What are your 4 year olds up to in lockdown?

[sparklefarts]

I'm hitting a wall with mine.

He is just slopping around, wanting to watch tv or play games on my phone.

When we do get him to do stuff it all ends in tears and sulking.
The first week I thought it wasn't too bad, i don't know what to do with him now.

We're both working from home mon - Thursday but both our works are flexible and we are getting to take some time out of our days to go in the garden or go for a walk etc.

He will not play by himself. At all. Ever.

Whenever I try to get him to practice writing or maths or anything he just moans and rolls around.

We did a timetable for a couple of days and I have told him that next week we are starting it again properly and sticking to it

I just feel bad and rubbish, he's bored and fed up

How's everyone else's four years old?

He’s spending way too much time on the iPad.

I’m trying to get the older ones doing some schoolwork so he is definitely not doing as much as he should ☹️ We have done some baking though.

Dd is starting to get fed up.
The first 2 weeks were ok, now she is constantly moaning or crying🤣.
We now go for a sleep in the afternoon I know its probably the worst thing I could do.
DH and her have being spending time together in the garden. Most of the time she is on my tablet.

Yeah my 4.5 year old is the same. At nursery school she loves learning but not so much at home. She will participate in "fun" learning like easy board games and other phonics and maths games I've made and will do a bit of arts and crafts but not for long

In the morning he plays with toys and does some kind of drawing or dot to dots or whatever and some kind of exercise like Joe Wicks/Cosmic Yoga/dancing around.
After lunch we do some kind of craft/baking/playdough/science experiment/board game and a walk and playing in the garden with chalks, bubbles and general running about.after dinner he will either have 30 mins or so or an iPad or watching a programme.

If mine didn’t have his sister (who is not much older than him) to play with, I think he’d be a total nightmare. I feel for you. Mine loves looking for bugs and making homes for them. Other than that...”Please can I have the TV on???” Argh!

Same as everyone else - first couple of weeks were fine, then she got a bit emotional and struggling.
Past couple of days have been better.
Biggest hits have been:
Duplo/Lego
Train set
Play-doh
Teddy bears' picnic - made invitations etc too
TV
Books
Sticker books
Walks
Playing in garden so long she's practically feral
Board games
Drawing or colouring in
Baking

Thanks for the replies, it's made me feel a bit better knowing it's not just mine who wants tv constantly!

@ParkheadParadise I love the sound of an afternoon sleep !

Before we broke up for Easter my 4 year old dd did a maths and English lesson the same as her 7 year old brother. She’s not in school yet but really wants to do it so I’ve got her some exercise books and she does some work too (dh is a primary deputy head so has a good idea about what they do in reception). She’s still been doing her dance lessons, but via zoom and then playing in the garden or with toys, doing crafts or play doh etc. We’ve been out for a walk/scooter ride and FaceTimed grandparents everyday too. She does watch tv/play iPad but I try and limit it to late afternoon.

Its been really hard, he's mostly targeting the last shreds of my will to live and my remaining fuck to give. Now there are none (!) He's had more screen time than I would've previously allowed but in between times we've cooked (he made an apple crumble with assistance) done Lego, painted salt dough, I'm lucky he loves workbooks as he thinks they're grown up but he can't properly read yet so needs a lot of assistance with them.
I give him time on my laptop where he's doing simple mouse control games which helps with fine motor control and we practice writing a fair bit. I do dots and he goes over them, and we do really simple maths, 1+1, 3+2 etc etc
Sometimes i tell him I can count his bottom bounces (seat drop) on the trampoline from the kitchen and to see how many he can do! We also love watching tinga tales on you tube, I figure they are vaguely educational 🤷‍♀️

In the rare moments she’s not on the iPad we’ve been doing baking, sticker books, playing with cuddly toys, games like Hungry Hippos and Pop Up Pirate, running races outside, sunbathing on the patio, and some craft. Sounds like a lot, but believe me she is on the iPad/tv the majority of the time.

It was easier to stick to a vague routine when the school were setting work, but they’ve stopped for the holidays.

