How to keep your young children busy while homeschooling your older children: We want our little ones to be busy AND happy while we teach our older children. Here’s how.
Teaching children can be challenging but when you have younger children who are also needing attention, fussy or getting into things, it makes it even more difficult. The little ones aren’t trying to be difficult. They need to be busy too. By grabbing what you are doing and making their voices heard, they are just trying to be involved and noticed. Wouldn’t it be great to have some tips on how to keep your young children busy while homeschooling your older children? This post is here to help!
Involve them when you can:
There are many ways to allow the little ones to be involved in school.
Sometimes it is good to include them in what you are doing. Give them a part of an experiment or homework, even if they don’t understand what is going on. It won’t be long until they are able to grasp even a little bit of what is being taught and will surprise you at what they know! Don’t exclude them just because you think they won’t understand.
Several times our youngest shocked us at what he understood. He would blurt out a fact that he “should not” have known but he was paying attention! I was quizzing middle son on action verbs while youngest played with his Legos at our feet and he was saying them along with him. I motioned to him to be quiet with a smile as I kept asking the questions and Youngest just kept answering. 😊 He was four years old! I just say that to say not to exclude them.
Give him his own “work”:
When we started homeschooling, our youngest was 2 years old and was always into his brothers’ books and supplies. This was quickly and easily fixed by giving him his own shelf with his own blank spiral notebook and coloring books that he could draw, write and scribble in all he wanted and a bin with crayons, markers and pens that he could pull out and use all he wanted. I also included a 2-pocket folder like his brothers used for loose paper and printed out coloring sheets and pages with letters to trace, etc. as time went on. This was his school folder and worked well. He was pretty hard on it so it needed replaced often but at .10 each at the beginning of the school year, it was fine. Then he felt included and if he went for his brother’s school things he was easily redirected to his own. It worked very well.
Just print and color these 15 FREE Coloring Pages themes and over 200 pages! Holidays, Animals and more! Different Difficulty levels too! Let your younger children pick their theme to help get them engaged. New themes will be added regularly.
Simple, easy and super fun, this hands-on educational activity will help young kids learn a few letters of the alphabet. The free worksheets contain coloring and letter tracing activities.
This site has lots of free educational eBooks with number tracing, shape tracing and much more to add to your little one’s school folder.
How some other Moms do it:
There is nothing like words from experienced moms who have done it.
Christina from mominthesix says, “Include the little one by giving them their own (simpler) version of what you are doing with the older one. For example, if you are reading then give the little one an interactive book that they can press buttons to have it read to them. Or if you’re doing a sensory lesson, give the younger child their own smaller, taste safe version.”
Julie from julesandco says, “I give my toddler a magnetic doodle board. She likes to “write” while my son does his schoolwork. Play doh and magnet blocks are always a win, too! The key for us is to break up “school time” with lots of free play and outside time!”
Liz from blueandhazel says, “I have 3 kids under 7, and when I’m working one on one with one of my older kids, I’ll often ask the other child to play with my 2 year old. It is the best help! We usually keep a box of magnetic tiles in the same room as me, Duplos, and coloring so there’s always something to do in the room I’m in. However there are times it just doesn’t work and I have to press pause.”
Jennifer from threekidsthreecatsandahusband says, “When my son was 3, each of my girls had a 30 minute block of time where they “assigned” to play with him while I did one-on-one homeschooling with the other girl. Not only was this an efficient way to get things done, but it led to the kids coming up with special and creative ways to have fun together.”
Cindy from livingforthesunshine says, “Involve your younger child! Older siblings can practice reading to their younger sibling so they have an authentic audience.”
Myrtle from diywithmyguy says, “I’ve been homeschooling my kiddos for years. When my little one was a toddler, I let him pick out two coloring printables every morning while I printed off my other children’s lessons. He did his “school work” quietly at the kitchen table with the other kids. It helped him from disturbing their lessons while also letting him feel included.”
Great things for them to do:
Other times it is best to give them their own work off to the side while you work with the older kid(s). There are many ways to keep little ones busy, happy and learning while the older kids work. These things take a little bit of prep but are well worth the time they will buy.
Emily from Journeyofparenthood.com says, Having busy bags stored in our kitchen makes them easy to grab at times when I need my toddler entertained so I can get things done, including spending time helping older kids!
Lacy from Catholicicing says, Sometimes the best way to keep the littles occupied while schooling is to make them think they are schooling as well! Here is an easy way to set up a system to keep the littles busy with things they can have ONLY during “school” time.
Kim from teamcartwright says, Set up simple sensory play for the younger child while the older one works! Easy and fun for all. (And yes, there are mess free options!)
Concrete, quiet activities to keep little brothers and sisters busy while older siblings homeschool.
X marks the spot fine motor play; also teaches the letter X.
Educational shows and channels and sites:
Screen time is not always bad. It can be used constructively to give you some time to do other things and also teach them good things too. Here are some great resources.
Let your younger child watch some educational shows so they can learn while your older child learns, and you can all have some quiet time.
15 Educational YouTube channels for kids that take the guilt out of screen time! The perfect Mom hack to help your kids learn while being entertained!
20 educational sites for free activities and printables for all ages.
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