I'm going to try to ' virtually' babysit my grandaughter.

[Shosha1]

My DDIL will be working from home and 3 year old DGD will be off nursery next week. Have come up with the idea, when DDIL needs to take calls or cant be distracted , to facetime DGD.
I'm going to set up laptop to do it. She has a tablet.
Have thought if reading books that I have here for her and singing.
What else could I do to keep her entertained?

This is so lovely op

That's really lovely OP, good luck!

Act out a tea party together if you both one up

She does love to dress up, so maybe we could play that together. Has thought that DDIL could maybe set the kitchen table up with a box of playdough and her colouring things, and just put the tablet so we can just talk ( she does love to talk).

This is fab. I’m going to suggest it to my in-laws who will miss my 3 year old massively and if it works, this would help me get some work done.

This is lovely. Good luck. My 3yo regularly talks to GP via FT and he’s delighted to get the attention, he will make them cups of tea, draw pictures etc. I’d get some play dough, arts and craft bits so that you can do the activity together-each showing the other what you’ve done. You might manage games like ‘guess who’ as well-dressing up sounds fun, getting her to do a play/show for you. You could exercise together, watch the same tv show together...

Act you out a play/show and sing to you etc. If she's got an aquadraw or megasketch or anything like that she can use mess free, get her to draw things for you.

I will miss DGD, I usually see her weekly, as we live an hour away. And she stays over fairly regularly.

I'm in the high risk category for health and age, so might well be stuck here for ages.
DH is a truck driver so is working stupid hours, then coming in showering eating and falling into bed ( in the spare room). So I am alone most of the time. So the contact will be lovely for both of us.

If you are able to pick up something like play doh from a supermarket and you DGD has some, you could challenge one another to copy what each of you are making.

Or challenge one another to draw certain things.

Lovely idea. My mum reads stories over skype to my niece (2.5) and plays scrabble online with my two (8 and 10).

That’s a brilliant idea.

Meals together would help older people and their grandchildren too - same principle- you set your respective tables with dinners and FaceTime propped up on a tablet and eat ‘together’.

Lovely idea. We have duplicate copies of some books so grandparents can read to DS over Skype whilst he reads along. It works very well.

That is such a brilliant idea and I hope it is shared widely as it is inspired. Lovely.

I'd have a load of props just out of sight...daft hat, weird ornament...make her guess what's in your hand....each new thing will make her laugh.

I’m on the edge of tears at what a lovely idea this is....and snorting with laughter at the thought of a neighbour spotting granny through the window, sitting in her living room in a princess dress having a tea party apparently on her own.

The thought of all this self-isolation is causing such a myriad of emotions....

Lovely idea, @Shosha1, a little bit of joy in rather dark times!

Aww, lovely. I just saw something else about granny school online for older ones too, similar thing

Role play type games will work- playing shops, cafes etc.

Could you have 2 copies of the same board game such as snakes and ladders?

Now that is truly thinking outside the box! Lovely idea

Definitely dressing up! Are you brave enough to open your wardrobe and let her choose your outfit and accessories? Could be lots of fun!

Our DC are 9 and 11 and I’m going to try and teach Grandma and Grandad how to video call.

Hah! Brilliant idea.

This has made me a bit teary. A lovely idea.

This warms my heart

I tried this - a 3 yo is not going to pay attention that long on a device unfortunately. Your DD should make sure she’s in the room to supervise