Hellobee Boards

@catgirl: This magnatile maze sounds really cool (and like a great OT exercise, haha) - do you lay the tiles flat, or stand them up like walls? Does she use a tool of some sort to move the pompoms?

@SweetCaroline: For any of my girls (4, 6, and 8, so no kindergartner....but close), I find that just "rotating" toys and leaving different things out on different days helps. If you're ok cleaning up a little mess later, my girls really like sensory bins of rice (especially if it's colored), beans, etc. and some cups/scoops, with small toys like shopkins/hatchimals to hide in the rice and "find". If they play with a bin inside a larger bin or on a tablecloth, clean up really isn't bad. At her age she might be prime to enjoy some of the "Dot Marker" coloring books and paint-dot markers, or Melissa and Doug has a (slightly neater) washable stamp marker coloring book with different shaped "stamps". Does school provide any digital programs she could be permitted to use for a limited time during the day? I really am not a screen time fan, but I've been okay with things like Amplify, Guided Readers, Raz Kids, ABCya, ABC Mouse, many of which are free or she may have a subscription to from school, when I need to occupy the girls and keep them from fighting with each other or getting too loud and crazy when we're on calls. If you've got indoor space and can handle a little noise, we just got a My First Flybar (introductory pogo jumper) that is ok for indoor use and my kiddos LOVE to use to burn energy.

Mine will listen to audio books for hours. Or story podcasts like the alien adventures of fun Caspian.

Definitely rotating toys and stuff strewn on the table to create with. I'm bad a strewing, but even new markers, stickers, playdough with different toys than usual will work.

Legos, Playmobil, magnatiles, puzzles, all the crafts (we've had good luck with paint by sticker, coloring books, general art supplies), podcasts, Facetiming with my parents (she can talk to them for an hour or more if they let her), Outschool classes....
I agree with the above that rotating toys and creating "invitations to play" is helpful

My kindergartener has been on a kick with perler beads lately. She's okay-ish with the tiny ones, but can do the bigger ones ("biggie beads" I think they're called?) all on her own. Well, aside from the ironing. But it takes her a long time to settle on the pattern she's making, so it buys me some time regardless.

She'll also still play with sensory bins that we rotate in and out. She had an elaborate setup with some lego figures playing in water beads yesterday that she stuck with for almost two hours. It was great!

And this was a random gift she got for Christmas last year that was a big hit - she'll play with a set of melting putty animals (like this one https://www.papersource.com/gifts/melting-sparkling-unicorn-10001131.html) so often. They don't take long to make, but she's oddly amused by watching them melt slowly and seeing which one melts fastest/slowest.

@bhbee: we love art hub for kids too

@catgirl: ooh like a labyrinth- fun! DH would go bonkers over the sound of the marble on a cookie sheet but I love it!

@SweetCaroline: I feel your pain on the Peers. My kids will not do the gorgeous mermaid and unicorn glittery sticker mosaics for anything. I cannot figure out why, because they like stickers, crafts, and unicorns/mermaids. 🤪

We’re still doing distance learning here so my kinder daughter usually has work to do in the morning and early afternoon and that keeps her busy while I work. Afterwards, I try to get her to go outside - either I’ll walk with her or she’ll go in the yard and play with chalk, water, sensory bins, collect random leaves/rocks, etc for awhile. I also ended up buying subscriptions to KiwiCo, Raddish, and Little Passports, so those keep her busy for a few afternoons a month (although she needs help with these so that backfires in terms of giving me time to do work!).