The Toddler's Busy Book: 365 Creative Games and Activities to Keep Your 1 1/2- to 3-Year-Old Busy

Awesome book! Soooo many GREAT and INEXPENSIVE ideas to keep a toddler busy! I use these ideas on a daily basis with my 2.5 year old and am going to add it to my list of must haves for baby shower gifts! One of my favorite ideas in this book is the one for when you have a toddler at home and you bring home a new baby. She suggests that you make a "nursing basket" for your toddler. The basket is filled with quiet things he loves to play independently with and/or special snacks to eat. While you are nursing your newborn, you bring out the basket and let your toddler play with these special toys or eat these special snacks, but only while you're nursing. Any other time the basket is put up so it remains special. What a great way to curb any animosity the toddler may be having toward the new sibling while mommy is devoting special time to nursing. With this GREAT idea in your pocket, it now makes nursing time special for baby and toddler. I loved this idea soo much that I gave a copy of the book to my sister in law, who has a newborn and a toddler, along with a toddler basket full of special things I picked up mostly at the dollar store for my nephew. I presented the basket to her along with a copy of the book, with the toddler basket idea page marked in the book with a sticky note. And lastly it not only gave my nephew something to do, and look forward to doing, while his mom nurses the baby, but it also gave her a little something to read and gather more GREAT ideas from while she's feeding her precious newborn.

Well structured and chock-a-block with ideas. I have bought and borrowed over 10 similar books and I think that this book is the stand-out of the genre. The ideas for busy little people range from the "can do it on the spur of the moment" to those that require preparation and advance planning. For the latter, a wonderful list of "what to save" is included to help parents start their own resource centre for toddler activities. The rainy day ideas, busy box concept and travel bag have been sanity savers. Most activities teach toddlers something interesting while they have fun. Quite a few of the activities are also suitable for (or can be modified to suit)older babies. This has been a wonderful resource for our family. We dip into it regularly and it has helped us plan some great party and playdate afternoons too. Very highly recommended.

~~To start off and attempt to be fair, I just received this book. It may indeed have many good ideas for play, creativity, and fun but the first chapter "Help! I have a toddler!" has set the stage for everything I've seen in the book so far. The main thread in the dialog that I've seen from the forward through the first chapter and into flipping through the book is how tiresome, trialing, and a hardship having a child is.~~ ***UPDATE*** After reading further, I have to change it from 1 (hate it) to 4 stars (like it). The only texts that are negative are the forward/chapter headers (which is what I commented on above). The author's suggested books in the back, Gentle Discipline ect and easy to use lists of materials also raised my score. Overall, if you can ignore much of the chapter headers, than you are in for a REALLY creative and helpful book. I love the simplicity of these ideas and how easy it is to pull them off, as well as how engaging and spatially educational they are. Oh, and she's not afraid to encourage kids to make a mess because 'that's how they learn'! =) Love that. As well as how encouraging she is of interaction, connection, free play and media free family time. Bravo, I just have to wonder WHY on EARTH she headed each of her chapters with quotes talking about how "you can't return children" and that toddler steps will 'plunge you' into the 'most exasperating time of your adult life'. Are these supposed to be encouragement? LOL Overall, I'm not disappointed that I bought it. Who knows, maybe I'll buy a copy of the Preschooler's Busy Book for next year too ;) I would recommend this book to others.

I like this book very much, but I haven’t used it yet because my granddaughter is a little young for us to use it yet! I like to be prepared!🤣

The book is interesting and gives nice ideas for activities with toddlers. I have to admit I only used few of the activities though. Most of the activities are for bigger toddlers, my daughter is only seventeen months and many of the activities stated in this book are still too early for her. Some activities are also repeated. Overall, it's a nice book to have for the ideas and I hope I can use it more when my daughter gets a bit older.

I was home with a sick toddler and a cranky youngster the day this book arrived, and it saved me. The first page I flipped to had an idea for a simple game that I put together in two minutes and had us all laughing for twenty. Bless you, Trish Kuffner! This book is nicely organized. A chapter of introduction helps you plan, supply and mentally prepare for those long days when you are running out of ideas. The author writes with humor and affection. Subsequent chapters are organized into Rainy Day Play, Kids in the Kitchen, Water Play, Outdoor Adventures, Out and About, Nursery Rhymes and Finger Plays, Early Learning Fun, Music and Movement, Arts and Crafts, and Holidays. Most activities are simple to set up, generally using about three or four household items. Appendices list recipes for basic paints, doughs, glues and clay; a list of activities for a Crazy Can (a random drawing of activities that aren't messy and need little supervisoin so you can, for example, get dinner ready); best toys for babies and toddlers; best books for same; and resources. The index lists projects (but not materials, which would be helpful in later editions). The book subtitle, 365 Creative Games and Activities to Keep Your 1-1/2- to 3-Year-Old Busy, sells the book short, as I've used these ideas successfully with older children as well. For those of us who are not good at dreaming up artsy fun things-to-do, this book is a wonderful resource. For those of you who *are* good, you will probably still find some fun ideas in this well-organized, friendly guide.

This book is great. It is broken down into sections so that you can easily find the type of activity that you are looking for. The craft ideas are very appropriate for my daughter, who is 22 months old. Everytime we play something from this book, we have a good time. There are so many things that I never would have even thought of trying to do. I really like the beginning of the book. It has a broken down list of all the supplies that you should buy, and a broken down list of all the things that you should save for your craft cupboard. It is really neat to know that I can repurpose some of the daily household items that we have for fun toddler games and activities. If you are looking for a way to get busy doing fun things with your kid that you maybe wouldn't otherwise think of, give this book a try. It is very affordable and full of wonderful ideas.

I’m totally in love with this book! It has so many good ideas! I have a 17 month old and sometimes I’m at a loss when it comes to finding something fun or creative to do around the house. It’s nice being able to flip through this book at night after he’s asleep and pick out a few things to do! I read a lot of reviews for this book before ordering it and some people complained that the ideas were too simple and obvious. Yes— there are some simple ideas but they’re really great simple ideas! And having them all written down in one book that’s easy to reference is so great. I’m only on chapter 3 and have already marked so many pages with activities that I know he’ll love! I love the idea of the flashlight safari. Turning the light out and exploring the nursery with a flashlight and pointing out different stuffed animals. So cute and creative!