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Have you ever had to work in your office with your child for long periods? This has happened to me a few times. Sometimes it’s because I have an important meeting where I need my typical office set up and equipment. Or, like this morning, it was to keep my son away from my bedroom so my husband could sleep. My husband got food poisoning and didn’t sleep a wink last night, so I wanted him to rest as long as possible. After my son had breakfast and we took the dog for a long walk, I decided to hunker down in my office until it was time for my son’s nap. I’m grateful my office is set up the way it is because I was well prepared to keep my son entertained while I worked. As with most of the photos on my blog, these pictures were taken in real time and are by no means professional. However, that is part of the point of my blog: to be as honest and real as possible while sharing ideas that can help other parents. Here’s what my son did while in my office for about 1.5 hours:

Snacks and a Drink

Having snacks and a drink are essential for keeping my little guy happy, so I was prepped with that at the beginning. 

Playpen with Toys

I love, love, love having a playpen in my office. Yes, it does take up a lot of room in a small office, but it has been so beneficial. There are some staple toys I keep in the playpen but I try to occasionally rotate out some of the other toys. Not only are the toys entertaining, but my son also likes to sit on the outside and zip the playpen door open and shut it too.

Keyboard and Mouse 

My son loves to sit on my lap while I work in the office. Although it’s not ideal having him sit on my lap while I am working, if he’s not trying to mess with my laptop, I’m fine with it. I use a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse, so when my son sits on my lap, I can easily turn them off. Like kids do, he mimics what I am doing, which is typing on the keyboard using the mouse. To allow this, I turn them off and let him play with them while I use my laptop keyboard.

Desk Drawers

I guess this one depends on your personality and what you have in your desk drawers. I let my son go through two of my desk drawers. These drawers contain various office items like paper, pens, pencils, a container of paper clips, etc. I keep the “dangerous” office supplies (like scissors) in drawers without handles so he can’t access them.

Generally, he sits on my lap and pulls things out, puts them back in, and does whatever else makes him happy. Frequently, this includes him finding a pen and coloring on some random paper I have on my desk. Sometimes, that’s more fun than an actual coloring sheet! As a heads up, this makes a mess, and those desk drawers will never stay organized.

Kid Laptop

Okay, so I actually forgot to put his laptop back in my office, but I figured it deserved a place on this list since it’s normally kept in my office. Kids like to act like their parents. And for my son, that’s working on a laptop. A while ago, he kept trying to play with my laptop, so for Christmas, he got his very own kid laptop. It’s just one of those learning game laptops. You don’t even need to put batteries in it for it to be fun to play with. Now, when my son tries to play with my work laptop, I’ll pull his out to see if he wants to “work”. This trick works like a charm. He’ll leave my laptop alone and push all the buttons on his laptop while saying, “Work, work, work”. It’s pretty cute. 

Clear Tape

This was a new one we tried today. He pulled out an extra roll of clear tape from my desk drawer, and I thought that it could be a fun activity. I pulled off the end of the tape, and he spent the next 15 minutes pulling and ripping the tape. It was wonderfully entertaining for him. Honestly, it’s not that expensive of an activity either. You can buy cheap tape from the dollar store. 

Painting the Window

An oldie but a goodie for my son. I give him a paint brush and tell him to paint the window. And he does! Just a dry paint brush and an object to paint. Sometimes, I’ll tell him to paint other random objects or furniture in the room, too. There’s literally nothing easier than this activity. 

Printer

I discovered a few weeks ago that my son loves getting paper from the printer. Now, when we are in my office, I will print up some coloring pages for him to color later. It teaches him to be patient while I find a coloring page on my phone and it prints.

Shows

And, of course, the obvious babysitter: a show. I’ve mentioned before that I try and limit my son’s screen time yet I’ll be the first to admit that sometimes it just makes work easier when it’s on. If I am in an important meeting, I will give him my husband’s iPad to watch a show on while he is in the play pen. Or, like today, I will pull up YouTube and put it on one of my monitors for him to watch. You do what you’ve got to do. 

There you have it. These are some easy activities to keep your little one entertained while you can work in your office together. Let me know if you’ve done any of these activities with your kid! I am also writing a blog on creating an effective office setup, so keep an eye out for that!