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Nope, no baby yet! My due date has come and gone, and I’m still holding baby on the inside. Most of my babies have been “late” some coming at 42 weeks.
While I’m really excited to meet this little one, I know that I don’t get to pick the timing. So I’m trying to enjoy my last few days/weeks of pregnancy.
To prepare, we’ve been diving into baby prep mode. When you have lots of other kids like I do, part of that is lining up activities for after baby comes.
I know we’ll be watching more TV than usual, but I don’t want to rely only on screen time. Otherwise the kids will be grumpy. And besides, I have some shows on HGTV that I’m looking forward to watching! 😀
So we’ve been preparing and lining up activities. To work, they need to be:
- Easy for the kids to do themselves
- Engaging so they aren’t done for three minutes and left
- Easy to clean up
Here are eight activities we’ve lined up the kids are really excited about:
1. Coloring Pages
I bought a couple new big boxes of crayons for the family crayon bucket. And Jayme’s been busy printing off coloring pages of everyone’s favorite characters.
My mom also bought several new coloring books. So it’ll be a grand coloring adventure in our house after baby is born!
All of the kids except Owen love to color, so this will keep them busy for quite a while!
2. Puzzles
Puzzles are such an engaging activity! We’ve learned a few methods of keeping them safe from Owen’s Pica.
So puzzles are done:
- At the back-end of the dining room table (reserved for puzzles 100 pieces or fewer)
- On a large piece of counter top that can be moved from place to place easily
- During quiet time when Owen’s in his room
- When Owen is spending time in his wheelchair with a different activity
Jeffrey and Ellie have really been on a puzzle kick lately. And getting better at larger ones. So I picked up a set of five new Disney puzzles recently, that can’t be opened until our new baby arrives.
There are two 300 piece puzzles, two 500 piece ones, and one with 750 pieces. They’re super excited!
And once they get a puzzle started, Jayme usually joins them. Because she likes puzzles too!
3. Felt Board Folders
We just created these recently, though they’ve been on my to-do list for a long time! Here’s a picture of Brynna working on one of these fun creations:
You can learn more about felt board folders in this post I wrote.
4. Reading
Books are always a standby! We’re still working our way through the Little House on the Prairie series, so we’ll probably get some good reading aloud time in.
Then I’ll have the middles do a lot of reading. We might be taking a break from school, but there’s no reason they can’t practice!
Jeff and Ellie are enjoying reading Dr. Seuss books and Henry and Mudge books, so that’ll keep them busy for a while!
Jayme’s been reading me one of her favorite series aloud, which has been a great way to spend a little special time with her. And get to know more about the things she’s enjoying!
5. Car Rug
We’ve picked up some new Matchbox style cars to add to our collection. The kids enjoying pulling out both of our car rugs and making elaborate scenes.
This is one the littles and Owen (and apparently the dog!) can also enjoy, which is nice!
6. Board and Card Games
I’ve categorized myself as a board game junkie! 😀 Our collection is amazing.
And there are so many games the kids can pull out and play by themselves. Here are some they’ll probably play:
- Battleship
- Memory
- Telestrations
- Tell Me a Story
- Kings Corner
- War
- Mastermind
- Sorry
- Trouble
7. Dress Up
I hit the after Halloween sales this year and picked up tons of new additions to the kid’s dress up collection.
It seems like they were all getting too big for the small stuff we had before. So now they have so many more choices.
They love to dress up, put on little plays, and just have fun in costume! I’m looking forward to seeing what they come up with!
8. Paper Crafts
With some construction paper, scissors, and glue, kids can create the most amazing things! They don’t need Pinterest for inspiration–just their own imagination!
So it’ll be fun to watching them create.
Other Kid Activities for After Baby
Do you have other suggestions for kid activities for the first week or two after baby arrives? I’d love for you to share in the comments!
