Beans Beans The American Fruit!
Recently there has been a discussion on an online community I participate in on what to do with toddlers while homeschooling. My first thought was “let them run around like crazy banchees?” Because that is what seems to happen here… a lot. And unfortunately that’s just one of those life obstacles to overcome when living and learning in a growing, larger than the average American family! And really I look at it like this. If little Betty Ann needs absolute quiet to do her work, she probably is going to struggle in public school too, right? Because I know that it was almost never absolutely quiet in classrooms. And there was always so punk kid who was tapping on your desk or bugging you or hiding your book or something. So I figure that annoying toddler brother falls into that category.
However, I realize some may not really like that scenario so I’m going to offer up a few solutions. First solution is the bean box! Now you can do this with any sort of dry something you want. It could be sand, rice, lentils, but in our case I chose beans. Pinto beans to be specific. The main reason I chose it was because I had four bags in my lazy susan. 
But on top of that pinto beans make a bit of noise and are easier to pick up. If you have a toddler like *my* toddler, there will be a bit of a mess.
At the dollar store I bought a cheap plastic storage tote- think shoe box size. I bought a set of measuring cups & spoons as well. Total cost = $3 (add $2 more to factor in the beans, but like I said I already had them on hand) And the setup was easy. Dump the beans and the scoops into the box. You’ll get at least 30ish minutes of play while you do something. this time I unloaded/loaded the dishwasher. Of course this is excellent to use during school time. Clean up was easy because it was just putting stray beans back into the box and running the vacuum quickly. Beans are cheap! Don’t be anal about picking up every single bean!
And lets not forget that playing is LEARNING. While your toddler is giggling and laughing (and dumping) all of those beans out, he’s exploring the way gravity works, spatial awareness, and fine/gross motor skills! It’s the beauty of homeschooling in one slightly messy package.