More Simple Ways to Redirect a Fussy Toddler!

Miss the first ten ways to redirect a fussy toddler?  Check them out here! 

If you are like me, you can never have enough quick, easy ways to distract a toddler!  It seems we hit a point at least once a day when we just need something new and fresh to distract from being sleepy (but it's not yet nap time), recovering from the disappointment of being told "no", or just needing to survive until Daddy gets home.  

I shared ten of my go-to ways to redirect a fussy toddler last week, but had a few more in my arsenal to share with you this week!

Play with Ice Cubes.  This is one of my favorites for when I'm cooking dinner or needing to accomplish something in the kitchen and just can't do that with a little one in my arms.  I get a large plastic bowl and handful of ice cubes and let her go to town.  Yes, they melt on the floor, and yes, I am definitely going to step on freezing cold water at some point in the process, but it occupies her for a good ten minutes.  And then she wants to clean up the water.  Then she pretty much wants to clean my whole kitchen.   If you give a toddler an ice cube...

Let them stir something.  Sophie loves to stir.  She'll stir her shapes in her shape sorter bucket, counting bears in a cup, nothing in a cup.  If I give her a container and a spoon, I can almost guarantee stirring will occur.  This can be as messy or as clean as you want it to be.  

Build a tower.  This one works great with the "start without them" idea from last week's post.  If she's fussing, I can start building a tower (very excitedly and loudly, of course) and I'll see her peek from wherever she's upset.  I don't know too many toddlers who could resist knocking down a good tower.  But if she does resist, I can have the fun without her!  If she sees me having a grand old time knocking down towers left and right, she's sure to join in the fun soon.

Put them in front of a mirror.  I'll just come out and say it.  My daughter really loves herself.  There are no self-esteem issues with this little one.  Even if she's crying, she'll notice herself in the mirror and start to laugh or smile at that beautiful baby.  We make faces at each other and can fix moods really quickly.

Take silly pictures.  This one is directly related to the last - my little diva loves to look at herself.  We can either play with Photo Booth on my computer or iPad, or just take "selfies" on the camera and show them to her.  She recently decided she likes to "say cheese" and loves getting her picture taken.  Free entertainment with lasting recorded memories.  

Have a snack.  I use this one sparingly, but many times when she's fussy she really is hungry.  I know there are different schools of thought on snacking, but I know for me, if I'm legitimately hungry, I eat something!  It seems wrong for me to hold Sophie to a different standard.  A handful of cheerios may be just the ticket for a happier toddler in this house.

Wash your hands.  "Rub, rub, rub" has become the most exciting thing about finishing a meal around here lately.  Sophie loves washing her hands.  I hold her up to the faucet and squirt a little bit of soap and she's quite content to rub, rub, rub.  Teaching good hygiene and washing away bad attitudes in one fell swoop.  Oh, and the faucet is in front of the mirror.  :)

Find something fun on Youtube.  My daughter is a music girl, so music is the way to her heart, but animal videos or other silly things could work just as well for your little one!  Sophie loves watching music videos with lots of dancing with her Daddy.  "Gangnam Style" is her favorite - don't judge.  But she also really loves kids videos that are all over Youtube.  Her favorite right now is the Just Dance Kids  "Five Little Monkeys".

Go for a walk or ride.  This one requires a little bit more commitment and nice weather, but it's always a sure mood booster for mom and toddler.  A walk in the stroller or a bike ride is a favorite thing for Sophie, and a rare treat in the middle of summer in Florida.  But evenings when it is nice I try to use this one as much as possible!

Check the mailbox.  If I'm not ready to commit for a full-fledged walk or bike ride, a trip the mailbox is always a nice change of scenery.  The mailman is probably on Sophie's top ten list of all-time favorite people.  Sophie loves opening and closing the mailbox and enjoys when I let her put the mail in or get it out.  Even if there is not mail yet, the flag is a great toy and way to teach the idea of up and down.  A few minutes of fresh air and a happy toddler.  Easy. 

Again, these are some of the things that work for us when we need a change of pace.  What do you do to make it until naptime or change a bad mood?

