15 (More) Independent Activities for One-Year-Olds

My first post on 15 Independent Activities for One-Year-Olds has been the most popular post on Imperfect Homemaker.  I figure there must be lots of other moms who are in the same boat that I am and need something that will occupy their little ones for a while!  I decided to round up some more ideas for all of us that are age-appropriate for one-year-olds and can be done independently by the child.

New!  If you like this post, you will love my brand new eBook, 101 Independent Activities for Toddlers and Preschoolers! 

Note:  If you click a picture or the link under the pictures, you will be taken to the blog where these ideas originated from.  If you'd like to pin a specific picture, please pin from the blog where the idea was originally posted.

Here goes!

9. Pom poms and cardboard tubes (if this activity is going to be unsupervised, I think it would be best to replicate this idea with larger sized balls that won't fit into the child's mouth.)

10. Connect Four (without the rules of course!)

11. Water Painting

12. Emptying baskets

13. Jars and lids

14. Homemade ball pit

15. Toys!  There are lots of toys that you can buy that are educational, and you don't have to take the time to make anything.  Here's my list of 10 toys for one-year olds.

What activities do you use for your little ones when you need them to play by themselves?

Also See:

Additional activities:

Toys:

The ultimate resource:

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I’m Baaack!

I didn't really expect to be out of the blogging loop for so long.  My husband's family has been in town all week, and we've been enjoying some time with them.  I really thought I'd still be blogging in the mornings before everyone else got up, but I've been pretty worn out and ended up sleeping in every day.  I *think* things should be back to “normal” around here where I can get back on a regular routine.  I'm looking forward to posting some more things very soon!

Anti-Procrastination: Do What You Can

There are a whole bunch of things I'd love to do around my house, but they're just not possible right now due to lack of time, money, or energy.   I'm sure all of you have the same problem in one area or another.

I'm the type of person that just says “Forget it” when I can't do things the way I want them done.

But really, if I'd just do what I can, things would at least improve.  I guarantee I will never have a perfect house, but why should I allow things that can be changed to continue looking junky?

Here's an example of something little that I did that looks a whole lot better.

I'd love to have a new kitchen floor.  The linoleum in there is quite old and worn out, and it never looks clean even when it's been freshly swept and mopped.  But even though I can't get a new floor right now, I decided to at least fix the disgusting vent covers.

And I mean disgusting.

I guess I've just been looking hopelessly at that old ugly floor for so long, that I didn't even think about the fact that I could at least replace the nasty vent covers.

Thanks to my friend Christina at The Frugal Homemaker, I learned that I could even spray paint my vent covers instead of buying new ones!

So I did!

It's not perfect since the linoleum has some cuts around the edge of the vent, but it's much better than it was before!

Do you a project you've been putting off because you don't have the resources to complete it?  Think through any areas that you can work on and do what you can!

If you’re just now joining our Anti-Procrastination challenge, you can read all the details here. Be sure you’re subscribed to email updates or follow me on Facebook to receive each new challenge!

Printable Scripture Verse Art

I've slowly been re-doing my living room decor, and it's hard to find pretty scripture verses that are in King James Version.

I made up this little printable today and mod podged it onto a wooden plaque.

I think it would look good in a picture frame as well.

My sister-in-law had a great idea with the last printable I made, which was to print it in black-and-white on colored scrapbook paper.  Just in case anybody wanted to do it that way, or if  you don't have a color printer, I've provided a black-and-white version for you as well as the color version.

Download color version here (will print without watermark)

Download Black and White version here (will print without watermark)

If you know of others who would enjoy this, please be sure to share the link to this page with them!

Here's the image one more time in case you want to pin it:

You can also find a beautiful printable of Philippians 4:8 right here.

How I Got a Pair of Jeans for $.15 Shipped!

I just got my little guy a pair of jeans for $.15 shipped to my door!

You can get something for one of your kiddos for free or dirt cheap too!

Here's how:

• Sign up for an account with ThredUP using my referral link.
• You'll receive a free $10 credit which is automatically deposited in your account.
• Find something priced at $3.99 or lower.  (There's tons to choose from!)
• Go to checkout and enter the promo code AUGUST20.  You'll get 20% off, plus your $10 credit will automically come off too.
• Check out and enjoy your free or almost-free clothing!

Important Update:  When you click the link to sign up, make sure you create your account using the yellow strip at the top of the page in order to get your $10 credit!  Do not click on “Sign Up” on the white part of the page as I do not believe that gives you the credit.

Anti-Procrastination Challenge: Just Start!

One of the excuses I tend to give as a reason for procrastinating is that I want everything to be “just so” before I start.  If I can't do something exactly the way I envision it should be, I keep waiting until everything is just perfect.

The only problem is that most of the time everything is not going to ever be just exactly the way I want it to be.  There are a whole lot of things that never get done because I never even get started!

That was how I was feeling about getting started with our first year of homeschooling.  (We actually did some K4 last year, but kindergarten seems so much more official, doesn't it? 🙂 )

There were a lot of things that I wanted to happen before we started.  I wanted to get the kitchen re-arranged to make room for a school desk so little bug could sit at the proper height to do his writing.  I wanted to get all our flashcards laminated.  I wanted to have a better idea of what I was doing for K while little bug did his work.  These were just a bunch of little things that really weren't going to hinder a 5 year old from learning what sound letter I makes.

I finally decided that it was time to stop waiting for everything to fall perfectly into place and just start!

And start we did!

Little bug is quite happy with his letter I's.

Miss K did her best to keep up with her brother.

Concentration faces!

What have you been neglecting to start until everything falls into place exactly like you want it?  Maybe you should let your expectations go and just start!

If you’re just now joining our Anti-Procrastination challenge, you can read all the details here. Be sure you’re subscribed to email updates or follow me on Facebook to receive each new challenge!

Oh, and another quick note.  Some of the activities you see my kids doing are from Confessions of a Homeschooler.  She has a lot of great printable homeschool worksheets (both paid and free) for preschool and K4.