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?

Things we've been doing though;
Crafts
Chalks in the garden
Baking
Play-Doh
Lego/Stickle Bricks
Practicing writing her name
Doing lots of cutting and sticking (her nursery recommended trying to work of scissor skills)
Games (Pop Up Olaf, Crocodile Dentist, Peppa Pig Guess Who, Don't Step In It)
Colouring/Painting
I got her a paint your own playhouse from Home Bargains and (bonus) it took a few days to finish that!
EducationCity/Reading Eggs online
Video calls with her key worker/key group from nursery

We’ve had good days and bad days here but mostly bad on my part as finding it hard to stay motivated! Our lives are normally full of socialising and going out every day, so to be on week 4 of isolation is pretty draining. I think the best days are when I have a plan of what we are going to do, whether it be crafts, or baking etc and sticking to it. Just one activity seems to break up the day. I also look at the day in 3 stages, morning till lunch, lunch till dinner and then dinner till bed. That helps me plan what we are going to do and once I’ve passed a section it feels a bit better!!
Mines only just turned 4 but he has adjusted so well. He tells me that we are in because of Coronavirus, even knows the word Covid 19 now and knows we can’t go out to keep safe. He used to go to pre school twice a week and he hasn’t questioned anything at all which has been a help. I’ve actually found it easier to switch the telly off all day, and he’s never used a tablet so I don’t have that battle.
I’m 34 weeks pregnant so have spent a lot of time getting ready for baby and am actually cherishing the time left spent with my son before life becomes even crazier.

More movies than I would like
Board games
Jigsaws
Playing with dolls or tea set / toy kitchen
Books
Garden. Already had a swing, slide & bouncy castle. I've bought skipping ropes, garden games, even more bubble toys etc to make the garden more fun
Baking & cooking with me (stressful for me!)

Mine is just 5 and she constantly asks ‘what are we doing today, what are we doing next’ it’s exhausting. She’s extremely social and doesn’t want to ever play on her own for more than 1/2 hour so she’s always trying to rope me into role playing games that make me want to lose the will to live. As a consequence she is watching way too much TV and I feel guilty. We do other stuff too but it’s 13 hours a day to fill!!!

I love this!!! I've nothing to offer but I now know I'm getting through the day with my dd pretty much the same as all you!

My nearly 4 year old has struggled with lockdown but I think she’s getting back to her normal self. If she was on her own, she’d be easy as she loves baking and crafts but I’m finding it hard to give her the right attention with her baby sister being in the destroy everything phase of life. For me, the challenge is two of them with quite different needs.

I’m trying to look at the full week rather than individual days so it doesn’t matter if we have a few days where everyone just chills and no proper learning is done. I went a bit too hardcore in week 1 and that probably contributed to her being a bit miserable and me feeling stressed. The only thing that matters for me now is that each day has some reading and something active. I’m trying to make sure each week has a craft activity, baking, letters and numbers, turn-taking game, arty stuff, cut&stick and a more complex (50 piece plus) puzzle for concentration.

Week 1 she was very emotional and she lost all ability to play independently. She had to be surgically attached to me which is very unlike her. The last few days I think she’s returning to imaginative play and being able to do stuff alone.

My dd has just turned 5 , not in school yet. She will only watch TV if someone sits with her so dh and her watch a Disney movie at 5 every day. This for the record is not for want of trying I have no issue with screen time .
Other than that she talks all.day.long.
Wants to play mammies and daddies....paint, bake , play dough (stuff that makes s mess) torments the 1 year old, jumps off the window sill onto cushions or play board games that she generally cheats at and then storms off when you call her on it. She has painted all the fences with her dad and had way too many needless baths just to keep her in one place.
She's actually very funny and good company, but I'm feckin exhausted.

4.5 yr old...not in school yet so no need for much educational work but he will do some work because dsis is.

But mostly he is;
Playing in the garden- swing, slide, trampoline, playhouse etc digging with diggers, making mud pies.

Helping make dinner, baking, etc

Watching movies, and his fave programs

Playing games like uno, frustration, matching games, snakes and ladders etc

And also Annoying his dsis 🤣

We've got this book at home which has loads of ideas for small children.
books.google.com/books/about/The_Little_Book_of_Investigations.html?id=3QlADwAAQBAJ

The investigations are simple (e.g. investigate dissolving or mixing or bending things) and most use everyday household items. It is good fun and the children get really absorbed.

