Please help me! I need to entertain seven eleven year olds for four hours tomorrow

[ShouldIgoornot123]

Don’t ask how I’ve ended up in this situation. It’s going to rain, I have a large kitchen table they can sit around or a tv but is there something creatvie someone can help me with? 😬😬😬😬

Get them baking or cooking a meal?

Break it up a bit - an hour or so of crafts/Xbox/disco/taking stupid videos of themselves (depending on what they’re into). Then feed them something and then stick a film on.

i have six 12 year olds for a sleepover on Saturday. Send thoughts and prayers.

Tip out the biggest lego box you have onto the kitchen and ask them to build a lego city.

Then for lunch/tea feed them something they need to assemble themselves like fajitas (will take more time)

Then they can have a movie with pop corn and hot chocolate.

That should take up 4 hours, good luck! :)

Bake and decorate biscuits
Board game competition with some prizes
Film with snacks and popcorn
Hair and makeup if they’re into that?
leave them to it?

One of them must have a PlayStation? 🤣

Get plain white t-shirts or canvas bags and some fabric pens. Beads and elastic for bracelet making.

Pizza.

Film with popcorn and pick n mix.

Paper mache
make up or hair tutorials
drawing
marshmellow tower challenge
collages out of old magazines
creative writing
singing contest
fashion show
a play or story time (for 11 year olds)
any local attractions that are free

Sounds like a movie night thing - they decorate paper bags to put popcorn in then make the popcorn, watch a film while eating the popcorn, then bung some pizza dough out, let them stretch it into a shape and top it. Eat pizza.

Buy some packet mix cupcakes and do a bake off type thing in the kitchen.

or make pizza

watch a movie and have popcorn, sweets etc

food - buy pizza bases and get them to add their own toppings. Ice creams and toppings bar. To be fair my 11 year old would just stick their coats on and muck around in the garden for a bit then hang out and play music and chat.

Watch a movie. Buy or make pizza bases and some passata, ready grated mozzarella, and a few toppings (sweetcorn, mushrooms, ham, sliced onions, olives, etc.) and get them to design their own pizzas - that’s lunch sorted. ‘Who can design the biggest tower?’ competition - a few packets of 30p spaghetti and a 4-5 bags of marshmallows. Have you got any board games? They could play in groups of 2-3 - Trivial Pursuit, Who Am I? They could design their own board game. Build a den in the living room. They’re getting close to the age when they can entertain themselves now so I’d be guided by them. Or put activities in a hat and they pick one.

I'd just leave them to it.

Maybe sort some pizzas/burgers or pasta or something for dinner. Make them set the table and clear up.

They'll get cooped up if they're indoors so I'd consider the park or a hike even if it is raining.

My 11 year would just want to hang out with her friends without grown ups around, so organised activities would not be cool and a big no!

Are they all already friends? If so then surely you don’t need to do anything, you just leave them to it? We used to have gangs of our friends round our house all the time and my parents never did any sort of organised play date type stuff especially not at this age. We just all played and did stuff together?

Its a different matter if they aren’t all familiar with one another in which case let them do some baking and watch a film. But again I wouldn’t be directing everything, try to leave them to it as much as possible.

Cross post with @ImthatBoleyngirl

I wouldn't really plan anything. Most 11 year olds I know are happy to talk to each other and make their own entertainment or are happy to read or be on their phones for a while so apart from feeding them and making sure they know they're welcome to use whatever, I'd just leave them to it.

Roughly -

Girls will just hang out, and do a bit of baking

Boys will game

Most 11 year olds will eat pizza

Marshmallow towers and pizza it is. Thank you so much!

I had 2 11 and 2 10 year olds for 6 hours today.

They spent most of the morning playing in their bedrooms / play room then invented some drawing game which they played for ages
They played on the piano for a bit (our play dates always play with the piano)

We have a very relaxed hour of lunch (I sent them out to pick their own tomatoe / cucumber / lettuce / peas / blueberries first)

followed by most of the afternoon on the trampoline, playing in the garden / climbing the trees.
They had ice lollys mid afternoon

Then juice and cake a bit later

No trouble at all and no screens or tech at all either.

I didnt do anything beyond provide food / drink at appropriate times, and they amused themselves