OK, so this was an activity I prepared for my girls on a day that I just “wasn’t feeling it.”
Do you ever have those days? Like there’s really nothing physically wrong with me, but I just wasn’t in the mood.
I really wanted to veg out, put on a show, and just parent from the couch.
My kids were begging for an activity that day, and I wanted to say no and put on a TV show for them, too, but instead I mustered up a tiny bit of strength to cut out a few shapes for them to decorate.
I really didn’t have high expectations for this activity, and I put almost zero effort into setting this up.
BUT.
It went over SO well. I got a much needed break and the girls spent a good chunk of time over the next few days doing this activity over and over again.
So tuck this little gem into your back pocket for those days where you’re not feeling up for anything and you can still come out on top.
At least in the kids’ activities department.
how to Set Up a Shape Decorating Station
I’m not really sure anyone really needs a tutorial for this, but I need to find some way to turn this into a real post, so here you go.
Grab construction paper & cut them into shapes
I had Elena tell me what shapes to cut out.
You know what I discovered?
My 4-year-old knows a lot of shapes.
- diamond/rhombus
- square
- triangle
- heart
- star
- circle
- oval
(Yes, I know we skipped rectangle. At least now that I’ve written it all out I know!)
“Oval” was suggested by my 23-month-old, that was unexpected! It seems she was listening to her sister name shapes and oval was one she knew and hadn’t heard us say yet.
Add decorating Supplies
Once the shapes were cut out, I took out the markers, cup o’ crayons and a bunch of sticker sheets.
“OK kids, here’s your shapes and supplies. Go nuts.”
Elena chose to decorate the diamond first. She spent a long time coloring it very carefully with red and pink markers.
Hey look, I managed to get her to smile in the middle of her intense coloring.
Lia chose the pink triangle.
“Because Lia loves pink,” as Elena would comment.
Not totally sure if this is true yet, but I don’t see why it couldn’t be true!
The Finishing Touches
The last thing the girls did was put stickers on their colored shapes.
Stickers are great for building fine motor skills!
They’re also a fun way to add a little pizzazz to your beautifully colored shapes.
Elena also practiced writing her name on the backs of the shapes she decorated.
She’s come a long way, especially in writing her name forwards instead of backwards.
Will You Decorate Shapes with Your Toddler?
I’ve had my fair share of good days and bad days. I’m so glad I pushed through my bad mood and cut out shapes for my girls to decorate as it kept them occupied and having fun for the entire morning.
And you know what? Doing something as simple as this for my girls helped turn my mood around and energized me.
Seeing them happily playing and creating and learning makes me feel good.
I hope you get to experience this with your kids today, too!
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