Keeping small children entertained while you are on the phone

There are a lot of benefits to working from home with small children- many, many benefits. But there are some drawbacks too- in particular the fact that children will insist on acting like, well, children while you are attempting to act like a professional.

We now have a dedicated home office and I try not to spend too much time in there during the day but obviously I need to for periods throughout the day. Sometimes Ashley will be in there with me 'helping' me. Sometimes she's off riding her bike, watching a dvd, eating lunch, playing with her dolls etc. But sometimes she's right under my feet and I'm trying to make/receive important phonecalls.

Most of our clients know that I work from home with young children. And "sorry, that was my three year old in the background" is explanation enough for the odd noise here and there. But for the days when it's less of "an odd noise here and there" and more of "a cacophony of odd noises plus an inexplicable urge to fiddle with things and climb on things and touch my eye" I have a secret stash of toddler activities in my office. 

Some people call these kinds of activities "busy bags". They are generally small, simple, open-ended play experiences. Ones that don't require instruction from me, that can be enjoyed over and over (ie the resources don't get used up) and preferably have a somewhat educational component (ie sorting by colour, shape, size, number; recognising letters of the alphabet; sequencing; play food; etc). Because they don't use up resources they are a bit different to some of the activity packs I have set up in our home (things like crafts for the girls; crayons&notebook; etc)

I've decided to expand my stash and in have also decided that since I'm doing that, I need to organise them a little better so I'll be sharing some more about my busybags and organisation in the coming weeks. I'll also share some of the pre-prepared activity packs I have.

In the meantime, Pinterest (as always) is a great resource for busybag activities if you're looking for something similar to use in your own home.

Laura xx