What are your 5-6 yr old girls doing in their spare time??

[upsidedown2017]

My 5 yr old DD is complaining of being bored all the time. I can't afford to take her out on days out all the time, obviously, and the weather isn't always up to lots of time spent outdoors/park.

How do yours occupy themselves?

DD loves helping with stuff round the house, can you give her some 'jobs' to do? Also loves reading, could you set her a challenge to read a chapter then write about it or draw a picture about it? DD also likes creating a 'shop' or 'treasure trail's, could you suggest something like that then see where it takes her?

My DSD loves colouring and painting. I've found some great craft sets in pound shops/discount stores. We've also been baking and then decorating the cakes etc with icing and sweets.

Could you invite a friend round for her to play with?

Board games - guess who and junior monopoly. She also loves making things and has made about 15 mermaid tails the last week or so .

I like the ideas of having her read a chapter then draw/write about it - she would like this.

Also need to scout out a pound shop for craft kits as again she's happy making anything.

I'm saving all the boxes & toilet rolls in the hope she might make something out of all that.

We are doing a weekly trip to the library, swimming pool etc but the weeks are dragging now.

In the midst of property renovations so don't feel able to invite friends round which is a real shame, although surprised she hasn't had an invite round anyone's.

Need to get much better prepared for the next school holidays!

DD1 used to love playing cafes & restaurants. Setting the coffee table, writing menu, playing chef and waitress. Or going on holiday - can't recommend this one. It involved getting all of her clothes out onto her bed for packing!

Now aged 6 - lego friends sets. She needs help with them but is getting better at doing them independently

Role playing with her toys. Construction toys like marble run, lego. Reading. Drawing and writing and cutting and sticking. Sticker or activity books can keep her busy for a long time. Building dens out of the soft furnishings.
Could you make a picture to send to best friend/granny/to show at school in september? Or DD often ends up making cards or invitations for her toys to send to each other.
Make cakes and decorate them?
Are you doing the library reading challenge? Our library had a treasure hunt around the library that took up most of an afternoon and also have events throughout the summer.
Local facebook pages can be good for finding free holiday events for kids, there's surprisingly much.
We do let them have some screen time too, DD has some broadly educational apps and watches a bit of iplayer, usually also educational things. (Though I guess debatable whether Numberblocks is still educational when you've seen the episode 10 times before...)
But I don't think you have to entertain them all the time either, it's quite good for them to learn to entertain themselves.

Mainly playing in the garden with neighbours kids or in their gardens / our front garden.

If weather isn't great then arts and crafts like playdoh, junk models, glue, glitter if you're brace ....

She also plays with her babies and barbies but tbh this is relatively recent

Today, DD (5) was mostly interested in wobbling her newly discovered wobbly front tooth (the first one, sob!). We had a slow day today - I have an awful cold, & we all went out yesterday to a museum (she's quite into history - knights, castles, dinosaurs etc. Yes I know dinosaurs are archaeology before anyone points it out.) So she had a film on. She also likes reading & trying on my old makeup (and generally looks like Coco the Clown when she's finished).
She also has a Kids Kindle Fire so she plays on that sometimes. There are some quite good apps on it, and we don't need to worry about inappropriate content. I might set some restrictions re educational use before the inevitable Paw Patrol though...

Goodness, I can’t drag mine out of the door. She’s deliriously happy pottering around drawing, playing, watching her iPad and fighting with her sister. We’ve got a beach 5 mins down the road and she looks at me like I’m crazy if I suggest going to it! And the 9yo is the same. Both my dds are like house cats at the moment.