For tons more ideas be sure to visit these sites I'm linking to this week!

Tot School Gathering Place at 1+1+1=1 

Tot School Tuesday at See Vanessa Craft
Tuesday Tots at Rainy Day Mum
Link and Learn at No Time for Flashcards
Show and Share Saturday Link Up at I Can Teach My Child

Titus 2sday at Time Warp Wife

Trivium Tuesday at Living and Learning at Home

Tender Moments with Toddlers and Preschoolers at The Chaos and the Clutter 
Sunday Showcase at Learn Play Imagine
Top Ten Tuesday at Many Little Blessings
TGIF at 123 Homeschool 4 Me

Tot School: Purple

Sophie is 15 months old.

This week was all about the color purple.  It was SO much easier for me to find purple things around here than orange - my sweet little one is ALL girl and we have pink and purple everywhere! Despite all of my purple items, this week was not a huge hit.  She loved her sensory bin, but everything else was barely touched.

Sensory Bin

Her sensory bin this week consisted of purple rice (man...mixing food coloring for purple is HARD!), purple cups and spoon, purple counting bears, and her favorite - purple Mardi Gras beads.  She loved playing with the beads especially, but also stirring with the spoon and cup.  I think her love for the sensory bin was a big factor in her not touching the other items.  It was always the first thing she wanted and she'd play for a good 20 minutes.  By the time she was done with the purple bin, she was ready to move on from Tot School altogether.

We also played with purple playdoh and foam shapes!  She's started saying her version of "playdoh" when she wants to play with it.

Tot Trays

Her first tray, which she hardly touched, was purple pom balls on a paint palette.  She played with this one time, pretty much to hide the poms under her leg.  It was a fun game, though!  She's really been in to hiding things and then pulling them out to surprise me.  It will continue to be fun until she hides my keys or something important! ;)

Her second tray was a purple cup with straight clothespins around the outside.  I was really worried this would be too difficult for her, so I put some counting bears inside as another way to play.  She was able to pull the clothespins off and put them back on with a little help, and enjoyed putting them in the cup.  We also spent time counting them, and pretending they were five little monkeys jumping on the bed (her favorite song right now).

Too excited about Tot School to change out of our jammies!

Her last tray was one Melissa shared at Eyes of a Boy.  I cut two hands out of cardstock, laminated them, and glued them to popsicle sticks so I could stick them into floral foam.  Then I made a few matching "rings" from pipe cleaners.  Sophie loves the book Hand, Hand, Finger, Thumb, so I thought this would be a good tie in to that!  She did enjoy this one better than her other trays this week, and was able to do it relatively easily.  She still isn't color matching independently (which is fine!), but she does it with help.  Even more than putting the rings on the colored hands, she enjoyed putting them on my fingers.  We had some sweet playtime with this one and it will definitely make a reappearance in the future!

I also included her Magna Doodle on the shelf this week.

Other Activities

We continued our God Made Everything book and board this week, adding purple flowers.  Sophie painted her picture with Do-A-Dot paint.  When we were reading a story this week, I asked her if she could find the yellow sun (talking about the page in the book).  She nodded yes, then got up and walked to her God Made Everything board and pulled off the yellow sun piece!  Too cute.

Up next week:  Rainbows! Should be lots of fun!

For tons more ideas be sure to visit these sites I'm linking to this week!

Tot School Gathering Place at 1+1+1=1 

Tot School Tuesday at See Vanessa Craft
Tuesday Tots at Rainy Day Mum
Link and Learn at No Time for Flashcards
Show and Share Saturday Link Up at I Can Teach My Child

Titus 2sday at Time Warp Wife

Trivium Tuesday at Living and Learning at Home

Tender Moments with Toddlers and Preschoolers at The Chaos and the Clutter 
Sunday Showcase at Learn Play Imagine
Top Ten Tuesday at Many Little Blessings
TGIF at 123 Homeschool 4 Me

Ten No-Prep Ways to Redirect a Fussy Toddler

Want MORE simple ways to redirect a fussy toddler?  Check out Part Two!

