Friday, November 9

A Bedside Basket...


With the birth of our second drawing closer and the memory of an early arrival for our first-born still fresh, I have been planning crazily for our new addition! One of the things that I would like to accomplish soon is the assembly of a basket full of little goodies our 17 month old can enjoy while I am indesposed (hopefully due to caring for an infant and not because I am on bed rest!).

So far, my basket (which is just a shopping bag at present) has two paint with water coloring books, paint brushes, and a few sweets to use for treats. I am thinking about getting some small containers of PlayDoh (perhaps I'll add a few mini cookie cutters and a small rolling pin to this), a few more plastic animals for her farm collection, and a book or two. We will, of course, be availing ourselves of the library (hopefully Papa will be able to make a few trips during my 40 days), but other than that, I am stumped!

What suggestions do you wiser mothers have for me? I'd like to keep cost to a minimum, but am open to pretty much anything that a toddler will find novel! Thank you!

Painting by Jessie Wilcox Smith

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

We keep a little basket of toys at our house for when our nieces and nephews come to visit, so I have some experience with this!

What about some little maracas for shaking? Stickers are usually a hit too. A baby doll. Jewelry (kids seem to love long string of inexpensive beads, like Mardi Gras beads) and tiaras. Plastic measuring cups and spoons. A soft ball. Bubble wrap! Toy food.

Jen said...

Those little sewing cards that you lace around a shape with a shoelace are fun. Some kind of magnetic toy--there are all kinds of magnetic boards with a scene that you use little dolls or animals to play with, and the pieces don't fall all over the place. She can even play next to you in the bed. A small chalkboard nearby for drawing on(we just made one with chalkboard paint--I could give you the can at Thanksgiving!) Simple paper dolls for toddlers, or Colorforms. A mini LiteBright. Those tubs of little colored animals meant for sorting colors and numbers. If you have a small table for her she could use a glue stick to paste shapes on paper (they don't make much mess!)

Those are a few--let me know if you want the chalkboard paint! :)

Dianna said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

If you're up to reading, quick little books might be fun. The lace up cards are an excellent idea. My boy is 5 and still loves them.
And my girl (16 months) loves cars. Maybe some little match box cars or her favorites are the little wooden onces sold at Ikea. Both are really affordable.
MamaLady
www.icantleavewellenoughalone.wordpress.com

Kate said...

I love reading your blog, i found it travleling from another from a ladies' group. As a stay at home wife (someday hopefully a stay at home mom) I enjoy reading about such creative ideas, and have been keeping a board with a commitment to lovliness.

I would highly suggest things like mini etch-a-sketch, since they are enlessly reusable. Also a little baby doll with diapers and a bottle because then she can learn to mimic you, and feel like she has her own baby too!

Lucy said...

We had a similar thing for our ds -we had chalk, bubbles, gummed shapes, stickers, balloons, lots of second hand books, play dough domes, some dice in a little shaker, some craft kits I had cheaply, a talking book...

Anonymous said...

Hello Emma, I am a 27 year old mom with 2 boys. I had my children young, my 7 year old when I was 20 yrs old and my 5 year old two months before my 22 birthday. They are only 19 months apart and it was hard!!One thing you could do is get a baby doll that looks like a real baby, she could feed it and hold it just like a real baby.What a wonderful tool to teach her about being a loving mommy!! God bless.
Melinda.

Anonymous said...

what is the fourty days?

MamaBirdEmma said...

Thank you for all of your wonderful suggestions! I can see that there will be no shortage of amusements for our little one:) I am in the process of writing a little (ha!) shopping list to take with me to the store on Tuesday!

P.S. I'd love the chalkboard paint, Aunt Jen! What a great idea!

Me said...

One of toddlers is entertained for longer than normally possible when I give him a cheap 99cent book of stickers (AC Moore) and a small notepad. He'll stick the stickers on that notepad for the longest time! He also likes small wooden peg puzzles.

Jess Connell said...

A pad and pencils and stickers.

Educational supply stores have some of the neatest things for relatively cheap-

sewing manipulatives can be interesting to a wide variety of ages... they're just made of extra-sturdy cardboard in various shapes with shoelaces, and then the kids can "practice" sewing.

small books from Christian book stores... they have those little credit card sized books that are really cute and interesting, and I think they're about 69-79 cents each.

index cards and pencils, so she can make LOTS of pictures and doodles?

dress up clothes? (you could get these at a thrift store- it doesn't have to be expensive- old lady beads, hats, a small sequin purse, a few scarves, etc.)

Hope this helps!
~Jess

Rhiannon said...

I made shakers for my son (he was too little to do it himself) out of used plastic bottles or crisp tubes...but if your child is old they can decorate it as well. Just fill it with a packet of cheap lentils and secure tightly.
You can also make fun 'night lights'/torches with pringles tubes as well.

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