How to keep small kids busy?

Question

Do you have good tricks of how to keep small children (18 months) busy? When they meet other children, they usually play together quite well, but when you are with your kid at home alone, the kid wants your attention all the time (reading the same books a lot of times). Two things that work quite well so far for me: - letting him bring clothes to the washing machine from a larger pile - letting roomba run around carrying things, so he can chase it aroundProbably some of you have other good ideas?!

gdubs · Accepted Answer

Maria Montessori's "The Child in the Family" is a bit old at this point, but I really love it. Her whole philosophy is that children are actually ready and capable to do more around the house than we have come to think.
You've picked up on this already with the laundry. Kids LOVE to learn and help with things. It often will take a lot longer in the beginning, but over time you'll really appreciate this investment in skills as they grow older.
Another thing that I love about the Montessori approach is that it's all about building intrinsic motivation in kids. They need guidance, obviously, but instilling in them a self-directed motivation is amazing.
Probably the most important thing is spending some time on your environment. Do they have cabinets accessible where they can get their own plates and toys etc? Yours is still young, but they grow quickly! The more your environment is set up to make self-directed play and "work" accessible to them, the more they'll do it.