Babysitters; how to entertain two active children....?

Question

I'm 16 and I babysit two kids, a 4-year-old girl and a 9 year-old boy...and I'm really running out of things to keep them busy for the time that I'm watching them (from morning to early afternoon.)

They can't go outside because of the hazardous ongoing construction and I realize they can't be entertained with television all the time.

Are there any fun, creative ways I can entertain these kids? They're very hands-on and both are very bright...I'm just not sure what to do to keep them busy during the day.

Thank you.

Answer 1

Make a little tent out of chairs and blankets and let them play in it. If this doesn't work, tell them that they can draw the most awsomest art ever. Get our crayons and glue and markers and everything else. Let them get a little messy, BUT PUT A NEWSPAPER ON THE WORK SURFACE!!!!

Answer 2

play card games do creative writing play educational games

Answer 3

Take them swimming or something.

Answer 4

take them out for walks or go to the park and play some ball with them :-)

its not healthy to stay indoors all day..children should be outdoors and active..i have four children..and live in an apartment and have no car during the day, my boyfriend takes it to work...we live next to a running trail..me and my older children put our roller blades on and I have a jogging stroller to put the babies in and we are gone most days..we pack lunches and go to the park and play ball or what ever else we want to do..

Answer 5

---Make them draw something

---Buy them some toys to play with

---Make them play video game

---Make them watch tv

---Teach them stuff that are  fun

---Go to www.activitytv.tv it will help you

Answer 6

You could try crafts! Painting with washable  paint of course is a great way to keep the mind stimulated. Around different holidays, little glue together projects are great too! This can be done for about 1-7 dollars per kid! Hope you have fun!

P.S. 4 year olds LOVE play-dough!

Answer 7

Make crafts with them.  Let them color or paint pictures.  Play board games with them.

Answer 8

well you can always put on a good movie or



Crafts



     Handprint Turkey

Materials Needed:

Drawing paper - 8 x 11 standard size works well

Crayons, washable paint, or washable markers

Paint brush if using washable paint

Wet washcloth to clean mess

Newspaper - to cover work surface



Procedure:                                          

This project can be messy, make sure to cover your work

area with newspaper or work outside.

If using crayons or washable markers, trace the child's

hand (make sure the child's fingers are spread apart).  

Using the crayons or markers, decorate the turkey.  

Make sure to give the turkey a beak, wattle, eyes, and legs.

If using washable paint, use a paint brush to paint the

child's palm.  Then paint each finger a different color.  

With the child's finger spread  apart make a handprint

on the paper.  Use paint or markers to give the turkey

a beak, wattle, eyes, and legs.





    Hidden Pictures    

Materials Needed:

Drawing paper - 8 x 11 standard size works well

Crayons - lots of them and especially black

Pencil, lollipop stick, or popsicle stick

Newspaper - to cover work surface

Procedure:                                          

This project can be messy, make sure to cover your work area with newspaper or work outside.

Use a fun array of brightly colored crayons to cover the entire paper.  Encourage the child to make the colors vibrant and to press fairly hard to give rich colors.

Now take a black crayon and color the ENTIRE colored piece of paper with the black crayon.  Make sure it is completely covered in black.

The magic begins - using the pencil, lollipop stick, or popsicle stick you can etch out a drawing from the now blackened paper.  The etching will cause the buried colors to magically appear.

  



  Crayon Rubbings      

Materials Needed:

White paper

Peeled crayons

Various objects - leaves, pine needles, shapes, sandpaper, coin, etc.

Procedure:

Peel the paper wrapper off several crayons.

Give each child a sheet of white paper.

Have various objects for the child to choose as a print.  (Leaves, shapes, sandpaper, feathers, etc.).  

Let the child select some of these objects and put them under the paper.            

The child then rubs with the side of the crayon onto the paper and the object shows through as a print.



Chalk and Wet Paper  

Materials Needed:  

Paper

Wet sponge

Chalk



Procedure:  

Each child should wet paper slightly with wrung out sponge.

Draw freely with colored chalk.  Show the children how to use side and ends of chalk.

Allow paper to dry.



