The witching hour: anyone who’s been through it with kids knows how hard it can be. It’s the hour before dinner when the kids have saved up all of their fighting, whining, crying, and let it all go at once.
When you have little kids, it can be incredibly hard to make dinner – let alone a healthy dinner! So we’re sharing some simple busy activities for kids so you can cook in peace.
Activities Kids Can Do While You Cook
1) Create a Busy Bag. This can really be any activities that keep your kids busy. Click on the link to see some of our favorites for our busy bag.
2) Quiet Book. Let them play with a quiet book. We found one that we love on Amazon. It is a cooking quiet book and so your kids can feel involved in the kitchen right along with you! My kids love playing with theirs. They can bake cookies, flip and egg and more fun cooking actions!
3) Create a craft that builds something. When kids come over to my house whether it is girls or boys, they all love to string beads. My kids will literally bead for over an hour and not even bat an eye. You definitely have to use discretion when beading with small children. If your kids are young enough to still put things in their mouths, you will want to consider a larger size, and always supervise.

For older kids these beads are great.
For younger kids these are great.
4) For babies and young toddlers. For children this age it is all about the sensory experience to keep them busy. They like to touch, taste, put things in their mouths, listen to noises and see how things work. One simple activity my baby loves is to bang things together. I give him a tupperware with canning rings and he loves to dump them out and bang them together.

For other fun sensory ideas, check out this page from Learn to Play at Home.
We hope this gives you that third hand you have always been wanting so that you can get dinner on the table for your family!
