Surviving quarantine with a one-year-old

by pancakeandpepper | May 1, 2020 | Baby, Kids

Today I want to share some ideas for surviving quarantine with a one-year-old.

Card Drop

I’ve seen this a lot on Pinterest and decided to give it a try.  Most of the time when I come up with new ideas for Pancake to try, he ends up just un-doing whatever it is, and it ends up taking me longer to set it back up than it did for him to un-do it.  This one is great though because he can take cards out of one bucket and put them through the slot on the other bucket.  When he’s out of cards all I have to do is move the lid to the other bucket.

You can use whatever cards and buckets you have lying around.  We used some pretzel buckets because my family are pretzel fiends, and I used some flashcards that he got while he was Trick-or-Treating (weird treat, I know.)  I love this game because I can store the bucket with cards in it inside the empty bucket so it doesn’t take up as much space.  I also like that there is always somewhere for the cards to belong so that they don’t end up all over the place.

Ball drop

This is another one I’ve seen on Pinterest a lot that I decided to try.  A lot of people had this set up so that your toddler can sort the balls by color.  Pancake’s not really into that yet, I’ve tried, so I just cut three holes in the box so that he can put them in and take them back out.  I used balls from his ball pit which are already all over the house all the time, so I don’t really think this is making my house any messier.  You can try it with any toy you have, you could even use balled up socks if you want to.

Clothes Pin Box

Again, I saw this on Pinterest but tried to modify it so that I didn’t have to set the whole thing up again after he pulled all of the clothespins off of the box.  I started out by giving him a box of clothespins and showing him how he could put them around the edges of the box, and then take them off and put them back in the box.  So far, it’s going pretty well.  I also like that he can’t destroy the clothespins.  They’re pretty sturdy, and if he destroys the box it’s no big deal.  I can just give him another one from the recycling.

Walks

This is something I’ve talked about before.  I just think that It’s really important to get outside when we can.  It’s good for our bodies and our mental health.  The kids like it and so do the pups.  If you need a little motivation to get started check out my post.

Books

We have been reading a TON of books!  Pancake and I were pretty much tenants of the library before it closed.  We were here multiple times a week. Luckily when the library closed, we already had a bunch of books and they told us to keep them at home since the library and the book drop would both be closed.  SCORE!!  Anyway, we’ve been reading a ton.

In addition to the library books we have, we also have a ton of other kids’ books around.  Grandma has also been collecting books and sent us some more when we told her we missed the library.  There is one of those Little Free Libraries on a trail near our house that we walk by frequently.  We love stopping by to see what is there.  Sometimes we take one and sometimes we leave one.  It’s a fun way to get new books.  You can go to their website and see if there are any near your house.

Talk to Friends and Family Members

Pancake spends a lot of time talking to his family members who don’t live close by.  We usually use FaceTime, but for our family members who don’t have Apple devices, we use Facebook Messenger for Kids.  It’s fun because you can use AR stickers and play games.  It’s also good for calling between Apple and Android.

Snacks

Snacks are critical to our survival around here.  Pancake will walk up to me out of nowhere and demand a “Nack.”  They don’t have to be anything fancy.  Since we’re shopping less frequently now, we often don’t have fresh fruit and veggies to give him, so sometimes he gets snacks like pretzels or crackers, and that’s ok.  We just need to have “nacks” on hand.  I love this cup to keep them all mostly contained.

TV

Let’s face it, sometimes we’re tired or have other things we need to get done.  It’s ok to let your kids watch TV sometimes, especially now when we can’t have play dates or go to the library, or anywhere really.  Some of my favorite shows are:

Ask the Storybots

• You can find the Storybots on Netflix, but they also have a YouTube channel with even more stuff.

Sesame Street

• Sesame Street has moved to HBO, but if you don’t have HBO that’s ok.  There are still plenty of ways to watch it.  There are older episodes available on Prime Video.  You can download the PBS Kids app on your phone, tablet, or TV and watch a few episodes there.  You can also find episodes on YouTube.  There is also a Sesame Street podcast out there that you can find wherever you get podcasts.*

Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood

• This is my least favorite of the shows we watch because the songs are pretty annoying, but Pancake likes it and I think it teaches good things.  You can find this on Prime Video, on the PBS kids app, or on YouTube as well.  *

Fort

Sometimes it’s fun to break out the pillows and blankets and go to town with a fort.  A one-year-old is not too young to enjoy this.  You can make a simple fort with a blanket over a table, or you can go all out, just be prepared to adjust it if your little one gets frustrated with the way it works. The other day we pushed the two couches together and filled the middle of it up with ball-pit balls and threw a sheet over the top.  It was great!

Little House

We had so much fun the other day building this “little house” out of cardboard boxes.  I looked for boxes everywhere I went shopping for the past little while, but I couldn’t find them anywhere, so I went and picked up two extra-large boxes at U-Haul.

I started by measuring out the front and back of the roof like in this picture.

Then I cut it out and taped it together.

I made sure to tape the inside of the box as well since that’s where your toddler will be playing.

When you have your little house fully assembled you can add doors, windows, or any other decorations you would like.  I recommend adding at least a few windows so that it isn’t so dark in there and your toddler can see you from inside.

Obstacle Course

This can be as simple or over the top as you like.  The other day my husband said he would like to set one up to play with.  I didn’t know what he had in mind, so I really went for it.  It went from our kitchen all the way down the hall into my office.  I set up things to go over, under, and around.  Everyone had a lot of fun with it.

* There may be other places to find these titles, this is just where I get them.

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