Play date with no toys

[SnailPorridge]

Help! My DD has v few toys. We mostly go out or draw or read books. We occasionally watch telly.
This week we have three play dates at our house which is also very small and has a tiny very muddy garden.
What am I going to do? Visiting children always get bored and the whole thing is a nightmare.
What would you do? Any games I can make? She's 3 but her friends are 4-5.

[Friolero]

Bake cupcakes for them to decorate?

[Friolero]

Or games like hide and seek that don't need any stuff?

[sooperdooper]

Craft activity?

[AuntLydia]

Why so many playdates when it sounds like something that doesn't work for you? Are they with their parents or on their own? Maybe you could take the kids out if on their own or arrange to meet somewhere else?

[shouldwestayorshouldwego]

Go to park? Decorate biscuits/cupcakes/meringue. Add pizza toppings. Get them to play hairdresser (no scissors).

[notafish]

Make some play dough? Put some music on? Decorate biscuits?

[shouldwestayorshouldwego]

Drawing/painting.

[JigglyTuff]

I'd make and paint dough Xmas decorations or make slime.

[Isadora2007]

Are they coming with parents? If so then buy in some playdoh and cutters. Or often kids love a laundry basket, blankets and accessories to have some imaginative play.
I do feel a bit sorry for your child actually having no toys? Even just some duplo or wooden blocks and some small world figures would surely be played with? I can't fathom a child getting to that age with no toys... 😔

[BertrandRussell]

Why doesn't the poor child have any toys? No puzzles or play figures or Lego? No dressing up stuff?

[SnailPorridge]

We can't never be the ones to have people over and if we go to theirs they have to come here sometimes. Isadora we do have some toys, just not many. We don't have any family and money is tight. The friends are older so have slightly different things as well. Thanks for all the ideas everyone.

[AuntLydia]

She doesn't say no toys, she says very few toys. She also says her house is small which explains the lack of toys really doesn't it?

[laketaupo]

Maybe get the garden sorted out as a permanent measure , both for your DC and any little visitors.

[AuntLydia]

OK, I second the making playdoh. You could even make salt dough - there's a recipe you can cook in the microwave. This really extends it as an activity because they can paint the finished product. We did this with leaf prints recently. Also second the food related activities - making their lunch/tea will eat into some time. Could you make the muddy garden a 'thing' too? Get them to bring old clothes and wellies. I made a mud kitchen with an old plank of wood on some bricks and some old pots and pans!

[SnailPorridge]

I'm feeling really sorry for my DD too. I did anyway but seeing responses has highlighted it. It is her birthday at the beginning of Nov so I suppose maybe that's part of it. Christmas and birthday are close together so we don't have toys for her age by this point in the year.

[shouldwestayorshouldwego]

We have quite a small house compared to many of their friends, but children mainly love coming over and decorating pizzas/cupcakes/ painting etc. It is more interactive than 'go to the bedroom and play for two hours'. You could also make sensory jars. Only two children have ever commented, so we didn't inflict a return invite on them 😁😁.

[AuntLydia]

Snail, there is no need to feel sorry for your daughter because she doesn't have tons of 'stuff'. In my experience as a mum of 3 and childminder, kids don't actually play with loads of toys anyway - they do indeed prefer things like drawing, stories and being out and about. Paper and books are my most used resources. She is also lucky enough to have lots of friends to play with.

[Needalifeoverhaul]

Children don't need hoards of toys to those feeling.sorry for OPs DD! They have brilliant imaginations and can turn a cardboard box into a fun game. Role play is always a good one...playing schools/ kings and queens etc. Junk modelling, drawing, cutting pics out of old magazines and making a collage. An old sheet and chairs to make a den where they can have a picnic maybe.

[opheliacat]

Some toys are stupidly expensive but there are very cheap ones from charity shops and car boot sales.

[Needalifeoverhaul]

Second Auntlydias post OP! This with bells on

[Fekko]

Paper and crayons, haloweent lit type things from the peons shop - have a crafty play date! Make some haloweeny biscuits too - I'd come to that!

[crimsonlake]

I will second that, when my children were little I used to scour car boots and charity shops for toys, also book sales in libraries. Plenty of great toys and little ones will never know or care where they come from, then pass them on again when they are finished with.

[Ttbb]

I agree with what has been said above. Prepare an activity. Lay down is good because there is not too much mess. But you could always do sonething crafty. Do you have any large cardboard boxes? You could give them some coloured paper and glue and get them to turn it into a play house andthen they can play in it. If you haven't got one you could try freecycle or your local Facebook swap/sell page.

[Bintang]

Have you any scraps of fabric for "dressing up" or "putting on a play"? My DC would love wafty material when they were small- could be a princess, a hero cape, a king, anything. More bodies = more imagination games.
Or make pizzas with them.
If it's not raining, allow them to "paint" your fence with brushes and water.

[lightcola]

I rarely buy my children new toys as they are expensive. Buy, swap, sell sites on social media are great for bargains. We also don't have much space so if after a few weeks I notice something isn't being played with I either sell it on again for a couple of quid or give it to a charity shop. Being surrounded by plastic tat does make your child happy.