Picking toys and activities

A friend asked how I have time to pick daily activity and toys for the kids. Simple: I do it randomly. I've got a tiny little script, into which I load the list of all the toys I have out on the shelves, and which then spits out a random element of that list. If I can't think of what game to play with that toy in 3-5 minutes, I skip it and select the next random toy.

I use the same script to select an activity of the day. It gets trickier with activities though, because they usually require preparation time which I currently (and probably also in the future) do not have. So far, I've decided to have the following weekly activities:

1. math
   
2. learning to read
   
3. art/letter to family
   
4. sports
   
5. puzzles/tests
   
6. table games
   
7. water play ("bath")
   

So far, we've been able to actually do only one-three activities per week. I have to figure out how to do more with minimal prep time. It's also hard to figure out how to engage both kids who are right now very far apart cognitively. In the near future, I'd like my oldest to decide when he wants to do which activity, so he's more engaged with planning and feels more in control. Wish me luck!