Help! I need backyard activity ideas!

[Grace and Granola]

I have two boys 3 and 4. They are really pretty good at going off to play on their own either in the house or outside. I tend to move the day in cycles where they play for a while and then we come back together to eat or read and that just goes on through the day.

BUT, I have started babysitting. The 3yo little girl, I've had since February, and she plays with my boys, no problems. Now, I've got her 6yo sister. And boy, she is causing me some trouble. She is always bored. Always just hanging around wherever I am with a mopey look on her face like I am supposed to entertain her all day. She plays well with my 4yo, but gives the impression that she doesn't know what to do all day. I feel bad because she looks so sad, but I'm more irritated than anything. This drags my kids down and they've started copying this behavior. I am beyond annoyed. Getting her to play outside is like pulling teeth. She'll go out there for 10 minutes and then ask to come inside again and again. I realize that we have mostly boy toys so maybe that's what's missing. But all of the kids seem to struggle with what to do outside. We have a huge fenced yard, lots of balls, t-ball set, a sandbox with all kinds of stuff in it and a huge playground/swingset that they seem to never use!!! We bought a blow up pool but it got a hole in it right away, so we'll get another one, but what else can I get for them to spark outside ideas?

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It's hard with a six year old, they are easily bored. Then, when you find something that will work for a six year old, the younger kids trapse around the yard leaving all the peices spread around.

http://www.amazon.com/Sunflower-Hous.../dp/0761123865

But, if you can start a small sunflower garden in one area, maybe you can also add in some small toys. I have all girl daycare kids. Last year I bought a huge set of fairies, and trolls and Tinkerbell dolls at a garage sale. They are tiny. The girls will lie in the backyard in this one little dirt area that has a few small plants and set up these fairys all over the little area. They dig creeks and rivers, they use fish tank rocks to decorate the fairy houses, they made troll doors for the one tree that's in there. Sometimes I go out there later that night, and they have left the whole scene up for the next day. It keeps them busy for hours a day.

Now it's too hot to do it anymore.. so, it's all put away until next fall. But, they had a lot of good times with it. It was a small expense on my part. We also had some old GI Joes in the set for a while, but they seemed to have disappeared.

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Another thing we did was collect TONS of clear gallon water and milk jugs. Then I took the ball off the tether ball pole. We filled the jugs with colored water. Then placed them in a circle like a teepee. I strung colored string from each bottle to the top of the pole. Then the kids wove crepe paper in and out of the string and made a fort. The first rain makes the crepe paper disolve into a huge pile of mush.... but, we live in Phoenix where it never rains. It was so pretty for a few weeks. Then, the kids got to pour the water out into a water table and play with the different colors.

You can aslo buy clear rubbermade underbed storage containers. Walmart has clear plastic measuring cups. You can give them medicine droppers and a few pitchers of water and different jars of water with food coloring. They can experiment with mixing colors.

Corn starch mixed with water is very fun..... but, very messy. So, that would have to be on a day that you are getting the sprinklers or hose out.

[mamatoni]

Yesterday I gave my two a little bottle half full of water and a picture list of ingredients to make a "magic potion" They both LOVED it and it kept them going for a long time. I made the ingredients somewhat hard to find, but not so hard that they would get frustrated (3 dandelions ripped up, 1 pinch of dirt, 8 flowers from a thorn bush...that sort of thing).

I have a niece who is 6 and has a lot of younger boy cousins. She draws treasure maps for them and is the leader on a lot of their "adventures". A lot of the time though she really likes helping me do things more than playing outside with her cousins.

[Grace and Granola]

Originally Posted by mamatoni

Yesterday I gave my two a little bottle half full of water and a picture list of ingredients to make a "magic potion" They both LOVED it and it kept them going for a long time. I made the ingredients somewhat hard to find, but not so hard that they would get frustrated (3 dandelions ripped up, 1 pinch of dirt, 8 flowers from a thorn bush...that sort of thing).

I have a niece who is 6 and has a lot of younger boy cousins. She draws treasure maps for them and is the leader on a lot of their "adventures". A lot of the time though she really likes helping me do things more than playing outside with her cousins.

I could see all the kids liking that idea! What I've noticed is that none of these kids are really into playing pretend. Maybe I need to do something to spark that sort of creativity because then they could get wrapped up in it. I know my kids like to play pretend, but it's usually by some other kid's suggestion. Maybe some dress up things are in order....

