Outside babysitting activities?

Question

7yr old and 3 yr old

I feel guilty putting the kids in front of the tv so I want to find some stuff for them to do. I would like to plan a treasure hunt, but I really don't have any ideas of what they could look for. Both are girls. Help please?

Answer 1

They could look for long lost jewels of a queen or princess. You could plant some of their kiddie jewelery or some fake cheap one in sand and tell them to look for it. Or plain old hide-and-seek is good enough. hope I helped.

Answer 2

They could go on a nature walk and look for pinecones, leaves, sticks, animal tracks, rocks, etc.  For the three year old, draw or print from the internet pictures of her "list" and staple it to a paper grocery bag...she can put her items in the bag as she finds them.  For the seven year old, you can make it a little tougher by getting more specific...instead of a stick, you could say a stick that's exactly the length of your foot, instead of a rock say an egg shaped rock or a rock with veins in it.  Tecnically these are scavenger hunts.

I like to do races with my kids.  First it's a running race, then it's a walking backwards race, then it's a twirling race, then hopping on one foot, etc.

Create a small area for a "stage" where they could put on a ballet recital and you could be the audience, or play some fun kid dance tunes and let them dance on stage.

Pick up a refrigerator box at an appliance store (for free) and let them paint it like a house or a fort, then they can play in it until it falls apart (then you can recycle it).

Make nature art--you need paper, glue and nature finds like small rocks, leaves, sand, etc.  The kids make designs with the glue then dust their papers with sand, after it dries shake the excess off.  Or with the glue make the letter L out of leaves or a big grass G.

Make stilts out of tin cans (like soup cans) and twine.

Play leap frog.

Play hide and seek.

Play tag.

have a water balloon fight or squirt gun war.

Play follow the leader.

Play hopscotch.