Just While I Cook Dinner....

How often do you wish that your precious child could keep themselves busy just so you can cook dinner in peace? My daughter (3yrs) can play by herself quite happily for decent stretches of time, but for some reason that ability seems to evaporate whenever I begin to cook. Whenever I can, I involve her in the cooking/food preparation, but this is not always an option and I often find myself trying to scrounge up an interesting activity whilst at the same time trying to keep dinner from becoming charcoal.

My most recent solution? An Arctic sensory tub.

Add a dash of blue food dye to some water, throw in a tray of ice cubes and a couple of Arctic-themed toys, and you've got yourself a free cooking pass for the next half hour. Our toys were poached from the bath: a penguin, a whale and a polar bear. Depending on what you have, you could also include seals, Eskimos, an igloo,  killer whales, etc. Or for a festive spin, Santa and his reindeer (the sleigh is broken, so they're stranded on the ice - whatever scenario you can think of). OR, you could have some dolls/Barbies who are learning to ice-skate. Hey, why not?

Yes, our version is very, very basic, but it did the trick! Eden's favourite thing to do with this tub was to hold an ice cube in a fist until it began to melt, and then 'feed' it to the animals, who were sick (they had colds!) and needed their medicine.

What's your I-Need-To-Cook-Dinner-So-Please-Occupy-Yourself-For-A-While solution?
Thanks for reading! ~ L.