how to stretch a G&T child??

[redheadmum]

My DD now Y2 is on the G&T register at school. She is doing various extra activities at school, but she is very restless and I think needs to do something to stretch her a bit, something she can really get her teeth into and run with.

Any suggestions? I'd like it to be fun rather than formal, but any suggestions welcomed am not sure what to do.

thanks

Piano lessons. But that is formal.

I've thinking back to when my two were that age. I found they liked non-structured things to do out of school, and they were mostly interested in science.

So, try browsing through the adult non-fiction area of the local library, especially the "large books" section. There are a lot of "coffee-table" type books that, because they are lavishly illustrated, are fascinating just to browse through and look at the pictures. A lot of the text will be beyond your DD's capability but that probably won't bother her too much as long as it's explained that the books are written for adults.

Nature books, or astronomy, or costumes through the ages - there's usually a large variety of subjects in a good library.

If you don't mind spending some money, you could browse through Hawkins Bazaar www.hawkin.com/ to see if there are any suitable things she could do as a project.

Or, a cheap digital camera to photograph, say, closeups of leaves or insects in the garden, so she can compile her own nature scrapbook.

Tie each limb to a skittish horse, then fire a shotgun into the air

learn an instrument (maybe a less formal one like brass, through a brass band), or another skill like swimming, ballet, hockey, football, chess, computer programming, karate, sewing, knitting, crochet etc?

does she already do ballet etc? dd1 wants to do everything, so it's not really a problem (well, except for my purse strings... there are only so many swimming galas/ ballet exams/ ice skating lessons that one wage can take lol)

i would defintitely second doing something 'active' rather than bookish. balance although i like incontinentia's suggestion. (was going to say 'rack' but thought i'd be sensible)

Invest in a really good rack.

lol at my typo on a g&t thread i've got an english degree, y'know.

ah, beat you, hully!

Damn. Missed it.

beat you both, and mine was better

It was. Really must read threads before posting.

The rack suggestions are excellent. Other than that, music is very good - one thing I've found is that it's really good for making DS2, in particular, understand about overcoming obstacles and persevering when you can't do something straight away. He plays the piano (not brilliantly, but keenly) and has just started clarinet so he can play in bands etc, which is part of the fun of music.

DS2 likes museums and most of these are free - you can't do this all the time, I know, and we're lucky to be in London, but an hour in a particular gallery at the (eg) British Museum followed by cakes in a cafe is quite a cheap day out for us.

Yep, music is very good. Both mine play cello, one also plays piano and one guitar. But not all at the same time.

ha ha thanks for the suggestions! as I was walking back on the school run I realised I was asking for it

we live in London too, so no excuse not to get to the museums. My youngest is about old enough to go too and it not be a complete nightmare - and cake will definitely get him there!

I like the book idea too - I remember reading all sorts when I was her age....

does anyone do languages? I was pondering this but there's seems (surprisingly) a lack of any groups. I think I must be looking in the wrong place as surely there must be something. I was thinking Spanish purely as I want to learn it.........

I agree completely with the suggestions on here - especially the rack.

A musical instrument is fab - for the reasons singersgirl suggests; a new language can also fulfil a similar role, if you can find a teacher. Both depend on motivation and hard work and regular practice.

With ds1 we've always praised the 'process' rather than the end result, and reminded him that effort is what brings success, not natural ability.

Why doesn't he play them all at the same time Hully? Whatever happened to the one man band? Went the same way as manners and Mr Blobby I suppose.

Well, I wanted to say 'rack' as I'm endlessly facetious but so many others got there first and did it better so...

How about she read your OP and plays 'spot the cliché'?

Seriously, music, language, a hobby, non-fiction books etc all good.

DD is the questioning type...so I got her "philosophy for kids" which was suggested by the G&T lady at our school.

Makes for very good discussions.

I would also recommend investing in the following games so your child can thrash you at them and make you feel inadequate (as my child does):

Quoridor
Tortuga
Mancala
Blokus

thanks for the ideas and suggestions. Really what I've taken from this is I need to get horses, a shotgun or a rack.

Not having any ready to hand I've had to do what any mum does and improvise. Kitchen chairs, a bit of rope and a (strangely) willing sibling is working wonders!

Games are good.

My 4yr old enjoys beating us (and we play to win) at Blokus, Make n'Break and Katimino. She also like Rush Hour and Trivial Pursuits Family game.

My parents did languages with me. Which is how I come to be on Mumsnet- so time well spent.

Every time I see G&T I think gin .....

Anyway - my kids are all bright (don't think we do the G&T thing in Scotland, certainly never heard of it) and we wanted to keep them stimulated. They each go to a uniformed organisation - Guides, Cubs etc as I think there is a lot of benefit in that - also cover such wide ranging subjects.

They all play an instrument.

They are educated bilingually and we recently introduced a third language (Spanish) which they are loving. Its done as a small group lesson for the three of them and is very informal - they are coming on really fast with it and we are hoping to go to a Spanish speaking country over the summer and see how they get on then.

Ideas like reference books are great - my 6yo dd2 loves David Attenborough books!

Also extending creativity - different art things, encouraging story writing, science experiments. I like the idea of photography - my dd1 got a digital camera for her 10th birthday last week and has been experimenting with making stop-motion films ever since with lego!