Life Skills

I've been wanting to do a post on some of the activities we do to help Bee learn life skills, such as cooking, cleaning, eating, etc. There are so many activities out there that can make these boring things that have to get done so much more interesting to our toddlers. Here are some of the things we do on a regular basis!

First things first, we LOVE cooking in this house. Here are some ways Bee helps out in the kitchen:

 Helping put the groceries away.

 Helping stir a pot. We were making rice crispy treats with cheerios!

 Helping put the muffin liners in our pan.

This occurs daily in our home. Bee cooks dinner while mommy/daddy cooks dinner. It keeps him occupied and distracted for a little while at least. This particular day Bear was also helping but then got thrown aside when Bee realized it was too difficult to hold Bear and stir at the same time. : )

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As with any household, there are some chores you would rather not do. But since when are any of us that lucky?  Here are some ways Bee helps me do what needs to be done!

Bee likes to shake his cups and frequently spills milk EVERYWHERE! So now Bee is asked to clean the milk when it's spilled! He's usually pretty good about getting it all up too. : )

 Helping mommy shovel snow on day.

 Helping mommy fold his diaper liners. When it's other laundry I don't get as much help. More just Bee moving them all around the room. But the diaper liners he is a pro at folding!

 folded diaper

 Bee just got a new vacuum for himself. It cleans a little bit (supposedly). We will see when I get to the store to buy batteries. Anyway, Bee loves helping me push our big vacuum but makes vacuuming take TWICE AS LONG. So now Bee has his own that will come out when mommy vacuums.

Dusting is one of those said chores that I absolutely hate. So what do you do... have your toddler do it! That's right folks, Bee loves using the swiffer dusters and will dust every surface in our home that he can reach! 

A new activity we have been introducing with tot school is sweeping.  We haven't officially started using it to sweep around the house but are working on the skill with pom poms first! He's getting pretty good at it too, so the next time there is a need for sweeping we'll let the little man come to the rescue.

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We also try to work on using our fork/spoon at every meal and drinking through a straw. Bee is definitely doing wonderfully at these! I've recently started working with him on drinking out of a cup with no lid but we make a HUGE mess every time!

There are so many other activities that are done in our home along with all yours out there. Any suggestions for helping my tot with his practical life skills?