Surviving the Sidelines: Portable Games for Kids

Thanks to our Blog Ambassador Tiffany of Peanut Blossom, for sharing these tips for surviving the sidelines!

Surviving the Sidelines portable games for kids

How much time would you guess your average mom spends waiting on her kids?

We wait:

in line at carpool
at the bus stop
in the office at the pediatrician
at the dentist’s office
at sports practice
at dance class
at gymnastics
during piano lessons

I don’t know about you, but I’ve mastered the art of keeping myself entertained during all these waits. If I’m not chatting with one of the other moms, I’ve got a book at the ready on my tablet or am catching up with friends on social media.

But what about my preschooler who has to be toted to all these same waiting places? It is so easy to get sucked into my own entertainment and just leave her to her own devices.

This is a missed opportunity.

When you have more than one child as I do, time to spend with your kids for quality one-on-one time is hard to come by. When big sister is off kicking that ball with her team, that is a perfect time for me to focus on my youngest. And when the preschooler is twirling with her friends during dance class, I get a quiet moment to check in with my 8 year old.

Since these opportunities usually come right after school, I love to spend the first 5-10 minutes of our wait simply chatting with my kids about their day. The 4 year old quickly loses interest in “deep conversation” and starts to get squirrelly so I love to come prepared with the small and packable On the Go items from Melissa & Doug.

I can coax out a lot more chatting from her if we’re coloring together or playing rounds of Pinball Arcade or one of these other portable games for kids:

Surviving the Sidelines portable games for kids

Color by Numbers
Pinball Arcade (best saved for outdoor activities like soccer, the noise can be too much for a quiet waiting room.)
Magic Velvet

The best part about these portable little activities is that they can easily go from a mom-kid shared activity to an “all by myself” one so mom can catch a quick breather before running off to the next errand. It’s all about balance.

Connecting with your kids doesn’t have to be an all or nothing thing. Even 5-10 minutes of shared focused activity together sprinkled throughout the day adds up.