Sophie is getting into prime tantrum throwing territory - she is gaining independence and wants to be able to do things herself, but is easily frustrated when her abilities don't match her desires (or for that matter, when the laws of physics don't match her desires...can't help you there, darlin'.)  

I really do feel for the girl when she gets so frustrated.  She can't understand why Mommy can't move the wall so she can push her walker through.  So, if it's not something I can help her problem solve (she's usually not interested in once she gets to the fit-throwing phase anyway), I move on to a different plan of attack - the diversion.  

Here are some of my go-to options for redirecting a frustrated toddler!

Climb Pillow Mountain.  I pull all the pillows from our couch and gleefully fall into them.  It's usually only a matter of seconds before Sophie chooses to join me.  If nothing else, it becomes a soft landing place for rolling around upset.


Make her the Star.  Get your phone or computer and pull up videos of your little star!  My sweet little diva loves seeing herself on the computer and thinks she's the funniest baby she's ever met.  Plus, how can my heart not get a little warmer watching old videos as well? 

Do Something Silly.  This depends on what objects are readily available, but I will usually just grab something and put it on my head.  Then I just sit there until she notices (which is usually pretty quick - she likes to make sure her audience is watching).  In the kitchen?  Grab a bowl and put it on your head.  Folding laundry?  Grab a sock and put it on your nose.  Make a stuffed animal do something silly.  The possibilities here are endless.  Even a silly face would do the trick!

Start Dancing!  Sophie is a huge fan of music.  She can't resist a beat.  If I put on some music and start dancing in the living room, she'll be very interested in joining me.  Crisis averted. 

Start a Load of Laundry.  Now, I know my child may be abnormal in this area, but she LOVES laundry.  She loves to help me pour the detergent and drop clothes into the washer.  She also likes emptying baskets of clean clothes for me to fold.  If I say the word "laundry", nine times out of ten it piques her interest and she toddles to the laundry room.  Bonus: I get the laundry started.  Win-win.

Go on a Scavenger Hunt.  Find blue things in your house.  Or find as many balls as you can.  Look for circles.  Search for a toy that you know is in the other room - Sophie can't help but join in to cries of "Curious George, where are you?"  Important note: just make sure you really know where George is.  Otherwise, this plan may backfire.  Lesson learned the hard way.  

Build a Blanket Fort.  Throw a blanket or towel over a chair or the table and climb in.  This is out of the norm enough that Sophie gets curious and wants to see what I'm doing in there.  You can also hide under the blanket and let your little one come find you.  

Step Outside for Simple Water Play.  Grab a bowl of water and a "tool" of some sort - a basting/paint brush, a sponge, a turkey baster, even just a dish rag and let them "decorate" the driveway or back porch!   She knows when she sees the orange basting brush that we are about to go have some water fun - instant mood changer.

Start a Band.  We bust out the pots and pans and some spoons and have a jam session in the kitchen.  As I said, Sophie is a fan of anything that makes noise (I think it's probably safe to assume that most toddlers are).  I have some bowls and spoons on her shelf in the kitchen, but it's much more fun when Mom joins in with the good stuff.

Start without her.  This one works with all of the above tips.  If she not acting interested when I ask her to do one of these activities with me?  I just go ahead and start playing without her!  I squeal with delight and crack up at my own antics.  I may look like a fool, but I've found that as soon as I am doing something fun that Sophie doesn't want to miss out on, she stops fussing and comes to join me.  

Want MORE simple ways to redirect a fussy toddler?  Check out Part Two!

What are your favorite ways to stop a tantrum in its tracks?  

For tons more ideas be sure to visit these sites I'm linking to this week!

Tot School Gathering Place at 1+1+1=1 

Tot School Tuesday at See Vanessa Craft
Tuesday Tots at Rainy Day Mum
Link and Learn at No Time for Flashcards
Show and Share Saturday Link Up at I Can Teach My Child

Titus 2sday at Time Warp Wife

Trivium Tuesday at Living and Learning at Home

Tender Moments with Toddlers and Preschoolers at The Chaos and the Clutter 
Sunday Showcase at Learn Play Imagine
Top Ten Tuesday at Many Little Blessings
TGIF at 123 Homeschool 4 Me

Tot School: Orange

Sophie is 14.5 months.

