Help my im babysitting 8 kids alone!!!

Question

ok so tonight im baby sitting 8 kids alone. 7 boys and 1 girl. i need fun activitys in the house to keep them busy but i cant think of any the kids ages are 2-10 i need something that is extreamley fun and not too messsey.

Answer 1

RUN!  Just kidding.  Rent a movie that they will all like and get some popcorn.  Arts and crafts are a little difficult because of the span of ages.  You can also do a show and tell type thing too.  Break the kids up in 2 groups and have them go get something that they would like to play show and tell with (to help you get to know their likes better).  This should take up an hour.  Or the easiest and a good way to tire them out Simon Says!  Act silly, jump up and down, make faces.  THEN watch the movie!  Good luck.

Answer 2

act like you want the big kids to help out, movie is a great idea! hide and seek, make everyone partner up with a lil one and you take the smallest on you team! make the older ones know you like them and count on them and you should be gold!  be possitive and really happy

Answer 3

Get one of your friends to help you, 8 kids alone is too much!

Well you should rent a movie

play video games togeather

get a fn board game (family feud..)

Tell funny stories

Play outside

Find an outside activity to do (baseball,...)

Let them play alone for awhile

Do what they want to do for awhile

Answer 4

FIRST OFF, make good terms with the older children, so they

might help you out sometimes, saying who can't have what,

when each person goes to bed, normal ruteins they follow at

there house-hold. If they like you, it'll be easier. Some game suggestions now :::

Hide-n-seek! Put the older children partnered with the younger

children, and you take the youngest.

try doing art projects maybe - younger children always love drawing, &

painting (although that would be messy, I think they'd enjoy that).

Maybe play dough if they're the really creative type of children...

If not, then maybe pick out a movie.. let them help you make snacks

and let THEM pick the movie.. but run it like a democracy.. the

majority voted for movie will be the one they should watch.. but make

it a very equal movie... not something just the guys will like, so pick

out 5+ movies that both boys and girls can enjoy, so the girl doesn't

feel left out or overpowered by having 7 boys and just her.

Maybe if your making dinner for them too, and if your allowed to use

the oven, have them make there own pizzas maybe?? And for the

younger ones, maybe make them something softer so THEY can

enjoy dinner time too.

If you have some large cardboard boxes handy with you, bring those

and allow them to make a fort and let them decorate it with blankets,

stuffed animals, pillows and stuff. Cut windows and stuff so they

can breathe though! Try and tape the boxes together and make it a

cool little fort where they can all sit and hang out.

More physical activies; dancing around the house.. if they have a CD

player, a radio or something that plays music that they enjoy and

can listen too, play it and let them dance for a while. Around there

age, dancing was always fun... and it was healthy.

Maybe puzzles? If they have the patience too, and it's a good challenge

for them to figure out.

A building block challenge! Put the kids on a few teams maybe? And

have a race to see who can build the tallest tower or who can build

there 'castle' (or whatever they want to call it) the fastest using ALL

the blocks there team got.

Have a scavenger hunt! Hide some stuff around the house, make a list of everything you hid, put them in teams (maybe 2 teams of 4 or 4 teams of 2, depending on how many items you hide), and let them try

to find it, but make sure they don't make a mess trying to find the stuff

so make it fairly easy, especially so the two year old can get involved!

Maybe before they go to bed, a whinding down activity, once there

all in there PJ's, make up your own story with them! You start it off,

then each child gets 3 minutes or a few lines and you go around

allowing each child to add details, and keep it going until they decide

they want to finish! Very interactive 'reading' if you will.

Answer 5

1) watch a clean video together

2) make popcorn together

3) play Simon Says....

4) try a three-legged race

5) bring your digital camera and take pictures of them running

6) blow soap bubbles outside

7) bring books to read to the little ones or find out what the mom has

8) make sure you know what time who goes to bed

9) make friends with the oldest.  He or she will help you know the routine they usually follow at night.

10) You could make pizza together by getting a Chef Boyardee pizza mix and bringing cheese and tomato sauce.  

Answer 6

First off, remember that you are a babysitter, not a paid entertainer.    It's great to help the kids stay busy, but most of these kids are of an age that they know how to stay busy, and generally 8 kids do a pretty good job of finding things to do.  If you just set some boundaries, they'll stay busy.   They already have games that they like to play.  The younger ones should be going to bed early.  

So, fun activities...

After dark, go out in the back yard and look at stars or watch for critters.   If you can find some cheap flourescent lightsticks at the dollar store, that will add to the fun.

A picnic or tea party, or popcorn and a movie are old favorites.

You can encourage them to put on a fashion show or parade.  They dress up, play their favorite music and appear one by one, or march in parade across the room.

A spa night can be fun, especially for girls.  Soak feet in a tub in some warm scented water.  Put on a clay face mask, followed by some scented lotion.   Polish nails.  Girls of all ages LOVE this.  The older ones will do each other if you just supervise.

If there's a computer, the older kids would probably like to log on to some of the better kid sites.

If they have blocks or some kind of building materials or barbies or other toys that inspire the imagination, this is a good time to pull them out.  With this many kids, each kid will get ideas from what the others are doing.   As far as messes are concerned, just tell the kids about the next activity you'll be doing together, and say it will start as soon as they have picked up.

With my kids, the older ones do well "directing" the younger ones in fashion shows or parades, or pretending to be schoolteachers and students, etc.  You might be able to talk the boys into pretending they are in the army, and get them to do a bunch of jumping jacks, situps and pushups and wear themselves out!   They can take turns being the Sargeant.  By the way, this is a good way to maintain discipline.  Make a joke about your being a grumpy sargeant, and whenever they're not minding, tell them to drop and give you 10 or 20.

You can show them some simple paperfolding, like paper airplanes and finger puppets.

Older girls (5 and up)  like sewing.  If you just give them a paper towel, and a  needle and brightly colored thread, show them two stitches and let them take it from there.

You can bring some refrigerator sugar cookies, and a can of icing and sprinkles, and let the kids help bake some cookies.  If you use plenty of aluminum foil, it's not too much mess.  Each kid can ice and decorate 1 or 2.

As far as mess goes, tell them very firmly to clean up all their mess around 8 pm, get their jammies on and brush teeth.  Promise some treat afterwards, like movie and popcorn to get them moving.  By 9pm, they should have pallets, blankets and whatever ready to lie down and watch a movie.   Turn off every light that you can.  Really, you can turn them all off.  The TV puts out a lot of light.  They should have a choice of lying down and watching a movie, or going straight to bed.   Having the lights off gives a biological signal to the body that it is time to sleep, and it gives a little more drama to the movie experience.   You don't want to wait too late to settle them down, or they'll get hyper and start having breakdowns.  The little one ought to be asleep by now, of course.   If they start trying to get up and run around again, then turn off the TV, leave the lights off, and tell them it's bedtime.

The best advice I can offer is to "just say no" next time someone asks you to babysit 8 kids alone.  Even the professionals are limited by the state to watching no more than 6.  You qualify for the Super Babysitter award for this one.

Best of luck!!!

Answer 7

Is there anyway you can get help from a friend? 8 kids at one time is A LOT for one babysitter. I'm surprised the parents didn't hire at least 2 in the first place.