What do you do with your 4/5 year old daughters?

[Gilbot]

If you have a free day, or at weekends, what kind of things do you do with your 4/5 year old DDs?

Mine is still younger (only just 3) and I do sometimes find it hard to know what to do, as there’s still a lot of tantrums “not this playground mummy! This is the WRONG playground!”

We do a lot of things (swimming, parks, Forest school etc) but I feel like it’s basically just me making sure she doesn’t hurt herself. She’s a bolter so being out and about with her makes me anxious.

So looking forward to the future & wondering what you do with reception age?

Bake, make something crafty, go for a walk, watch a movie together, have a karaoke sing along to Disney songs, make hot chocolate, read a book together, play shops or whatever other game is fancies at that time.

We go to the playground with the sandpit and she makes sludgy messes while I normally freeze.

I do lots of pretend play. But swimming is a big hit as is toddler cinema and trip to
Forest / playgrounds usually works.

Don’t get huge amounts of alone time but with dd4, it’s jigsaws, baking or playing a game, reading books or playing hospital’s. Her sister dd5 it’s reading, drawing, or making necklaces with beads or her favourite is to cuddle and watch a film. I recently started c25k and she has coming along 3 mornings which has been lovely.

Nip the tantrums in the bud if she stamps her little feet with "wrong playground" my reply would be "fine we go home then" and you go back home and let her have sometime playing with her toys, whilst you chill with a coffee for a few minutes. I honestly did very little with DD, I did take her to the playground with water play once a week with a picnic, but like your Dd she was a bolter , every time she bolted it would be straight home, she did learn quite quickly that what mummy says go, give one warning then see it through, I had about two weeks of ear splitting shrieking, but after that it was easier she's older now and we do lots of lovely stuff together, but I'll be honest and say I'm relieved to have the early years behind me pssssst when she is older look at the America girl books great one called mom and me.

I haven't actually answered you question sometimes we'd head to the beach, look for sea glass and uninhabited shells to make stuff from them once home, she still loves making things from drift wood. Occasionally baked but not often as I couldn't stand the mess it created rainy days we'd make a camp in the living room for a picnic, but that was pretty much it.

When able to escape her two brothers and have time with me My 5 year old DD loves, baking, bike rides, 'girlie' shopping ( basically buying tat for her), Costa coffee dates, watching a film under a duvet, crafting, going to the park.
With all 3 children we do lots of cycling, walks in the woods/ in the local stream, park visits trying out lots of country parks in the surrounding areas, hours playing in the garden on the trampoline and mud kitchen, splash park, living room disco, den building...and many hours slumped in front of the TV too.