Emergency activities

[Triniity]

Hi, 

as I said in the other post, I am not very well at the moment, and my childcare did not work out too brilliantly. 

I am trying to find activities to do with my kids while I don´t have to move to much and they are happy. They are quite active and it´s difficult for me to keep them engaged with a quieter activity. Suggestions? 

[FarmerBeth]

I saw in your other post that TV doesn't help the behavior even if you were to ease up for the situation, and I believe you.  I had kids like that, and TV didn't slow down their activity any.  How about play dough with lots of "tools", cookie cutters, etc, to work with it at the table.  Also, building blocks, drawing materials kept out, and if they like reading, talking books.  This is the kind of stuff that worked for us when the third child was on the way.  You'll have to go by your kids' interests, but there's some ideas.

[childsplay]

You mentioned tv in your other post and I just wanted to throw this out, would your kids watch a nature documentary? I know with my kids and my daycare kids as soon as I put on Nova, Planet Earth, etc the whole house just stops, (but cartoons? forget it! The kids will be hovering around the ceiling they get so wired)

Nature docs are my secret weapon .

Also, do you have a fenced yard or a deck or a basement that they could run off some energy in? You could sit in a chair with a book while they run free (yet contained).

[crunchy_mommy]

Maybe some kind of structured energy release? Like.. set up an obstacle course in the living room, and you can lay on the couch and time them as they run through it? Or a physical activity cube or spider web walking -- depending how old they are, you can have them set it up themselves too, with just a little guidance. And sometimes I just sit on the couch or bed and give DS active tasks -- "Turn around 5 times, then crawl under the table," then he'll come back for another task. I also notice if we have music on DS is more likely to play by himself a bit.

[LaughingHyena]

One of the rain day activities my kids liked was dancing along to music CDs. Ones with action songs (head shoulder knees & toes etc) were great at keeping them moving. I could sit on the sofa and sing along. Now they are a little older (4 & 7) they like some of my excercise DVDs too.

Playdough has always been a good one here too.

I've also sent them on scavenger hunts round the house. Find a toy smaller than your hand, find 5 yellow things and so on. They love it but it does usually end up with a big pile of bits and pieces for me to put away again later.

They also like beanbags and pom poms. You can throw them into a basket, see how far you can walk balancing one on a spoon or your head.

[Triniity]

Hi,

thank you for your suggestions, I´ll try them all!

I will try out a documentary, I don´t have any at the moment, but am planning to send DH to the library next week to get a couple. They do watch tv, they just go totally mental afterwards. Like they watch 20 mins of tv and than they are like on speed or something, literally bouncing of the walls, screaming. So for 20 min quiet time you are paying BIG time. Therefor I think it´s not healthy for them, it does something to their brain ...

We have a yard (a rather big one as well :), about an acre) which is fenced (they are able to open the gates, but they are not that unbehaved, they know they have to stay put, if I tell them. I will try that, I will ask hubby to put a chair outside and will sit down with a blankie and maybe a cup of tea - that sounds quite nice, actually :)

Crunchymommy, the Activity cube is really cute! I love it, I´ll try that for sure! Maybe I find a couple of pictures of movements on the net, they are both not reading yet, or I just do the reading for them! and the spider web I like a lot to, we´ll try that

LaughingHyena (where did you get the name from?) - That sounds cool, I am not quite sure if the kids would not get into trouble with hunting around the house, like climbing on things to find something, kwIm? I´ll have a look into it, though.

I am defenitely going for the playdough, maybe I just buy a box of playdo fun, and let them play with it, a bit lazy, but hey, right?

Today my DH is with the kids, they are both sick now, with fever and colds, so that DOES help

[pianojazzgirl]

Make a box of fun stuff that is not just openly available to them.  It's like the bring-new-toys-for-the-airplane-ride trick.  Get dh to go out and get some cool stuff.  Activity books, craft supplies, toys, dress-up clothes, etc.  He could check out garage sales for good deals, or ask friends with older kids if they have any stuff they're looking to get rid of.  So in those moments when the kids start to get bored of their play and start to fight/bounce off the walls mama reaches into her magic box and pulls out an exciting new *whatever* to distract and occupy.

Or now might be the time to invest in some exciting new backyard toys.   Sometimes you can find really good deals on used swing sets or climbing frames with slides - that sort of thing (look on craigslist).  Or is there a tree dh can hang a swing from?  There are also those big bouncy balls (like an exercise ball) with handles that kids sit on and bounce around.  Sure helps get the beans out!

[amandaleigh37]

My kids are similar in age to yours and they love when I buy a bag of balloons for them to blow up and play with.... They let go and shoot them all over the house, then we tie a few and they bonk those around for a while... A lot of fun can be had and little work for mama.

If you allow screen time, the website poissonrouge.com has great "games" that are fun to play together with kids (and they're not annoying/loud/licensed characters).

Playing in the sink...

[crunchy_mommy]

Triniity, I just came across this & I thought of you! http://movingsmartblog.blogspot.com/2011/05/too-pregnant-to-play.html?spref=tw