This week we picked back up with Tot School with the color orange!  I know some people change their shelves every two weeks instead of every week, but I would have to add more to keep Sophie interested at this point.  By about Tuesday of the second week she was no longer interested in the activities on her shelf!  But fortunately she was interested when I showed her the new activities for orange!

Sensory Bin

I was going to try water beads with Sophie this week, but decided against it as she has taken to biting EVERYTHING lately (I'm hoping she has some more teeth coming in - poor girl only has four, all on the bottom!).  So instead I tried some homemade playdough and added some orange foam blocks and orange flower beads.  

She really liked pulling the foam blocks out and putting them back in the indention they had left.  She also really liked licking her fingers after playing in the dough.  Gross.  But I guess it just tasted a little salty to her (benefit of making my own!)

We also explored really simple water play outside this week - she wanted to go out anytime she saw the bowl we used! 

Tot Trays

Her first tray was tearing orange paper.  She overlooked it for the first day, because it didn't look very exciting.  But after I showed her how to tear on the second day, this quickly became her favorite.  Later in the week we glued the torn pieces onto a picture of an orange.  (I put glue on and handed them to her like stickers - she really seemed to enjoy it!)

Her second tray was this velcro block idea I found at Memorizing the Moments.  I was super impressed at how quickly she caught on.  She liked this pretty well, but lost interest in it after a couple of days.  We'll try it again later.

Her third tray was putting orange pipe cleaners into a parmesan cheese container.  We had done this activity before pretty early in our Tot School journey, and she really liked it.  This time I opened the side with the three small holes and she was able to do it without a problem.  But overall, she just wasn't that interested in this one.   (Pretty much after discovering tearing paper, she lost interest in everything else!)

I also included her new Melissa and Doug Caterpillar Gear Toy (affiliate link).  She really enjoyed this toy and actually picked up the yellow gear and said "yellow" (in 14 month old language...but I recognized it because she had been repeating if after me for a while).  Then I asked her to put it on the yellow spot on the board and she did it!  Proud momma moment! :)  She was ready to play something else when I tried to see if she could show me the blue. :)

I got new trays from Oriental Trading this week, and once I switched them out Sophie preferred playing with the trays themselves over anything I tried to put on them!

Other Activities

This week we added an orange fish to our God Made Everything Book and flannel board.  

I started a fun activity using our book and the flannel board pieces that Sophie did really well with.  We would read the book and have the pieces nearby.  As we read each page, I would point to the pieces and ask if she could find the one that matched the page, like the red ladybug, and place it on the page.  She did really well with the red ladybug and the yellow sun.  We will definitely keep doing this activity as we add more colors to her book.

We also worked on eating with a spoon and fork this week!  Is it normal for a fork to be easier to use than a spoon?  Sophie has very little success (or interest, for that matter) with a spoon but has figured out the fork pretty well!  

She saw my camera and wanted to play with it, so I took some pictures of us playing.  Please ignore all the toys spread out in the background!  ;)  She learned to say "cheese!"  Ooh I love that sweet girl!  (And one more picture because I can't get enough of those cheeks!  Forgive me!)

Up next week: Purple! :)

For tons more ideas be sure to visit these sites I'm linking to this week!

Tot School Gathering Place at 1+1+1=1 

Tot School Tuesday at See Vanessa Craft
Tuesday Tots at Rainy Day Mum
Link and Learn at No Time for Flashcards
Show and Share Saturday Link Up at I Can Teach My Child

Titus 2sday at Time Warp Wife

Trivium Tuesday at Living and Learning at Home

Tender Moments with Toddlers and Preschoolers at The Chaos and the Clutter 
Sunday Showcase at Learn Play Imagine
Top Ten Tuesday at Many Little Blessings
TGIF at 123 Homeschool 4 Me

(Ridiculously) Simple Water Play

Sophie woke up almost an hour early yesterday morning.  With still an hour to go before naptime, I had pretty much used up all my tricks.  (She's been sick and had to take steroids for a croupy cough...she's had a little bit of 'roid rage going on.  Fortunately, it's on the decline now that we took our last dose!)

