How to make dinner in peace and quiet…

My kids play so well by themselves all day, but not between 5 and 5:30. That is their designated “latch onto mommy for dear life while she tries in vain to cook us dinner” time.

Dinner prep activities are a real thing around here and they save my bacon so many days. We needed a new “while mom cooks” activity to spice things up a bit: welcome Fridge Magnet Matching to the dinner prep family!

Wonder what my day looks like with my kids? Check out my post on My Daily Schedule.

Fridge magnet matching is as easy as 1-2-3…

There’s no fancy or long-drawn-out prep time needed for this activity. I don’t have that kind of time – I have dinner to make and a clingy 3-year-old to parent.

I need an activity that she can play…

1. Without my help
2. Relatively quietly
3. And restart on her own

So I grabbed our alphabet magnets and got to work.

Here’s the quick and easy set up for this:

Materials:

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• Butcher paper – this is my favorite!
• Giant sharpie marker
• Alphabet magnets

I rolled the butcher paper our along the fridge and taped it secure. I grabbed my trust giant marker and wrote the letters in random order.

I handed Kate a bowl of the alphabet letter magnets and told her to “get to matching” – ok, maybe I said it a little better than that.

The level of challenge was perfect for her!

Having to identify letters in random order around the paper was the perfect level for her.

I had her match uppercase to uppercase letters. Here are some other ways to vary this up:

• Match uppercase to lowercase (ex: R to r)
• Match letter sounds to hand drawn pictures (A to apple)
• Put missing sounds into short CVC or sight words (___at needs a B to become bat)

RELATED: Check out this list of alphabet activities my kids love doing!

Fridge magnet matching saves the day…er, dinner!

Because of fridge magnet matching, I can snag the time I need to make a quick dinner for my family. My daughter is able to restart this for herself over and over, which means she can play it more than once without needing any assistance.

It also means that I can have a small break from my favorite shadow to get a little cooking done – so everyone wins!

When will you try fridge magnet matching?