Play date with no toys

[SnailPorridge]

Help! My DD has v few toys. We mostly go out or draw or read books. We occasionally watch telly.
This week we have three play dates at our house which is also very small and has a tiny very muddy garden.
What am I going to do? Visiting children always get bored and the whole thing is a nightmare.
What would you do? Any games I can make? She's 3 but her friends are 4-5.

Cardboard box trains/rockets/castles - junk modelling.

Make a tea party picnic and a blanket fort.

Mud kitchen? (Warn parents to bring a change of outfit & wellies/waterproofs)

Biscuit decorating - shop bought rich tea & icing pens/sprinkles etc

Prepare an activity...
But really, why can't you get your child some toys from a charity shop?

Ps I don't agree that kids prefer not to have toys.. Mine play with all of theirs. Toys were also a v important part of my own childhood, I played for years

Car boot sales and jumble sales are fantastic for cheap toys especially in this time of year when people have a pre Christmas clear out.

Charity shops often have a 50p clothes rail too and you could get a few bits to make a dressing up box.

I'd go to a charity shop and get some bits. Or look on local Facebook sites. You can keep them tidied away for play dates or re donate them afterwards

Could you go to the supermarket and get some big cardboard boxes? Make spaceships, trains or houses. You'd need to dye the windows, but they could draw the designs and decorate.

CUT the windows

Teddy tea parties are a favourite in our house. Why not ask the visitors to bring a few of their teddies to visit with them if you don't have lots. You can always use real plastic plates/cups/spoons if you haven't got a toys' tea set and play food. Any old blanket will do for a picnic mat. Give them some empty tuppaware so they can pretend to serve the food, maybe some empty food boxes like cereal boxes, and some small real pans and wooden spoons to make pretend porridge (like the three bears).

My daughter has heaps of toys, but nothing is as fun as the washing basket, a bowl and wooden spoon to bang it with, the cushions from the kitchen table (chairs) and the DVD stack. Children don't need to be surrounded by toys to have fun. Everyone knows the best thing about a toy is the box it comes in

All children are different. I played with loads of toys because was bored at home my dc very rarely play with toys but there are three of them so they charge over the house having adventures with blankets and pillows. They also do/did lots of activities - I only did brownies. For brownies it was across the road, with three children they spend lots of time waiting for each other to do activities so they did more reading/ drawing/ portable activities than I did. I think it also depends on whether the dc is into toys or not. My dc have loads of toys but rarely played with them once they were school age.

Take them out to the park and have biscuits and a drink there
Prepare an activity like decorating some biscuits (you can use rich tea)
Play some music and have a mini disco
Get a massive box and get them to make a den - then throw it away afterwards
Play some old fashioned party games e.g. blind mans buff, musical bumps
Little girls almost always like colouring in & drawing
Make them a movie experience - find a film, get blankets and popcorn

There is another thread on here about someone who is upset that their DDs have a lot of money spent on them at Christmas and they don't play with any of the toys. So don't feel guilty!!

DIY shops often sell off wallpaper - get a roll and some pens and get them to draw around each other and then colour in/ turn into pirate/ doctor/ knight etc.

At my dds last play date, they made necklaces with beads and string and made cupcakes and decorated them with a bit of icing and sprinkles then ate them. They had a fab time.
You don't need loads of toys but it means you need to be a bit more involved.
The pound shop has craft stuff if you can buy some cheap stuff.

Just tell the parents you have had a massive clear out and don't have many toys. If their children have some favourites then suggest they bring them along.

Charity shops have very cheap games and toys.

DS(5) has loads of toys, but the last play date he had, they spent three hours drawing on and making vehicles and then a volcano out of a large cardboard box. Do you know anyone who's had something big delivered recently and could give you the box?

I would like to say not all kids do like toys
Mine never plays with hers
She still has some in unopened boxes
She prefers imagination and craft
So children do not NEED piles of stuff

Sometimes I wish she would as I feel i have wasted lots of money over the years

dahlietta my point exactly.
If you live near a shop (even a small corner one) go and ask for some cardboard boxes, they'll be happy to give them to you! I work in one and someone coming and taking some off our hands every now and again is appreciated!

Mine doesn't play with many toys the main one is dolls and the rest of the time craft!
Keep some recycling and get some tape they can make things?

Big cardboard box, genius idea. Cut out windows and doors and let the kids loose with pens, crayons to decorate the 'house'.

Get orange and black paper and make halloween decorations?
Decorate empty jam jar with orange/black paint/pens to make halloween lanterns?

Large cardboard boxes.

Also this one's messy, but I used to put out little pots of flour, sugar, rice crispies etc and lots of spoons, extra bowls etc for pretend cooking.

Bubbles - whip up strong solution of washing up water and scoop off the bubbles into a big bowl. Give them spoons, whisks etc.

If they are old enough to get it, put a duvet cover or sheet over a table for a hidey house, add cushions. Or improvise with chairs or clothes airers and clothes pegs. Dressing up can be improvised from your clothes, it doesn't have to be polyester.

Go for a walk, collect conkers or acorns

Cupcake kits, usually £1.

Making masks - use old cereal boxes, cut to face shape and colour in, attach an elastic band or string.

Dry rice hide and seek - You can buy rice for 50p put it in a tray and add some small objects for the kids to find and play with.

Painting pine cones - collect some pine cones and paint, add googly eyes (£1) to turn them into creatures.

Make a pretend theatre in a cardboard box and then make up plays.