How to Keep your Kids Entertained when You Work at Home (with VIDEO)
Thank you to Spinmaster for sponsoring this post.
Finding a way to keep kids entertained without them resorting to screen time when you are a work at home mom can be challenging. With 6 kids in my house (6 very ACTIVE kids) and a very full work at home schedule we are always looking for ways to stay busy.
I do not have a nanny, so I’m often working with my kids in the room with me and fielding 50 questions about what they can play. I find that by giving them plenty of options to have fun I get the time I need to focus on work and they get to work on important developmental skills.
So how do you keep kids entertained while you work?
I’ve tried all kinds of things over the years. Lately, my kids have been having a blast with the Wobby Worm game from Spinmaster. If you are looking for a game to get kids moving and help them practice their large motor skills, this is it!
The way the game works is kids take turns tossing rings (of various sizes) onto the top of the wobbly worm. The worm is height adjustable from 13” to 36” so it works for a range of age groups or can just grow with your child as she wants something more challenging.
The game comes with three sets of colored rings. For each color, there are three sizes of rings. When playing with younger and older kids, you could separate the rings by colors or by size if you want to let older kids have a bit more challenging game and have them use the smaller rings.
My kids were so excited to test the game out. My twins are 2 and my older daughter is 4 so it can be a bit tricky finding a game that they can all play together. My older daughter tends to get frustrated when her younger sister don’t pick up on the rules of a game as fast as she does and my twins get bored playing any game that requires them to sit still.
Wobby Worm was the perfect combination with lots of active play for my toddlers and a few simple rules to keep my older daughter happy. They had so much fun playing and I loved seeing them have so much fun together.
This was definitely a huge hit at my house. As a mom, I loved seeing all the developmental benefits. I’m a former teacher so I love finding ways to help my kids learn and practice important skills through play. They didn’t care about any of that, though. They just knew they were having fun.
The more they played, the more they started to create their own rules and come up with new ways to play. That’s when you know you have a good toy. Anything that allows kids to get creative and use it in multiple ways is a win in my book.
See the game in action in the video below:
Wobby Worm sells for $19.99 (available now at Walmart, Target, Toys R Us, Amazon and Spin Master) and is a great way to keep your kids busy for hours while you work.
Need some more ideas to keep kids busy when you work at home?
I’ve been working from home for over 10 years now and I’ve learned some creative tricks along the way to keep my kids happy and busy so I can work. I don’t have a nanny (although some days, I definitely need one) so it is up to me to make sure my kids are occupied. When they aren’t, I usually find them smearing lipstick all over their faces or squirting and entire bottle of sunscreen on the dog . . .
Rotate toys often. The whole “out of sight, out of mind” thing is powerful. I can pull out toys my kids haven’t seen in a few weeks and my kids act like they have never seen them before in their life. They have brand new toys without a trip to the store! Years ago I packed up half of our toys and stashed them in the garage. It was originally done to cut down on clutter but I quickly learned that my kids are much more entertained when they play with toys they haven’t seen in a while. Now I’m in the habit of rotating toys every few weeks.
Offer open-ended play options. When I need to get something done, I look for options that have several ways my kids can play because then they stay occupied for longer and it’s good for them to practice a little creativity. We definitely go through phases where my kids get into the habit of coming to me every 5 minutes and asking what they can play. Using more open-ended toys really encourages them to find something to do on their own.
Set aside time in your schedule to play. When you work at home, it’s easy to get into the habit of working while your kids play. This isn’t bad as long as there is balance but your kids need some time with you too. I find that I’m able to work a lot better (and enjoy being with my kids more) when I take time throughout the day just to play with them. Don’t check your phone. Don’t try and multitask. Just play. When your kids get that time with you, they are often more willing to let you work when you need to.