Colored Play Dough  

Ingredients:

4 cups flour

1 cup salt

2 T cooking oil

1 to 1 1/2 cups cold water

food coloring

Mix flour, salt, oil.  Add food coloring to water.  Gradually add water to flour mixture.  Knead.  Store in a plastic bag in the refrigerator  

Oatmeal Play Dough

Ingredients:

1 part flour

1 part water

2 parts oatmeal

Mix all ingredients until smooth.  Knead.

(not-edible)  

No Cook Vinegar Dough

Ingredients:

3 cups flour

1 cup water (a bit more if necessary)

1 cup salt

1/4 cup oil

2 T vinegar  

  

Mix all ingredients together in a bowl.  If dough seems dry add more water a teaspoonful at a time.  Knead well.  

Playing with Play Dough

Keeping children busy indoors on rainy days can be a challenge for babysitters.  Playing with play dough is always a favorite activity and it's even educational!  Children enjoy pushing, rolling, squeezing, molding, and pounding gooey play dough.  Here are some play dough tips:

Allow the child to just play with it without necessarily making something.

Children enjoy making "play food" out of play dough, but be sure they really don't eat it!

Hard plastic toys, such as action figures and dinosaurs, are fun to hide in the play dough or to press to make an imprint.  Be sure the toys are at least as big as the child's fist.

Be creative, have fun, and those showers will be over before you know it.

  



Personalized Wrapping Paper

Supplies -  

roll of brown wrapping material (find at the post office,  moving company, or craft supply store)

sponges, paint, stencils

Project how to -

Some ideas:

sponge paint ABC's for a child's gift and tie ribbon!

attach autumn leaves and moss to the top of package for the nature lover and wrap with raffia!

stencil Christmas trees, ornaments, and stars for the holiday season!

Very simple:  Simply wrap the gift as you normally would and decorate.

You are only limited by your imagination!  Have fun!!



Yarn Octopus

Supplies - Two different colors of yarn, a small ball of cotton, glue, googly eyes, felt (optional), ruler, scissors, and glue.

Project how to -

1.  Cut twenty-four 12 inch long pieces of yarn (yarn color number 1).

2.  Lie the yarn on a flat surface so that it looks like the spokes of a wheel, and so that the yarn pieces intersect with each other in the center of the wheel.

3.  Put a small ball of cotton, a little bigger than the size of a ping-pong ball in the center of the wheel.

4.  Gather up the pieces of yarn around the cotton and tie them with a piece of an other color of yarn (yarn color number 2).

5.  Separate the yarn into groups of three, and braid them.  Tie each braid at the end with a piece of yarn color number 2.  You should then end up with 8 braids.

6.  Glue two googly eyes onto the yarn surrounding the ball of cotton.

7.  Use either yarn or felt to make a mouth for your octopus and glue it on.

8.  Now enjoy your yarn octopus!



Bookmarks

Supplies -

Clear Contact Paper

Old artwork or magazine pictures

Scissors

Ruler

Pencil

Project how to

Measure and make back of artwork into rectangle(s) of bookmark size. (1 1/2 inch by 5 inches is a good size.)

Cut out bookmark carefully.

Cut out 2 rectangles of Contact Paper for each bookmark that are 1/2 inch  wider and longer.  (2 inches by 5 1/2 inches)

Remove backing from one piece of Contact Paper and carefully center artwork rectangle on sticky side.  Press down.

Remove backing from the other piece of Contact Paper and carefully place on other side of artwork, making a sandwich.

Air bubbles can be smoothed out using the edge of the ruler.

If the edges of the Contact Paper are not even, they can be trimmed slightly after first drawing a new straight line as a guide.



                        or

Read a book to them

Answer 9

The four year should be very easy to enertain. I used to make cookies and let them help me make them and decorate. The little kids I let try to put some icing on them  and I would make  sure icing did make it on to the cookie and they could put watever they wanted on it. Its fun and you can even buy the coookie dough rolls.

Puzzles, Games,  indoor hide n seek, Treasure hunt, I spy, have them put on a talent show type thing (let them sing or dance or "be a puppy" (I asked a kid what he was going to do  and he said that) in the living room. You can make a fort out of sheets or blankets