Simple ways to entertain a 3 year old please

[CrowsInMyGarden]

I'm a grandmother. I look after my lovely 3 year old granddaughter once a week. She's cheeky, fun and so well behaved. No tantrums, nothing to complain about really. She goes to nursery on the days I don't have her and is happy and doing well there. All she wants to do when I look after her is role play Mummies/Daddies or Mummies/Babies over and over. HELP! I suggest to her that we can go playground or soft play but she would rather stay home and play and to be honest if we are at the playground/soft play she still wants to role play with me. She will play with others if there is a similar aged quiet child there but doesn't like the noisy ones charging around and prefers to play with me. I asked on Gransnet and the other grannies basically told me to suck it up and go along with what Granddaughter wants to do but.....I just can't do it anymore! I do plan to give her an hour or so in the morning that is her choice what we play but then try to steer her away from the repetitive imagination play and do something else. I plan to go shopping this weekend and buy lots of craft supplies, there are a lot of Easter craft things out at the moment. We have playdough/kinetic sand and I plan to do some basic gardening with her. She has lots of books but again she does not want to sit and look at them with me unless we are playing "I'm the baby at nursery and you're the teacher". Does anyone have any ideas of simple cooking/crafts/other stuff I can do with her beside the obvious and please reassure me it isn't being mean to not play Mummies and Babies ALL DAY LONG is it?

Search for Five Minute Mum - loads of great ideas that use stuff from the house :)

I just got my 3 year old niece a stepping stone paint kit and a hand print plaster kit.

I swear to god I give this tip every time.

Balloons.

Cheap latex balloons.

Its a good 1-2 hours of fun

You can:
Blow them up and let them go.
Blow them up and let her let them go
Let her Blow them up (or try)...
Inflate with a knot and let them throw it around.
Piggy in the middle... it goes on....

Let her pick colours (learning) do big and small... (can you bring me 2 small ones? Can you find the big green one)

Floor is lava (usong living room stuff)
Also assault courses (again living room stuff we often make a human obstacle think oranges and lemons "chopper" or a pretend "crocodile"

Take her to the supermarket (m&s have lids trolleys) and let her pick a Betty crocker style kit and do it together. My 3 /4 yo loves this we do it AM and she gets one after lunch.

I used to get a small packet of haribo/chocolate buttons/raisins and hide them around the room when DD wasn't looking. Then we'd do the hotter/colder game until she found them all. Great way to pass some time and you get to sit down the entire time!

Does she have a pram for her babies? Could you take the babies for a walk and introduce them to really exciting things like cats on a wall or giant trees?

Water play in general!

Water painting
Fill up a trug of water (outside) or the bath and let them get in and play (pouring cups also useful). Or let them stand at the sink and play.
Sorting buttons
Banging pots and pans with a wooden spoon
“Helping” or Pulling everything out of your handbag and putting it in again, pulling everything out of a low cupboard and putting it back

Yes, and you can use an instrument like a bell that you ring louder or quieter.

Hairdressers was my favourite game. Empty squirty bottle, brush, hair clips and a magazine for the customer who sits down for the whole thing.

Get some balance scales. Put two eggs in one side and she can weigh out the ingredients for cakes by balancing the weight against the eggs.

No definitely not mean! But I would probably lean into the theme a bit even if you don't want to actually play it for long.

Does she have some baby dolls to play with and accessories for them? As she may like to be the Mummy or teacher or doctor looking after the baby, and it means you can have a bit of a more detached role being nearby while she plays.

We do non-baby things like this

Blow up a balloon and try to keep it in the air as long as possible.

Play "the floor is lava" by putting cushions on the floor and she has to jump between them and not touch the floor.

Listen to music and make up a dance or play something like musical statues, or let's dance like elephants/ballerinas/mice etc

Play simple board games/card games. Have a look around charity shops or car boot sales. Haba or Orchard games are normally good for this age. Uno is also good and crucially a round is very short. She may also be able to do some simple jigsaws - they usually have an age suggestion on the box and again loads to buy second hand and just donate again when they get too easy. If you get the ones for age 4/5 she might be able to manage with help.

Duplo is good for this age if you can find any and once you've built something together she can play little stories with the characters - there will be a set including a family with a baby I'm sure.

Crafts are great and there is always some event coming up that you can get her to make a card or picture or whatever for.

Do you have old photos of your DD/DS you could bring out to look through together? My DC absolutely love looking at old photos and hearing all the family stories. Also photos of DGD when she was a baby. And if you have any of your DC's old toys, she might like to look through those.

Would definitely insist on getting out of the house for some time as well. It always helps pass the time. I don't ask DC if they want to go because inevitably they prefer to stay at home, but they normally enjoy themselves when out. To avoid getting sucked into role play at the park, try giving her challenges to do.

I had a book which I have passed on to someone else now but it was called "The Busy Book for Toddlers" and had loads of different easy ideas in it, the only two I can remember now are to freeze some small toys (e.g. animals) in ice cubes and then let them use tools or warm water or just throwing the cubes to the ground outside to get the toys out. That is a good summer game. And the other one was using masking tape on floors/carpets to make patterns like roads for cars to drive, or things like hopscotch. It should not mark floors and is easily removed when the game is over.

