A while back, I made five busy boxes for my toddler. One for each weekday:
The boxes are basically clear plastic shoe boxes that have a special set of activities and toys to keep her occupied while she quietly sits on a blanket (aka Blanket Time. If you’ve never tried it, you must. It’s awesome). This allows me to go and DO THINGS. Like lie on the couch and try really hard not to close my eyes. Or cook dinner. Or write something up to share with you here on my blog, like how to keep a toddler busy so I can go write about how I kept her busy. As a bonus, many of the activities help her get some fine motor skill practice, or are otherwise helpful for some aspect of her development. Yay!
So far, she only really seems to love the Monday and Tuesday boxes, so I find myself going back to those even on W, Th, and F. Lately, I’ve only been using them 1-2x a week, so that works out for now, but once baby boy comes, I think I’ll have to up my busy box game to buy some more downtime! For now, I’m glad I have at least two winners. I already shared the Tuesday box with you. It’s a simple upcycled oatmeal container that I punched holes into. She can sit there for nearly thirty minutes pushing pipe cleaners in and out!
The Monday busy box I’m sharing today is actually a very similar concept, but with craft pom poms instead of pipe cleaners. 
It’s a hit with my daughter. I especially like how small and portable this one is, and have brought it along for blanket time on-the-go. Just a few weeks ago, we were at a dinner meeting and she was able to quietly play with this toy for a long time before moving onto something else! Other kids enjoyed pushing the pom poms in, too, so it’s easy and inexpensive entertainment for little kids (not just toddlers), too!
My husband is out of town this week, so I’ve got babygirl allll to myself. While I am blessed to have family and friends nearby to help out, there are still many, many hours to the day where it’s just me and her, so I am SO THANKFUL that I trained her on blanket time these last few months! Not only has it allowed her to learn to play more independently, develop her ability to concentrate, and given her the space to develop skills she wouldn’t normally work on when playing with me, but it has also been a lifesaver for me! Each day, I can carve out 30-45 minutes of time to do my own things, whether it’s getting dinner ready, cleaning, or working on my own projects (*ah hem* blog). I LOVE IT.
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