She kept wanting to go "bye bye," so I decided to take her outside (despite 90+ degree weather and 100% humidity already) for some simple water play.

I grabbed a bowl, filled it with water, got the orange basting brush from her Tot School shelf - it's orange week - and headed out to the back porch.

I showed her how to dip the brush and paint the cement with water and she caught on really quick!  If you don't have a basting brush you are willing to let be used for outdoor play, you could use a paintbrush, or even a cleaning rag.

She probably "painted" for ten minutes before she started to discover the other things she could do with the water.

She washed her hands - this is her saying "rub, rub, rub".

Then she figured out the really fun part - dumping out the water.  I was amazed that it took that long for her to try it!  She started by dumping just a little bit out and splashing in it.  Then the whole bowl was dumped and she splashed around a bit more.

Honestly, this play couldn't have been any simpler.  It occupied her for a good 20 minutes and totally turned her mood around.  I'll definitely be adding this to my go-to distraction list!

Staying Connected with a Toddler Long-Distance

My family lives 13 hours away from us in St. Louis.  It has always been hard to be so far away, but it has been especially difficult since Sophie was born.  I grew up within an hour of all my grandparents, so I couldn't even imagine Sophie not being able to see my parents often.  We travel as much as is possible, but I'm incredibly thankful for the technology that helps the miles seem so much closer.

Sophie and I Skype with my mom almost every morning.  We finish our breakfast, get dressed and then talk to Grandma.  She is always excited to see Grandma's face pop up on the screen (I think Grandma is usually pretty excited to see Sophie too).

I have always admired my mom's creativity, but being a Skype Grandma has taken it to a whole new level!  Sophie definitely knows who her grandma is and has a special relationship with her.  Obviously deep conversations are a little bit challenging at this phase in Sophie's life, but my mom manages to develop a relationship with her by playing via webcam.  Here are some of the ways my mom works to stay connected with a toddler over Skype.

Tea Parties

Skype tea parties are the most recent way Sophie plays with her grandma over Skype (and is also the inspiration for this post).  Sophie gets out her Laugh and Learn Tea Set while my mom busts out her real china set and they pour each other imaginary tea.  Sophie will offer her cup to my mom, who graciously pretends to take a sip and then ask for more, please.  They have even dressed up for the tea party!  My amazing mom pulled out a floppy beach hat and a boa and Sophie wore her own hat for the occasion.  I managed to snap this picture, which will probably be one of my favorites for a long time to come.  (Props to my dad who also modeled the floppy hat and boa in order to get a giggle out of a certain little lady!).

So I know it's hard to see, but Sophie is pouring some tea for Grandma, who is holding out her tea cup...seriously precious.

Peekaboo!

Peekaboo was probably one of the first games they played together over Skype, but it continues to be a favorite.  It has now advanced to Sophie closing and opening the iPad case to hide from Grandma, but this was one they were able to play the old-fashioned way even when Sophie was much younger.

Read a Story

Sophie loves books.  Some mornings we get on Skype and Sophie goes straight for her book bin.  She sits on my lap and we read the book, being sure Grandma gets to see the good parts! (Mostly Sophie's face - but my mom will sit and listen to the story as many times as Sophie wants to read it!)  Other times Sophie has sat looking through the books, "reading" them to Grandma.  As Sophie gets a little older, I'm sure we will be able to extend this to Grandma reading Sophie picture books over Skype, but we haven't tried it yet. 

Visit the Pets

My parents' dogs start barking every single time my mom starts talking with us over Skype.  Sophie hears them barking and loves when my mom turns the camera so she can see the "Dogs, woof woof".  She gets very excited to see them, and knows that they are part of the family, too.

Show and Tell

Sophie loves to show off her toys and seems to know just what she wants to show Grandma when we Skype.  We laugh because it seems like most days she says her hellos to grandma and then immediately crawls away to find something to show her.  Of course my mom acts like whatever it may be is the most amazing object she's ever seen, which just delights Sophie and makes her proud to show off.  Lately, Sophie really wants to "play Tot School" when we are talking with my mom.  So we toddle over to the Tot School shelf and bring Grandma right along with us!