You can also make Barbie clothes out of balloons which kept my DD entertained for ages.

Cardboard boxes, wrapping paper and lollipop sticks can be turned into dolls houses and furniture.

a pack of digestive biscuits and some ready made tubes of decorating icing and sprinkles and she can decorate her own biscuits.

mini tortilla wraps, grated cheese, sliced mushrooms/ham/sweetcorn and tomato sauce and let her make her own pizzas

Set her up in the bath with bubbly water and a cloth and let her wash all her dolls

Let them "help" with grown up things but don't expect any real help, really it's just more work for you, but they love thinking they are helping.

Baking is usually a hit here. Cookies, brownies, cupcakes. Especially if you can decorate them later as well.

Vacuuming, I used to get balloons with confetti in. Play with the balloons, pop them and then let them vacuum the confetti.

Dirty some toys with chalk. Tub of soapy water and a sponge. Make sure you have some dry clothes of later.

Gardening is a great one. Digging, watering, pulling up weeds.

Hide and seek with things. Hide some cars around the house and let her find them, the she goes and hides them.

Magnet tiles are always the thing guaranteed to amuse in our house. It’s quite therapeutic too

My DD is a clingy velcro child and I found she always has to have an audiobook on it you leave her with an activity. She will then settle down into puzzles, colouring, building etc. Magic faraway tree lasts for hours and is age appropriate for 3.

If you've got an accessible fence in the garden, get her to paint it with water. Also, chalks on the drive way (if you have one!)

edit - I've read your whole post now and see that she likes role playing. Could you get her to role play being a fence painter and pavement artist and do these jobs "for the babies?"

I'm a Grandma and look after my toddler DGC two days a week. I know what you mean re repetitive play - it's a stage they all go through and enjoy but can be a bit boring for us Grandparents!

Here are a few of DGC's favourite things atm:

I bought a stainless steel tea set from a charity shop and DGC have hours of fun filling and emptying the teapot (sometimes with water, other times with dried rice) whilst roleplaying cafes. We usually nip to the local cafe once a week and I let the almost 3 year old order. We come home and DGC role-play our experience.

Another thing we do is 'shops'. I put a few tins and packets on the floor/table and an old credit card and they're away with being the shop worker. We also go to the shop weekly and see what real shop workers do.

Our current favourite is filling a spray bottle with water, giving them a duster and let them 'clean' my patio windows. I also paint some numbers or shapes on the glass, call one out, "can you make the circle disappear?" and they spray them until they disappear. Makes a bit of a mess but worth it for a chance to sit down!

Finding a book they like and add objects that are in the book so they can retell the story. It's a joy to watch them making up their own versions. Our current favourite is Owl babies so we have 3 little owls and a Mummy one, a cardboard box with a hole in it for their nest. Again, visits to the charity shop to collect bits is the way I do it.

A fascinating but exhausting age. Hope all goes well OP

Get out the house for a bit. Write a list of what you need to make fairy cakes, go to the supermarket to buy the ingredients (bonus points if the have mini trolleys), spend ages lookingbat sprinkles, make fairy cakes and then let her ‘wash up’. All these things can takes ages to do and you can do the same with planting seeds, making grass heads and going to the library followed by the cafe.

Get some orchard games.

Cheers everyone. I used to do lots of these with my own children but that feels like such a long time ago and I had forgotten. I’ll enjoy getting some bits together.

This is key in my view.

If they want to pretend to be an adult, I would run with it... a few more ideas below

• review kitchen cupboards, smell all the spices, name/taste all the ingredients, "realise" one is missing and go to shops to buy it
• plant some seeds in garden, water, etc
• build a bug house (I use plastic tuppaware with holes in top, son is delighted with the most basic of insects)
• if you have them nearby, recommend fishmongers, butchers, cheesemongers etc. especially if you can try e.g. the cheese before buying
• sit in car & press all the buttons
• expedition on public transport, starting by planning it on the map

Ive kept my 3yo busy for a while today by giving him a spray bottle filled with water and a cloth and asking him to help me water all the flowers ans grass with it and clean the outside windows 😅😅😬😬

I try and organise activities for outside it passes the time quicker. make a checklist for a scavenger hunt and get her to collect each thing in a bag as she goes, cutting fairy wings out of cardboard and cover them in sticky back plastic then go for a walk and find lots of different coloured leaves to stick on, make an assault course in the garden, go for a walk and see what shapes you can find around town.

I find Pinterest amazing for activities, just search "activities for 3 year olds" and there are thousands.

At that age my GD used to love getting the bus into town, buy a treat from the bakers, then get the bus back to eat it at home. Bit of a novelty for us both if I'm honest.

Arts and crafts always went down well too, I would sit at the table with her but do my own thing whilst chatting and commenting on what she was doing etc.

In the summer, a shallow water tray in the garden with a stainless steel teapot and pots/jugs/ teaspoons etc collected from charity shops and pound shops.

Painting the walls with water

Literally

Absolute love it

I.e. outside walls!!