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need help with schedule for 3yr old

sugarplum22sugarplum22 member
in Stay at Home Moms

I will be staying home with my 3 yr old DD and 3 wk old DD. I would like to get ODD on some sort of schedule, including a learning time. If you have a schedule, would you please share it with me.

It you have an almost preschool age LO, what sort of learning activities do you do with them daily. Crafts, other activities? 

Thanks,

Jenny

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Re: need help with schedule for 3yr old

  • mandymackmandymack member

    Hi Jenny!

    Before I answer your question I have to say how crazy it is that I have a sister named Jenny, I'm from Texas and I have a daughter that will be 3 in September!  We have so much in common.  haha  :)

    Anywhoo, so I have Emily who is almost three and our days go like this:

    8:00am - She's up and DH gets her dressed, fed breakfast and she gets to watch TV or play in her room while we are getting dressed for the day.  It's normally for about 1 1/2 hours because I have to help get DH out the door, get her diaper bag packed for the morning's activities, get the cat fed and get us out the door.

    9:30am - We are out the door to an activity and aren't home until lunch time.  Things we do include: tumbling class, Gymboree class, Music Together class, My Play Place (parent & tot playtime/art/music/storytime), Story time at our local library, Drop-in swim time (a kiddie pool with toys we can play in for two hours), the zoo, indoor bounce house, the park, indoor play place, Children's Museum, Aquarium or just a playdate at a friend's house.  We also go to the gym and she's in the gym daycare for 2 hours and somedays, I have to run errands so, she gets to draw on her Magnadoodle or on a notepad, uses stickers or just sings along to some kid's songs as I get our errands done.

    12:30-1:30pm - lunch at home 99% of the time

    1:30-4:30pm - naptime

    She doesn't ALWAYS nap but she **MUST** stay in her crib, in her room, for two hours so that I can have some time to myself.  We have a behavior chart that she gets a stamp every day for various things, one being taking her nap, and once she gets 5 stamps she gets a special surprise, like a new toy from the $1 bin at Target, a new book or even a Quarter to put in her piggy bank.

    4:30pm - Snacktime and play here at home.  WE RARELY LEAVE HOME in the afternoons, I hate the traffic and all the kids being out of school by this time means the playgrounds are really crowded.  So, I set up watercolors or finger paints outside for her, we play with her puzzles, we read books, we take longs walks around our neighborhood, we draw on her easel with white erase markers and chalk, we draw with sidewalk chalk outside, I let her use my kitchen sink as a water table (fill it with bubbles and toys, sponges and tupperware and let her stand on a stool to splash around), and sometimes she just plays alone in her room.  She's really independent, always has been. 

    6:30pm - Dinner time 

    DH is still at work so I cook her something and while she's eating it in her highchair, I clean up the kitchen from the day's mess and get DH & I's dinner started.

    7:30pm - Bathtime, PJs, read books, clean up her room and sometimes we even sing some of her favorite nursery rhymes and dance around.

    8:00pm - Lights out!

     

    To be honest, other than simple crayons, paint, watercolor, stamps and stickers, she's really not ready for REAL crafts or complicated activities.  We just play and I let her lead, creatively.  We don't use glue or scissors yet but I'm going to try them out next year.  She really loves to "help" with yardwork, like pulling weeds and watering my potted plants so, somedays we do that and she loves to pull the clothes out of the dryer and put them in the laundry basket so, I let her do that, too.  She loves to read, swim and go to the park most of all so we do those things just about every day!

    Good luck with your two little ones, I can only imagine how FULL your hands must be, and welcome to the board!!!  :)

    eclaire 9.10.06  diggy 6.2.11

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  • suzymariesuzymarie

    Here is an idea:

     

    6am-7am wake up.

    7am eat/do bkfst dishes/get dressed

    8 play inside

    9 walk

    10 play outside if nice, inside if not.  If inside, a little more structured play like working on coloring or colors or whatever

    11:30 lunch

    12:30-2:30 nap

    2:30-3:30 play inside or out

    3:30-dinner go somewhere like on a walk or to a store or whatever

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  • suzymariesuzymarie

    The above is for if we don't have an activity that day.  If we have an activity it is typically either 10-noon or 3-5. 

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  • kristie11004kristie11004

    Hi Jenny!

    I'll tell you....life with a 3 year old is VERY different from life with a 3 year old AND a baby...but I'm guessing you're already learning that! lol    I stayed home with DS-3 (4 in July) and DS-now 5 mo for the first 12 weeks of YDS life.  During that time, I'll be honest, I was mostly in survival mode.  I BF YDS, so everything seemed to revolve around his sleeping & eating.  We made occasional outings for shopping or the zoo or library, but that was basically it.  During that time my goal for ODS was to keep him happy, as occupied as possible, and out of trouble.  Honestly, we did a ton of Noggin & computer games with some puzzles, coloring, and play-doh thrown in when YDS was sleeping.

    I was a teacher, so at the end of my 12 week mat leave I went back to work for 2 months to finish out the school year.  My long term stint as a SAHM started about 2 weeks ago when school got out and things are going much more smoothly now that YDS is older.  I try to do outings 3 days a week.  We live out a bit from town, so it takes a lot of gas to go back and forth.  Outings include: library story time, free movie day (Regal cinemas), zoo, indoor jump house, children's museum, park play dates, etc.  Here's a rough daily schedule for an outing day:

    5:30-6:30 YDS wakes.  Feed him, make coffee, alone time with YDS.  During this time while waiting for ODS to wake up I can generally put YDS on a blanket with some toys and get a load of laundry going and do another small household chore (dish washer, fold a load of laundry, collect the trash, etc) and get myself dressed & ready for the day (I shower at night when DH is home and the kids are in bed)

    Somewhere around 7:30/8:00 ODS wakes up.  He watches a show on Noggin and I make him breakfast.  I get ODS dressed & ready for the day.  He usually has more cartoon time or plays on the computer.

    9:00ish (depending on what time we need to leave) I feed YDS again and then get him dressed.  I try to time his feeding to happen right before we walk out the door.

    9:30-12:00 or so is usually our time out.  We normally come home for lunch, but might eat out once a week.

    12;00-1:00 feed YDS then Lunch for ODS

    1:00-3:00 ODS nap time.  I try to get YDS sleeping at this time as well, but it doesn't always happen.  This is the time that I try to get my bigger house chore for the day done (I do 1 big thing a day..vacuum, dust, bathrooms, etc)

    3:00-5:00 Playtime for ODS.  Outside (if it's not too hot), play-doh, puzzles, coloring, practicing writing letters & numbers, books on tape (WONDERFUL!!  I bought a small walkman tape player and he LOVES to do this!!), plays with his brother on a blanket.

    5;00 I start dinner.  ODS likes to help me sometimes, other times it's Noggin or computer games.  YDS is napping or in his bumbo or exersaucer during this time

    6:00ish-dinner/clean up

    7:00 outside playtime with daddy & neighbors

    8:00 bath, brush teeth, wind down, story time

    8:30 feed YDS and put him down

    9:00 bedtime for ODS

    Hope this helps some!!

     

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