you’ll have to wait because these books will become special ones that are only read when they are quiet and still in public.

4. Puzzles

Another way to keep your kids busy is to have age-appropriate puzzles to keep them entertained and not frustrated. It’s also a good idea to get a book with mind puzzles in it as well for older kids. Big E loves these and it always gives him a sense of accomplishment when he works hard at these kind of books.

5. Special Snack and Bottles of Water

-I’m sure you’re saying “Well Duh” but the type of snack I’m talking about is something that doesn’t need to be refrigerated, stays good for long periods of time, and you don’t have to worry about the type of condition it’s being stored in. BUT the most important thing is that they don’t get this kind of snack just any old time. My favorites are fruit based gummies, or individually packaged grain bars. Any regular old bottle of water will do because you never know when the LO’s are gonna be thirsty or need a touch of water to clean that sticky stuff off their face before your Doctor gets a good look up his nose.

6. A bag of cups

-This is my most unusual item in my bag but I love it! A bag of styrofoam cups. WHY? These cups are not only great in case you have to get water from a water fountain while in an office or waiting area but they are great for so many activities. We can build towers to knock down with our cars or dinosaurs. We can rip a part off to create a door to a home for our animals or dolls. Once decorated they make awesome puppets that can dance and tell stories. And sometimes we even play “guess where?” with a small toy and 3 cups, like those games of chance that you see at carnivals except much easier since I’m no expert.

7. Container of Play dough

-This is something I suggest you reserve for a restaurant. This way if pieces fall in the floor no big deal (most of your kid’s meal will be joining it anyway) but also because the table will be wiped off after you leave. Don’t worry with any play dough toys either just challenge your child to make a certain animal or a letter. If they’re too young to comprehend that sometimes it’s just fun to squash something and to get a great sound effect from mom every time LO does it. “SQUUUUUIIIISHHHHH! SPLAT! BOOM!”

You can buy play dough at almost any store or you can make your own and put it in small  Tupperware containers. If you need a recipe you can find one here that will help them calm down while they play!

8. Stickers

These can be given out as an award for who can be the quietest or for decorating paper and cups.

9. Candy

-Just to be on the safe side I have a ziplock bag of candy from halloween. My LO’s rarely get candy so this makes for a great motivator to keep my little Buddies behaving the way they should or to make things all better after something particularly unpleasant happens, like shots. 

10. Busy Bags! Add your favorite busy bag! Kids love busy bags and since they are amazing at keeping them busy at home why not pack one or two to take on the road too? Don’t know what a busy bag is? Find some great ones and info about them HERE.

The most important thing to remember is to take inventory of the items after every use. Nothing is worse than getting a kid excited to draw new roads for his hot wheels then to discover all the pages have been used or all the cups destroyed. My best suggestion is to bring it into the house after each use to replace items and tidy it back up. Then put it immediately back in the car or at least near the door so you don’t forget it but high up to keep LO’s hands out of it until the next long wait.

**Side note: Everything I used were items that my LO’s had at home! Yes that’s why I used a princess folder I had stashed away with old paper work. So check out your house before making a trip to the dollar store!

I hope this gave you some wonderful ideas for your own bags and ways you can keep your kids busy while you have to wait somewhere! I’d love to see your bags and if you have something different in your bag tell me what it is and why you had to have it in the comments section below!

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