Ten Ideas for Incorporating Fun and Play into Your Child’s Daily Activities

TwitterMoms has teamed up with The Hub, a newly launched TV channel for kids and families for an awesome blog contest, in which the first 50 participants will receive a $50 Target.com gift card! To participate, you will need to write a thoughtful quality post sharing 10 ideas for incorporating fun and play into your child’s daily activities.

Here are some of my favorites that have been working great for my son.

Brushing Fun: Getting your child to brush her teeth twice a day can be a boring chore for both of you. What I do to make brushing a fun activity is to brush with my son and compete for richer foams, louder rinsing and ultimately whiter teeth. Choosing a cute toothbrush and changing brushes regularly is also an effective way to make my child like brushing better. I also encourage him to count his teeth as he brushes or humming his favorite songs.

Eating Fun: Eating healthy food is a top priority for my family, but it's not always easy to get kids to eat what's good for them. I find making colorful and nice-looking dishes a fun way to introduce a good variety of vegetables to my son. Diversifying the ways to cook the same ingredients also makes eating more enjoyable. Have you ever tried incorporating games into eating? For instance, when my son asks for his favorite sweet treat--M&M, I'll ask him to guess the color of the next candy coming out of the bag. Only a correct guess will win him a sweet chocolate candy. And he needs to drink up a small cup of water before he can take another guess.

Outdoor Fun: My son's favorite time of the day is to play outside in the playground at the park. He will happily drink a lot of water and eat plenty of fruits while he's having fun going down the slides or riding in the swing. By playing outside, he gets sunshine, fresh air and good physical exercise that are all necessary for his growth.

Music Fun: Both my son and I love to have music in the background for any daily activity: playing, reading, learning, eating, and even sleeping. It's a great way to cultivate his love for music, help him learn new songs, and increase his interest in the activity he's engaged in. Cheerful music will frequently get him to dance around in excitement.

Book Fun: Reading is an important part of my son's daily routine. He loves it more when we read out aloud together, when I use funny tones, or when we take different roles to act out the story.

Potty Fun: My son is undergoing potty training. What sounds like a headache has turned out to be quite smooth and painless for us. A cute, colorful potty chair is a good starting point. Lovely charts and stickers also do the trick. My son takes great pride in becoming a big boy and going potty on his own.

Shopping Fun: Taking the kids to grocery shopping makes the kids feel that they are an important part of the family. They get to know a lot of things we use in daily life and learn to make choices and decisions, no matter how trivial they may seem.

Cooking Fun: My son loves to watch me cooking for the entire family. He's a bit too young to help out in the kitchen, but he's very enthusiastic about doing what he can, like handing mommy a plate or putting trash into the trash can. He also learns about vegetables and ways to turn them into different shapes.

Bathing Fun: What's better than a warm bath before going to bed? My son loves playing with his water toys in the tub and making bubbles from time to time. I encourage him to clean up his body on his own. He's happily taken that as a sign of growing up.

Bedtime Fun: It's been quite a challenge to put a toddler to sleep. I've experimented with various props: cuddly toys, soothing music, and sleep-related stories. Sometimes they work, but sometimes they don't. We've recently developed a new game to help my son go to sleep on his own. Daddy and son will be competing to see who can keep his eyes shut for a longer time and mommy will be the judge. The winner will be awarded his favorite snack for the next day. My son amazed me with his memory when he asked for his prize after waking up in the morning.

Do you have any unique tips for making daily routines more fun for your kid? Please don't keep them to yourself. Share them with the TwitterMoms community and you could win a nice prize!

Disclosure: I wrote this blog post while participating in the TwitterMoms and The Hub blogging program, making me eligible to get a $50 gift card. For more information on how you can participate, click here.