Narrate her Play

Whenever Sophie shows my mom a toy, my mom acts like she's been just dying to see that toy - "A red block!  My favorite!"  She will narrate Sophie's play, much like I do when we are playing one-on-one.  She'll count blocks as Sophie builds a tower, talk about the color of the shapes Sophie's holding up, taste imaginary soup, or ask about the items she's pulling out of her play purse.  

Sing Together

Sophie LOVES music.  She loves when Grandma sings with her, because she knows all of her favorites.  They sing "I'm a Little Teapot", "Itsy Bitsy Spider", and "Baa Baa Black Sheep".  Now that she's older, Sophie will do the motions independently while Grandma sings, but when she was younger, I would help her out and sing on our end as well.  Usually Sophie prefers to conduct the music while my Mom sings.  My mom is such a good sport, because when Sophie sings a song once, she wants to sing it at least three times.  

One-on-One Time

Usually, when we talk in the mornings, I haven't had my breakfast yet.  Once I get Sophie playing with my mom, most mornings I go to the kitchen and fix my toast while my mom "watches" Sophie.  (I can see the living room where she's playing from the kitchen - no worries).  This really started when Sophie was first starting to have separation anxiety and would get upset if she couldn't see me.  We found that if she was talking to Grandma (or rather, Grandma was talking to her), she wouldn't get upset, and I could have two minutes to put butter on my toast without help!  This gave them some special one-on-one time without me interfering and gave me a much needed momma moment.  It still works even now, when Sophie is very mobile and likes to follow me wherever I go.  

Virtual Tickles

One of the sweetest little games they've come up with is for my mom to "tickle" Sophie.  This one requires a little bit of assistance from me.  My mom will move her hand toward the webcam with "tickle fingers" and talk about how she's gonna get Sophie's toes, and then I'll do the actual tickling.  Sophie thinks it's hilarious (as all tickling is) and Grandma gets to experience her sweet giggles.  For a while we would play this game any time Sophie's toes came into view on the camera.  She doesn't usually sit still long enough for that to happen anymore! 

Consistency

One of the most important things my mom does to maintain her relationship with Sophie is the fact that she is willing and makes herself available to Skype with her so often.  Grandma is a special part of our morning routine.  As I said earlier, we are fortunate enough to be able to chat almost every week day.  Usually once a week, the other family members are around to say hello as well.  Sophie knows my family because of this incredible technology and their willingness to act silly into a webcam.  She doesn't have any issues when we do finally get to see them in person, because they are already familiar to her.  

How about you?  What ideas do you have to maintain a relationship between your little one and a far away relative?  

For tons more ideas be sure to visit these sites I'm linking to this week!

Tot School Gathering Place at 1+1+1=1 

Tot School Tuesday at See Vanessa Craft
Tuesday Tots at Rainy Day Mum
Link and Learn at No Time for Flashcards
Show and Share Saturday Link Up at I Can Teach My Child

Titus 2sday at Time Warp Wife

Trivium Tuesday at Living and Learning at Home

Tender Moments with Toddlers and Preschoolers at The Chaos and the Clutter 
Sunday Showcase at Learn Play Imagine
Top Ten Tuesday at Many Little Blessings
TGIF at 123 Homeschool 4 Me

Follow me on Pinterest!

I have a confession.  I am a Pinterest addict.  I LOVE the visual way it lets you organize your ideas and bookmark websites.  I love being able to follow the ideas of my friends and other bloggers - I get SO many great ideas from these links.  This is also the way I have found most of the blogs I follow!

Honestly, until about a week ago, I had all of my Tot School pins in one of my hidden boards.  I'm not sure why I put them there - I guess I didn't want anyone to think I was crazy for doing Tot School with Sophie.  But I got to where I couldn't STAND how "unorganized" my Tot School pins were and I just wanted to sort them out according to categories.

So I made my boards public and organized my pins - and I love it!  Check out my boards here!