Fun babysitting activities?

Question

I am babysitting two girls ages 4 and 6. I am having trouble thinking of something fun to do. What are some fun things to do for kids their ages? We are not allowed to go outside, so indoor ideas!

Answer 1

Just go into the craft section of your local Walmart or Target and I'm sure you will find many ideas! A fun one (but a bit messy I'm afraid) that I like to do when I babysit is to buy those little clay figures that are just made out of white basic clay and hardened..Usually in the shape of a dog or cat or fish or some sort of animal..You can find them in the Kid's Crafts at any craft store or Walmart..and then buy those little set of 6 color paints that are all attatched together with plastic and let them paint the sculptures themselves and then leave them out to dry so at the end of the day they can put them in their rooms or wherever. Or give them to a parent as a gift if they please. It's cheap, fun for them, but, like I said, a bit messy. So be sure to lay a LOT of newspaper down to cover the entire table and have them put on a play shirt or tie a bib on them.

Another one kids seem to like to do is make special cards for their parents for when they get home as a surprise. So just get some construction paper, scissors, glue, glitter, markers, crayons (I'm sure they have most of that anyways besides maybe glitter and construction paper) and let them have at it. Maybe some fun stickers too. It will keep them preoccupied for a good 30 minutes because they want it to look good for their parents.

Or since they are both girls teach them how to braid by buying some colored strings and making bracelets out of them. Most girls love that sort of thing and will want to keep making them. The 4 year old might have a hard time making the braid though so you might have to give her extra help but the 6 year old should be fine.

Another good one for girls is painting fingernails and toenails. Just bring some of your brightly colored nail polish's over and paint their nails for them! It's so easy because their fingers and nails are so tiny it wont take you that long. But knowing little girls they will probably want multiple colors. Put on a movie or something while you're doing this so that the other girl isn't throwing tantrums while one girl is getting her nails painted.

Hope that helps!

Answer 2

Here are a few ideas:

1.  Coloring.  Not the "keep inside the lines" kind but the free form blank page kind where they can fully exersize their imaginations.  A few starter ideas might be to ask them to draw pictures of their favorite things, places, people/friends, activities, animals, etc.  Ask them to tell a story about their pictures.

2.  Girls this age love to play "dress-up" and pretend to be all kinds of people doing all kinds of things.  Avoid being too s*x-biased, girls and women nowadays are doing all sorts of things that used to be "boy things" like pilots, doctors, engineers, scientists, mechanics, etc.

3.  Simple puzzles with fewer than 15-20 pieces or so to match their abilities.  The pieces should be of a size that they can grasp and manipulate easily and the completed picture should be simple enough for them to be able to imagine how it will look when completed.  They could even make their own puzzles by cutting up one of the pictures they colored.

4.  Easy craft projects like using beads that are large enough to be easily grasped to make bracelets and necklaces for themselves and for their mom.

5.  Before nap time, read to them.  Books like "Charlotte's Web" are very good.  You might ask the librarian in charge of the children's section at the city library for suggestions.  Check them out, their free!  After nap-time they could draw pictures of the characters in the story.

All of these materials can be bought new for very little money at dollar stores or at garage sales for just a few cents.  Be sure to wash the garage sale items with a disinfectant before you let the young ladies play with them.

Finally, avoid relying on videos and T.V.  Give them a chance to use their own imaginations, not somebody else's.

Good luck and have fun!