My 4 year old (pre schooler) was at home 2 days a week anyway so it doesn't feel that different for him right now I think... initially he asked a lot to see friends but that has stopped. Today we made dropscones for breakfast, then played Carcassone, he listened to an audiobook in his room for a bit, went on a dog walk, played with his 8 year old sister in the garden, did some marbling paper, decorated easter eggs while grandma read a story on zoom, listened to an audiobook in his room again & now it's telly time... That was a pretty average day really.

Get yourself a free subscription to Twinkl and download some of the resources/games. There's loads on there and it's in a format that kids are very used to. We carried on 'school' until yesterday in order to swerve the boredom and have done loads of maths, English etc work. I have successfully managed to convince her that this is just school at home and that she has to do it as she would at school. It's worked so far- she's enjoyed it, I've enjoyed it if truth be told. 'Term' starts again for us on Tuesday!

We're in Scotland, so although four he's not at school yet, is due to start in August.
He goes to a private nursery which is more relaxed and so isn't used to proper sitting and learning. Although he did used to like the wipe clean writing books etc, I just get moaned at when suggesting we do them now

I’m lucky that mine has a 3yo sister so they play together a lot. We often start the day with “happy tent tales” on CBeebies (tried cosmic yoga but the 3yo lost interest). Then attempt some reading and school work but often doesn’t go very well! She loves a craft so we’ve done painting, sand pictures, soft clay modelling, play dough, and making slime out of corn flour and washing up liquid (luckily we have a garden to do the really messy stuff in). Her ballet lesson has been on zoom. We made an assault course in the garden. Bubbles have kept them both occupied for a while. Also some afternoons I plonk them in the bath for as long as I can get away with.

Fill the sink with water and lots of toys to pour etc. That's what a keeping my 4 year old most occupied at the moment

Dd is 5 and keeping to a timetable is the only thing saving my sanity at the moment. Plenty of time for fun in there, but we both needed the structure. It means she can see when snacks/tv/ipad is allowed, so stopped her asking

He’s having far too much screen time and struggling to sleep . My 7yo has a lot of school work that he can’t do independently. The only way I can sit down and talk him through his homework is to let 4yo play iPad while I do this. He’s having 2-3 hours a day on screens at the moment. He’s so miserable and whingey even though we’re doing an hour walk or bike ride each day. He just needs so much more exercise and stimulation than he’s getting and I’m feeling so helpless about it.

@sparklefarts
Dd also starts school in August(fingers crossed)

It's taken a lot of explaining to help her understand why she can't go to the park/nursery/friends houses/shops/for a 'chino' but she sort of gets it now; keeps asking when everyone's going to get better

I've spent way too much money on magazines, toys and other bits to keep her entertained and I make sure we do an hour of something creative and an hour of something educational every day.
Her nursery gave us all a membership to EducationCity which has been handy.
Pinterest has loads of easy to make Easter craft ideas (things you don't need a million bits to make either.)

She is spending a lot of time watching TV/playing on her iPad though.

DS is only three and doesn't go to school, yet.
He usually plays in the garden for most of the day. He starts off by shouting "Hello!!" to the birds and wandering around making up songs. (I'm sure our neighbours love it....most of them are elderly ). He has a play area with a sandpit, mud kitchen and slide and can sometimes be convinced to just play there by himself for a little while. He also enjoys riding around the front with his balance bike. Yesterday, I put his goals up and he tried kicking a football into them for ages. I've also got the drawing paper roll from IKEA and just put it out and he's been drawing lots. We've painted Easter eggs and random stones. When we closed, I borrowed some gym equipment from school, which I can put up either in our conservatory or in the garden.
We have started going for a bike ride every day, which he loves. He's found an old digital camera and has spent the ride today taking pictures of everything.
He does miss his nursery friends, though, and keeps asking for them to come for a visit.

Teddy bear picnic kept them busy for ages
Riding her bike round the patio
We've been doing relay races in the garden putting balls in buckets
Also obstacle course in the garden involving jumping, hopping, dribbling a football round tinned tomatoes
Taking her big sister's game and doing everything in her power to ruin it
Tantrums about nothing
Baking
Leaving me to bake alone because she's lost interest
Typing on the laptop (she loves typing. No attempt at actual words but she is so amazed by it all appearing on the screen)
TV, current obsession is the cbeebies panto and ballet shows

Not much enthusiasm for any actual learning and I'm paranoid she's going to start Y1 miles behind