Our kiddos act famously awful at restaurants. The wait is too long, and my son is overstimulated by the noise. As a result, we haven't been taking them anywhere fancier than McDonald's lately.
I've got a couple of new tools though, and I thought I'd share them with you.
First of all, I'd like to recommend Brain Quest cards. They retail for around $11 a deck, but I've been lucky enough to find several of them at Goodwill for much less. They are graded by age, starting with 2-3 year olds. We own that one, as well as the pre-k and k versions. They consist mainly of picture puzzles like "which one of these animals could fly?" or "which one of these things doesn't belong?"
I've got a couple of new tools though, and I thought I'd share them with you.
First of all, I'd like to recommend Brain Quest cards. They retail for around $11 a deck, but I've been lucky enough to find several of them at Goodwill for much less. They are graded by age, starting with 2-3 year olds. We own that one, as well as the pre-k and k versions. They consist mainly of picture puzzles like "which one of these animals could fly?" or "which one of these things doesn't belong?"
My second recommendation is for Usborne Activity Cards. (Several of them are pictured in this post.) We have the 100 Things for little children to do on a trip deck, but there is also a secret code version, a silly joke version, and several others. They retail for $9.99. The kit we have consists of 50 laminated cards, and a wipe off marker. The cards include prompts to draw pictures, mazes, dot to dots, find the hidden pictures, etc.
We were able to enjoy a fairly peaceful dinner at a real restaurant last night, as a result of the Usborne cards. My four year old son was entertained enough to sit down in his chair, and remain reasonably quiet until his food came. (At least 20 minutes.) That's virtually unheard of for him. We've had similar success with the Brain Quest cards.
The Brain Quest cards are available at Amazon, and the Usborne cards can be purchased through an Usborne consultant. (If you don't have an Usborne consultant, please check out my online store. The link is located in my sidebar.)
Eating in peace works for me. To find lots more WFMW posts, check out http://www.wearethatfamily.com/.
P.S. If you're wondering what 17 month old baby V was doing during the wait, she was coloring and trying to nibble on crayons when we weren't looking. She's recently discovered the joys of coloring, and has to be watched every minute...
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I love Brainquest cards. I used them often while teaching during those times when we had 2 minutes to kill. I didn't know they had them for pre-k. I'm going to try those out!
ReplyDeletei agree, those brainquest cards rock. we just got some handed down to us and i love them. i haven't tried the usborne ones, i'm off to call my usborne pal!!! thanks:-)
ReplyDeleteGreat idea! I need to put some our cards in my purse next time we go out to eat. My kids usually keep themselves busy by filling up on thier drink or water. I try to ask the server to bring our drinks with our meals, but it doesn't always work out that way.
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