Also forgot play doh , kinetic sand and LEGO! He loves lego!!

He’s not doing to bad actually. Luckily he plays beautifully with his sibling so I’ve been leaving them to play if they’re engrossed. Then he’s been doing ‘work’ which is anything from those wipe clean books that they trace numbers/letters/shapes. To BBC bitesize games and reading eggs junior. We do baking, have painted stones. Lots of trampolining and chasing-hiding. He’s riding his balance bike on the lawn.

He knows what’s going on. Talks about Coronavirus but doesn’t seem scared by it. Basically his brother has completely saved the day by bring his buddy. Things would be very very different if he didn’t have another child to play with.

What board games?

Mine is watching numberblocks and other less educational shows etc

Playing in the garden with the cat

Going for daily walks

Lego

Den building

Baking

Jenga

F

verily1 mine likes Monopoly Deal, Uno, Carcassone (there’s a junior version but we have the normal one), Memory, Bird Bingo (we also have Dog and Bug Bingo), Orchard games like Shopping List, Tummyache, Scaredy-cat, simple card games like Beggar My Neighbour.

Two daily walks / scoots around the block.
Plays tag and bounces on the trampoline with his sister.
Swims in the spa pool.
Follows me around talking at me and bossing me around.
Does a lot of Starfall on the ipad.
Watches 2 hours a day of telly :/ :/ :/ :/
Has books read to him.
Kinetic sand.
Marble runs.
Makes 'mucky mixtures' out of mud and grass and stuff.
Scoots up and down the garden path.

Every activity (other than TV or ipad) lasts for about 20 minutes then he wants to do something else. He's quite relentless.

We are going into week 3 of lockdown here (NZ) and we are starting to run out of things to do.

We’re lucky as DS2 (4 a few weeks ago) has always been good at playing by himself. Lots of imagination play while we both try to work FT and home school DS1 (7). He loves Lego, Orchard Games are great (Pop to the Shops is a particular favourite). He’s been drawing pictures to send to Granny (DS1 is writing letters of a sort). Bouncing like a loon on the trampoline.

He doesn’t quite get time yet. So he is getting frustrated that he can’t go back to the childminder and preschool next week.

Last two days taking DSs out on their scooters has been successful (I have had to do a forced march to vaguely keep up).

Quiet time after lunch is an hour or so of TV and then they both play on the Switch with DH for half an hour or so in the evenings.

Mine is playing Lego, loving all the you tube videos for drawing, enjoys play dough, baking, does some reading,

I've had 2 hours playing bear family with my 3 year DD. I was big fat daddy bear, my DD was mummy bear and the chewbacca figurine was baby bear. It was hard work but I was very impressed by her imagination and story telling

My DD is 4.5 and we do:
Go out on scooter
Make cards and paintings for relatives ans post them
Cosmic kids yoga
C beebies games in ipad
Play in garden (water table, football, bubbles, plant seeds)
Online dancing for kids
Baking
Help with cooking
Making smoothies
Tons of play d’oh
Card games
Hungry hippos
Painting - colouring
“Helps” cleaning

Water stuff in garden keeps her entertained for a while.
IMO a lot of screen time makes them moodier and not motivated to do anything else.

He's played a lot with his older brother - if they're playing nicely I leave them to it - I've been pleasantly surprised by how much they're enjoying playing together and mostly not squabbling.

In the mornings his brother (7) does some school work and he does colouring/ cutting and sticking/ jigsaws/ Lego/ looking at books with me. Sometimes some counting or tracing (twinkl has been great).

Afternoons we go with the flow - garden, maybe some baking, iPad games, more playing with his brother.

After tea and bath I usually put on a film for them.

Seems similar to others. Ds4 is Hugh energy then so very tired, but watching tv a lot, today he had a mysterious yet v v v painful leg... which is intermittent. Eating like a horse. But so cuddly and then irritable. . He is also suffering with his suddenly obsessed 2yr old db. Who follows abs copies him all day which is tough.
Near tears or sad then v happy poor thing.
Trying to get 121 time with him which helps bit hard.
We both work at home Ft/ 4 days so he has loved this long weekend.

So basically he is getting big emotions but no outside world to distract him but coping ok nonetheless.