[LynnS6]

You've got a hard age span because the play interests of the kids are a little different. The 3-4 year olds probably like pretend play, but aren't really able to organize complex pretend play with lots of people yet.

Things my 6 year old daughter likes are very often re-enacting things that she's experienced, like playing 'school' or playing 'house' or going 'camping'. Maybe you can set her up making a 'bug school' or whatever outside. Or set up a tent and have her organize the kids into a camping trip.

For my daughter and son when he was at that age, very often the preparations for the 'game' were as important as actually acting it out. So, finding things that require preparation she can do might help keep her occupied.

My dd also likes writing stories and acting things out. Could you help her make a few puppets and have her give puppet shows?

[Valval]

I'm caring for my own DD7, and then my daycare kids, girls, 4,5,6,6,and 7. There's some boys thrown into the mix, 2,4,5,8 also (not all at the same time)

The best thing in the world is 4 or 5 buckets of water. I got these nice flexible rubber ones that are easy to cary.
They use the sand toys, empty plastic bottles and containers, coconut shells, cooking utensils, sidewalk chalk, rocks, paint brushes, and whatever they find in yard. We play for 1.5 hours in the morning and then another 2 in the afternoon, and the water along with the other stuff in the yard keeps them very busy.
Of course, there being a bunch of other girls also tends to keep them busy, but, that's what I've got for you. At the end of the day, they use the bottles to run around and water the garden.
Do you think she may like worms and slugs? The 4 & 5 year old girls spend a ton of time searching for their "sluggies" and "wormies" and carrying them around in baskets before they let them loose. They keep trying to con the rest of us into believing they are cute.

Cicadas are coming back out also, it can be a lot of fun searching for the empties on the trees. Maybe she could make a roly poly playground?
She also might enjoy setting up obstacle courses for the younger kids.

ETA: The buckets are emptied before we go inside and I don't ever have children outside without my or my husbands being out there with them. I just realized it sounds bad to have a two year old wandering around buckets of water.

[Daffodil]

Water is a never-ending source of entertainment. A wading pool, sprinkler, or trickling hose is great, of course, and buckets of water are good, too. Painting with water is fun (even for a 6 year old), if you have a deck or garage door or paved area that can be painted. My kids have also enjoyed putting things into a bucket or bowl of water to see what dissolves and what doesn't. (Make sure you give them some stuff that will dissolve, like sugar and salt. If there's any old Halloween candy sitting around, that can be good to throw in.)

Other ideas:
Blowing bubbles
Paper airplanes (The 6 year old may want to learn to make them; they can all have fun throwing them.)
On windy days, give them something they can use as a sort of kite or parachute - plastic bags on strings, plastic streamers, whatever. It doesn't actually have to fly very well.
My kids love looking for insects and worms. You could give them butterfly nets to try to catch flying things, and you could get a couple of small containers to keep stuff in for a while after they catch it. My kids have also enjoyed swatting flies.

[Grace and Granola]

THANK YOU

So many great ideas! Looks like it's time to head out to the dollar store and the craft store


Oh--does anyone know if I let the kids paint on the driveway (light cement) with watercolors, will that wash off or stain? I suppose I could try a patch, but in case you all have experience

[LynnS6]

Originally Posted by Grace and Granola

THANK YOU

So many great ideas! Looks like it's time to head out to the dollar store and the craft store


Oh--does anyone know if I let the kids paint on the driveway (light cement) with watercolors, will that wash off or stain? I suppose I could try a patch, but in case you all have experience

Have them make their own paint -- give them some sidewalk chalk, they can grind it up, mix it with water and paint!

[mom2happy]

Rock painting keeps my kids busy for hours.

[Grace and Granola]

Originally Posted by LynnS6

Have them make their own paint -- give them some sidewalk chalk, they can grind it up, mix it with water and paint!

That's a great idea too. I think I've even seen recipes for sidewalk chalk paint using cornstarch or something.

And rock painting is great too! Now I just need to find some rocks....you'd think that would be easy, but actually don't have many That would be a good activity for dh to do with the boys at a park one day.

[momshelper]

Sensory/messy play is a great outside activity. Mix cornstarch with water and food colouring and squish hands into it, foot, finger and hand painting with a long roll of lining paper, water and pasta, shaving foam (sensitive skin) can be great fun, jello in a paddling pool with water guns to "wash" each other down. Using a clear plastic juice bottle to make a wormery can be fun, be sure to dismantle after a couple of weeks.