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What can I do to entertain 2 kids?

12 replies

lucysmam · 14/09/2008 20:36

One is mine (19mo dd), the other is the 3yo son of a friend who I have said I will look after in the mornings before nursery, and drop off at nursery. They're sending brekky & dinner here for him & we have a routine for that sort of thing with our own lo so he'll have to fit in with that in that respect.

Trouble is, if I get out finger paints or something to cut n stick, is my lo a bit young for something like that?

& what sort of things do you do to keep 2 kids entertained so you can play on MN do stuff around the house like put washer on/wash pots/make beds/go to the loo or any other general normal day to day kinda stuff.

Sorry, bit long & probably makes no sense at all

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lucysmam · 14/09/2008 20:54

anyone any ideas at all?

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Portofino · 14/09/2008 21:00

I'd put Cbeebies on and hope for the best - but then I am crap

Some crayons and paper? Got any duplo or stuff like that? Finger paints is probably asking for trouble.

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mumblecrumble · 14/09/2008 21:11

play dough
baking
cooking their own lunch [decorating pizzas, stirring stuff etc]
playing with a shallow tray of water and blowing it through a straw.
Make a scrap book
make birthday/mothers day/xmas cards etc?

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MingMingtheWonderPet · 14/09/2008 21:18

How long will it be for, and from what time?

We don't normally do anything too creative / hands on until at least 10am. Befpre that we have breakfast, get dressed, bit of free play, maybe 1 programme on Cbeebies. Not sure how pre-active you need to be at that time!

Are you also having him after nursery? Could go for a wlak, feed ducks, go to playpark etc. Sticking good, play dough, etc.

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salsmum · 14/09/2008 21:18

get the 3 year old to count all the smily faces on MN....

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lucysmam · 14/09/2008 21:19

lmao Portofino, that's what I've done in the past n left them to their own devices but they must get bored of it & having the same toys out all the time. I have some other toys but try to rotate every few days or so so my lo doesn't get bored. Maybe I ought to rotate through the day so there's always something new.

Crayons are good, will root those and some big bits of paper out in the morning. Play d'oh is a fave here mumble but my lo tends to try and eat it unless you watch her like a hawk. Scrap book = glue = all over both kids I'd imagine. But that and the cards idea is a good one for the run up to xmas. As is baking. Have a huge plastic sheet they could mix stuff up on. No aprons though so that will have to wait until payday.

Water could be fun too, maybe I ought to plonk them in bathroom with a tub full of water & some stuff to pour it out of & swoosh about with. Bathroom's right next to kitchen so could keep a close eye while I do whatever in there

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lucysmam · 14/09/2008 21:22

pmsl salsmum, my lo counts to 3 better than he does. Would keep him busy though

MingMing, only having him before nursery, but the park's just around the corner from us and the nursery he'll be at so we could walk up there half hour before.

Didn't really think about not being too active in the morning n giving them time to wake up tbh, only really have an hour or so of 'entertaining' to do in that case.

Might have a wander in wilko's when in town next n see what not too messy bits I could find for that hour

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SuperBunny · 14/09/2008 21:25

Box of rice/ beans to play with - put cars in, fill little containers or whatever. Keeps DS amused for ages
Make a den
Music & dancing

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lucysmam · 14/09/2008 21:28

Make a den! what an idea, I used to do that when I was a kid! Dancing could be fun, I'm less co-ordinated than the two of them put together lol

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midnightexpress · 14/09/2008 21:38

I have a nearly 3 yo and a 19 mo and they manage to play together OK. Today we did:

Forest adventure playground, but they spent most of the their time there in rainsuits sploshing in puddles which is their absolute favourite activity of all (they're both boys btw). They are also inordinately fond of poking stones and twigs into drains , if you have a handy drain.

Washing-up (put down towels first). This lasted a good hour and they didn't push each other ONCE. I managed to make a whole apple and blackberry crumble and get it in the oven.

3 Hiding under blankets

4 Making an autumn picture. We went out for a walk along the street the other day to collect the leaves and then spent half an hour glueing and sticking today. Make sure they have one each though (I find this is true of most things, as sharing doesn't come easy yet).

Some chasing and twirling

Some playing with cars and trains

Some TV

I am not normally this good, but I spent yesterday at a spa and am feeling all glowing and motherly today as a result . Normal service will resume tomorrow.

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midnightexpress · 14/09/2008 21:40

Also, dancing is good. We also do 'copy me', where I do various types of walking (marching/flapping/jumping/galloping/walking-like-ds2-when-he-was-learning-to-walk etc) and they copy me, and then ds1 takes over and we all copy him.

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lucysmam · 15/09/2008 11:37

midnightexpress, brilliant thank-you. I have written everything down for future reference. They're watching Rory the Racing Car dvd for the fourth!!!!!!! time atm by request from the older one & playing with a blow up island thingy mil got from car boot for a quid.

They're not too bad about sharing, although they definately know what belongs to who . . .no danger of any of his toys getting mixed up with my lo's