Bored 5 yo - any ideas anyone?

[SpeckledHen]

'I'm bored mummy' is a constant refrain. She has lots of toys, tv, boooks, playdough, colouring, a den under the stairs, a 2.5 yo sister and a 6 mth old brother. We do cooking sometimes. We go to park and swimming and library and town etc Any ideas what else I can do. Or is boredom good for them as some experts say? She is at school at the mo. I only have limited time and hands as I have the other 2 kiddies.

anyone???

I get this all the time from my nearly six-year-old ('What can I do?' 'What can I do?'). Amazingly, asking him to help out with chores can sometimes excite him - like unloading the washing machine, or setting the table. At other times this just reminds him that he'd rather be playing with his toys or watching a video, so it can work that way too. Wouldn't it be great if we could just send them out to play like we did as kids?

The cbeebies website is quite good for killing time...
Don't know how much space you have, but I also keep a 'ton' of stickers, for making pictures, and lots of boxes/packing etc for making robots, spaceships and so on (you need to get a sellotape dispenser though, so she can do the sticking herself). DS once made an obstacle course for the hamster this way (then made her 'play' in it till i rescued her, poor beast).
What about making a list of things she has to find around the house - something triangular, something red, soemthing beginning with p. We used this at christmas with visiting relatives.

ooh yes. Like the idea of sellotape dispenser. I am always getting asked for bits of sellotape.

Look at this was thinking of making beaded curtain for her under stairs play area. Am answering my own post!!

and we keep cardboard amd bottles for recycling ....

Ooh, that's cool. Actually, that reminds me - making bracelets and necklaces out of big pony beads and string also goes down well too, even for a boy. Not so great when i have to wear them, but hey...

A treasure hunt goes down well, here; and it has the added bonus of reading practise.

I cut out loads of pieces of cardboard, and write simple clues such as "look under the blue door mat". As their reading progresses, the words get harder - "look in your dressing gown pocket".

It's amazing how well DS can read when he wants to!

what are pony beads?

well, why not start sending them out to play? maybe to post a letter (to themselves? a cousin? maybe even a penpal - they could at least draw pictures for them - try googling for reputable penpal organisations). We're lucky to have a postbox at the end of the road with no roads to cross/which I can see from the door, so I can send my 4-year-old to it on his scooter. If there's no postbox within reach, are there any friends she can start writing to who live somewhere she doesn't have to cross a road to get to?

i think suggesting chores she can do is a good one - either she enjoys it or she suddenly realises that being bored is not so bad!

Pony beads = big round beads with big holes in them. Easy to string.

choosy, I do send my DS out to play sometimes, but when other little ones aren't around to play with, it's not much fun. He goes down the road to a friend's house, and can play on a grassy area near our house, but I do feel uneasy about cars, even though we live in a cul-de-sac.

I remember a whole gang of us, aged from 3 to 11, playing out all day long as a child (1970s). That's what I was bemoaning the loss of I suppose.

sorry i have been upset with myself about my previous post which i think came across as terribly sanctimonious. i used to have a rule about not posting on threads about children older than ds, as really, what does anyone know until they get to that stage. i have now reinstated this rule. ds is pretty rubbish at entertaining himself anyway, don't know why i thought i could comment. best wishes.