CM Club - ok lovely people, ideas please for "what can we make NOW"

[Saltire]

9 year old mindee. Constantly "what can we make now". So far this week there's been a castle made out of cardboard and miles of sellotape, 2 dragons,a house a rocket and a mask.

He doesn't want to play games, read, play with any of the toys I have, colour or do any crafty things that I suggest. So please, suggestions for easy to make things which take hours for him, but which can also be doen while supervising 2 6year olds who don't want to "make"
I have to be constantly thinking things to do, his parents said they need to be thinking 5 or 6 activities in ront for him

Make him think of his own things to make!

I do try but he comes out with the most elaborate ideas

Pokemon monsters anyone!!!

his own playdough and then make a town/castle/shop out of it? I spent hours covering the table with playdough creations at that age

or, if he wants to keep it, salt dough to model the above. Suggest something with lots of bits ie a town or shop, then when it is baked he can also paint it?

therefore the thing can take several days to make, then bake, paint, add detail in paint, and then varnish?

I meant to add (sorry) that I have him for 30 minutes in morning before we have to leave for school, and 30-40 minutes rom us getting home froms chool to him being picked up

so salt dough could be an ongoing project then?

I agree with giving him a big pile of playdoh and letting him get on with it! Given that you only have him for an hour a day I don't think you need to provide craft activities.

A tray of shaving foam?

I would worry about a 9 yr old who can't entertain himself for half hour at a time.

lego
knex
junior meccano
Paper Mache google how to do it if you dont know ( I did not )

Blindly I agree with nicknack - I have 2 x 9 year old for 30mins in the morning and they're very happy to have some toast, sit & chat or do last minute homework & it's never even crossed my mind to start any major activity for such a short period of time. I really don't think you/he should be making such a fuss (& no doubt mess) especially at this age for this amount of time.

Eta - if you really do need something, I'd get a big, very tricky puzzle & a sheet of mdf or board & slide it under the sofa so he can access it & work on it each day without pestering you for ideas.

Blimey not blindly

Thanks everyone. I don't actually mind if they don't want to start doing organised activities. I have a wide choice of things for the mindees to do. I ahve paper and card in assorted colours and sizes, pens crayons glue foam shapes ld cards gummed paper etc. Theres books,jigsaws,dominoes,board gamses,then I ahve lots of toys too - playmobil, farm and zoo animlas, dinosaurs,lego, house toys cars etc.

So plenty of choice.
But not for him. and to be honest he wears me down with his constant "what can we make now" comments.

I have 2 other before and after school mindees. His sibling and another child, both of whom are 5/6. They tend to play more, and will get the toys out and make dens and play houses and with the playmobil etc, while older one is "I'm bored what can we make now"

I think I'd say breezily "we're not making anything this morning/afternoon, there's X,Y and Z to play with so you can choose one of those" and repeat as infinitum. I have a 7yo mindee, and I expect him to entertain himself for half an hour - and he does - as I have two smaller children to look after too or tea to cook. He likes to play with Lego and busied himself with that for an hour last night.

Yes, as a childminder you should facilitate and encourage creative play but doesn't mean you should have to provide craft workshops on a daily basis

The ideal scenario would be to get him planning & constructing as independently as possible. You say he comes up with elaborate ideas- so encourage him to think about the tools & resources he needs. Use open ended questions to encourage:

• what could you use for that?
• I'm not sure, where could we look to find out? Who could tell us or show us?
• Are there any different ways of doing that?

Write lists, look through catalogues to find the items, find out how much each thing costs. Estimate how long each project might take, look at calendars & diaries to plan the best date to start. (Presumable he has the base literacy & math skills to do this independently.) Introduce tools such as calculators or perhaps he would prefer to type up a list.

*Get him a workbook to make notes, plans shopping lists.

• Research techniques for building/joining/constructing www.instructables.com/ is a good one.
• Write all the resources you have already & a wishlist. Items such as mymakedo.com/ encourage plenty of open ended exploration. Do you have a digital camera? Would he like to take pics of his projects, print & make a book of all the things he makes?
• Trips to the library for instruction books, craft idea or inspiration.
• Once he has made something- ask him are you happy with it as it is? Did it turn out how you planned or do you have more ideas? Does it need painting or adapting?
• Other construction materials- carpentry set, hot glue gun (low temp) meccano, lego.

I have some large construction called cranium (I think) its long foam tubes, connectors & fabric sheets. We've made cars, boats, castles the kids love it & it's fairly simple to use

www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B000NVNG8Y. Link to it on amazon although currently I available

teacher all those are great techniques/approaches, but not for two half-hour slots a day!

Salt dough, then he can make them, bake them and paint them. 3 activities in 1!!

Ongoing project... Play theatre! That's what I am doing with the ones I have for an hour, so half hour of craft while I cook and a little bit after dinner. I broke it down...

Assemble box
Paint box
Cut out front and gaps at sides
Fine detail on outside
Decorate inside
Name theatre and make a sign
Write a play
Make puppets
Rehearse show
Put show on for parents!!

Also, it can tie into a theme eg ours was initially for Chinese New Year
Rehearsal

Wow teacherlikesapples, what brilliant ideas! I have been known to give kids a packet of paper plates and challenge them to invent something, we had cars, monsters and hats. Have also done this with packets of glo sticks and then they took their creations outside in the dark and took photos. My 9 yr old mindees are working through the brownie badge book, don't know how brown owl is keeping up with supplying the badges (or mums having to sew them onto uniforms). I'm not sure what the boy equivalent is - do scouts have a badge book?

origami - there is so much online that you can look at - he can chose what to do and watch how to do it then create it himself :)

Well everyone I tried some of the advice given on my thread.

i got him a note pad,a nd suggsted that he think of things to make, then got him to google, and write down what he needed. But FGS some of the thing he wants to make
" a lifesize motorbike"
" a working racing car"
" a tiger from cardboard boxes and tubes (not a drawn tiger)

Then he decideds he can't think of anything, and wants me to think of something.
So I say "well how aobut we don't make anything today theres lot of toys/craft stuff that you could use at home"
"NO I want to make a model, what can I amke, how about a tiger can we make a tiger, why can't we make a tiger, I don't want to goolge i want you to help me please try to find it and on and on and on".

I also tried some of the suggestions teacherslikeapples listed and i' snot worked. In all honesty he is wearing me down. I have his sibling who, the parents keep saying, is wild/naughty but he's fab with me, whereas the brotehr is jsut really intense and, quite frankly, bloody ahrd work for the hour that he is actually in my house.

Meant to say we tried orgimai too but he got bored!
Also I got lego and knex but he doesn't want the lego as he wants to play with DSes Hobbit and Harry Potter lego

can you ask him to bring something from home? something that he has been waiting to do?

get him Jigsaws! with lots of peices. Use one of those transferable boards to keep it under control. If you wanted to be really sneaky, you could sort out the corner peices (say 50) that you KNOW go together and say... i'm having a spot of bother with this corner can you help?

it could be a huge family one that everyone has a go at, so it could be quite challenging... put a few pwiece in every day?

Maybe you need to have a chat with his parents on how to tackle this. He ought to be able to think independently of things to do, especially for such a short time.
The older children I look after, in that kind of time frame would typically colour/draw, do some hama bead'ing, make a bracelet/badge making kit type thing, play doh, read a book, play cards, play a board game or do a puzzle.

Why not have a mantra in your head to stop him wearing you down - "not today, why don't you get on with x,y,z, now off you go".