Ideas please?

Do you have a local library? Often lots of childrens' things going on there but we tend to forget about them. Just a rummage in the books can be fun. It's certainly an area I plan to visit when GCn arrive next month. Also..... local swimming pool?

Just a couple of things I have done with my little grandchildren. Hide a few teddies around the garden and sing The teddy bears Picnic. You can find it on You Tube and play it/ sing along as you all - or just the children look for the bears. Bring them back to a little tablecloth or such spread out on the grass with a few snacks and have a teddy picnic. With slightly older children you can then make up stories about the bears- names, where they've been, why they were hiding etc. My five year old grandson loves this story bit. I've also used the book We're going on a Bear Hunt - read story as we go round our garden. You can create a river with a bit of material or a couple of blue towels and just pretend the rest.Go into the garage, round the house etc - perhaps screaming etc for 'I'm not scared' bit! That goes down a treat!! Puppet shows or make up plays and perform them - hats, coats dressing up stuff. Some lovely ideas on here from other folk that I will try too. Have fun! X

Tents are a life saver with little ones; we make 'peg tents' - even cheaper than an Argos model! We throw an old sheet/bedspread or two over the line and stake to bushes or the lawn with pegs or skewers; they often spend nearly all day fitting out their tent, arguing over having food inside or out, and generally keeping themselves amused and out of the sun. Also, 'dodging' the sprinkler is another favourite; we leave it on rotate and they spend no end of time screaming and getting wet -great if you don't have touchy neighbours. Happy days!

dressing up box and competition?

Bubbles

Painting (much better done outside than in) - I found an easel in the charity shop and poster paints, plus old clothes, kept them happy

Large chalks to chalk on the paving slabs (rain will wash it away afterwards)

A ball to play 'football'

Simple things keep them happy at that age.

They also like playing with our boules set

Anything that makes a mess.

Making vegetabke faces on the top of homemade pizza

Hopscotch

'I spy' walk round the neighbourhood eg house with a blue door, tree with pink flowers etc

Eating outside

www.wildlifewatch.org.uk have a great kids page with lots of outdoor/ indoor activities and free downloads.

In my experience children that age love "helping", so if the weather isn't good enough for all the super outdoor activities, get the smallest children invovled in dusting chair legs - they are much better able to crawl around the living room or kitchen floor with a duster, than we are!
The older ones will probably be less interested in housework, but you should be able to get them to help make dinner (peeling or scrubbing potatoes and the like.)

Baking is perhaps a good idea too. When I make biscuits with small children I prepare the dough on my own beforehand, then get them to help rolling it out and cutting out shapes, either plain round biscuits with a shape or a glass or the funny sort, if you still have a set of animal or fairy tale shapes somewhere in the kitchen.

It's probably best to do the baking, while the children are doing something else.

Assuming not being able to drive at the moment doesn't mean you're confined to the house, you could maybe take them somewhere by train or bus? So many kids go everywhere by car these days that some of them find this quite an adventure (I'm told!).

One of the things we do with my three granddaughters is take them to one of the ceramics cafés, where they each choose a white pottery item then sit and paint it. Their pieces are then glazed and fired and ready for collection about a week later. It can be quite expensive. but at least there's something to show for it at the end.

any playgrounds nearby? its good to have somewhere else to go when you run out of ideas.
a bag of playmobil or other figures keeps them amused, they can lose themselves in an elaborate game without much input, let them use their imagination. A huge roll of cheap wall lining paper and some felt tips or paints, they can draw around each other and paint a big self portrait. Make paper bunting or cards for whoevers birthday is next.

If they can swim a bit or like water swimming can be great fun and it really tires them out.

Check out Mad Marc- Sublime Science. You may have seen all the Dragon's fighting over him on Dragon's Den a couple of years back.
He is a young man who wants to bring science to children in a really fun way- he has won so many awards it is impressive.
You can download some free experiments to do with your GC using stuff you have around the house.
We joined his club & have hundreds of experiments to try. My 6 GC (3-12 years old) love them- even the most simple ones - like making Slime (not as horrid as it sounds!) keep them amused for hours & they are earning at the same time. TBH I really enjoy doing them too!

Cover the table with a plastic sheet and try painting, card making, paper mache. Paints and card making equipment for children are quite cheap and paper mache only needs a flour and water paste and newspaper. I haven't had so much luck with outdoor games except for playing in the creek which seemed very popular back in the now distant (for us) summer.

My four year old GS loves to draw on the patio with chalk. He says it is a very big page! You can get pavement chalks for £1, so it's a cheap option.

Brilliant ideas here! I shall make a note of them for future reference, although I rarely have the DGC here for very long.

Regarding the tidying up thing, I stayed with my DD the other week, and she was battling to get the 4 & 8 year olds to tidy up their toys. I used one of those fidget-spinners, and devised different games, e.g. who could pick the most up by the time it stopped spinning/find all the cars/red toys/books.....etc. It worked, but I wonder if it's lasted!

Lots of outdoor messy craft activities (shaving foam, playdoh), finding everyday objects and making a picture with them, water play, bug hunt, walk to the park or local shops to get a treat, help prepare the meals and clear away, wash all the dolls' clothes, team games- sports and board, writing stories, dressing up, drawing natural objects, teach them a new skill, a local litter pick up (my granddaughter loves to do that and we talk about what we find and how rude people are to drop it!!), take the dog out, painting stones and doing a puppet shop etc.

Love all the ideas in this thread. I can vouch for the tent idea as a no fuss way of entertaining. If the weather is good, letting the kids loose in an oscillating garden sprayer is a great idea for this age.

Haven't read all the thread so sorry if someone has already suggested a sprinkler. Ours was £5 from Tesco - last Sunday our 4 GC spent a good 30 minutes just jumping in it or trying to dodge the spray. Our lawn is lovely and green in that patch where 8 little feet helped soak the water into the very dry grass.

NemosMum x-posts!!

My darling GD came to stay with us when she was around 4 years old and when I asked her what she would like to do she answered "decorate your Xmas tree". It was early November and I had no tree nor brought the decorations down from the loft yet. However she insisted we could decorate the wine rack so we did. We made all the decorations and by the time she went home it looked the best Xmas tree I have ever had. Just do what takes their fancy nothing is impossible with a little imagination LOL

All my GC have liked nothing more than a big box. GD1 used to make a house or a car when she could find a suitable box in my house. The ones domestic appliances come in are ideal. This would be a fine occupation if it's too wet/cold/windy to play outside.

Shysal, that's a great website. Thank you. I plan to make great use of it in a couple of weeks. Perhaps I'll have a trial run for my own entertainment as well as a boost for my confidence. Yippee!

What's the time Mr Wolf? and Grandmothers footsteps are fun and don't require any props.
If the worst comes to the worst you could resort to Dead Lions!