Highchair Time Ideas for a Two-Year-Old
My two-year-old daughter is not able to do anything on her own for very long! Whenever she is in the same room with us, she is always interrupting us. The only exception is maybe when we are at the kitchen table eating, and she is in her high chair. She loves her high chair, and that got me thinking I thought I read a Heart of Dakota (HOD) post somewhere where you listed out some things little ones could do in their highchairs. I think she’d like that. Could you please share some highchair activities you did with your sons, Carrie? Thanks so much!
Sincerely,
“Ms. Please Share Some Highchair Time Ideas for My Two-Year-Old”
Dear “Ms. Please Share Some Highchair Time Ideas for My Two-Year-Old,”
Highchair time is a great help for two-year-olds! This usually buys about 15 minutes of time. We tried to have a highchair time each day for our kiddos when they were about two years old. We also attempted a playpen time and a play-at-the-table time each day. Here are just a few ideas we used in the past for our highchair time for our busy, busy boys at that age!
Highchair Time Ideas 1 to 3
1. Save the plastic eggs that snap together from Easter and place a Cheerio or other edible object inside each one. Then, have the child open and eat them, or if possible have the child put the object in and then take it out.
2. Do paint with water books in the high chair. Tear one page out of the book and tape it to the high chair tray. Give the child a small plastic container of water (flatter is better than taller, so it doesn’t tip) and a paintbrush to paint on the water, and watch the colors appear on the paint with water page. Often the paper ended up so saturated, you couldn’t see the picture but the time it gave me was worth it!
3. You can get Cheerios books at almost any bookstore. These have an indented spot to place a Cheerio in on each page creating a scene. We bought them for our first son and have had them for each child ever since. These work great in the highchair as well. Simply give the child a small cup of Cheerios to place on each page, reusing the Cheerios as they go. Then at the end they can eat them (or eat as they go sometimes too.)
Highchair Time Ideas 4 to 6
4. Tape a white piece of paper to the highchair tray and sprinkle a bit of Kool-Aid or Crystal light powder on the page. Then give the child a paintbrush and some water and let them paint the powder.
5. Give the child a singing book to look at while in the highchair. Ours have the buttons you can push down the side and sing different songs or make noises.
6. Try having the child look at a pile of lift-the-flap books with very large flaps while in the highchair. Some of my boys liked this better than others!
Highchair Time Ideas 7 to 9
7. Use dot paint markers. These markers have paint inside them and make paint dots on paper when pressed down. Just tape a paper to the highchair and let them dot away! Make sure the paint is washable though, as they often dot the tray and themselves!
8. Magnetic train cars to push around on the highchair tray work well if you happen to have any of those. Each of our boys have loved these.
9. Sometimes a combination works too. Start with one highchair item and when the child is finished do another one. We tried for 15-20 minutes in the highchair at a mid-morning time.
Blessings!
Carrie
