How to Engage your Preschooler and your Toddler at the Same Time

1. Put several colors of food coloring into a container of ice cubes. When they are frozen, place two colorful ice cubes into a ziploc bag and give a bag to each child. Talk with your preschooler about mixing color combinations, and let your toddler enjoy the sensation of pushing the ice cube around the bag.

2. Chocolate finger painting!

3. Make tunnels out of cardboard boxes and set up a crawling obstacle course with them.

4. Take a walk outdoors with a bucket and collect acorns. (Be careful not to let the toddler put them in her mouth!) The kids will think it's fun to just collect them, but you can also check out the fun list of things to do with them here.

5. Just before bed when they have their jammies on, scatter lots of stuffed animals around a room. Turn off the lights, and give both children small flashlights. See how many stuffed animals your preschooler can find. Let your toddler just enjoy the fun of a flashlight in her hand!

6. Feed goldfish crackers to birds at the park.

7. Pull a blanket around the room while both girls sit on it with music playing. Sing and sing!! Let them bring their dollies and stuffed animals too. Sometimes go quickly enough to where they both (gently) fall off and get lots of giggles!

8. Visit the pet store and look at the live animals together. Ask the toddler what sounds each animal makes, and let the preschooler come up with fun names for each animal.

9. Let them "paint" the outside of the house with paintbrushes and a bucket of water.

10. Fill up the kiddie pool with an inch or two of water. Throw in a bowl full of cooked spaghetti for them to dig through, throw, etc.

11. On a day you plan to wash all the bedding, first scatter the sheets over furniture in one of the rooms and let them play underneath in each little "room."

12. Make a box train out of cardboard boxes and small pieces of rope. Let them take turns pulling the train and filling it with little friends.