Babysitting help
 

I have to babysit a few grandbaby Clouds this afternoon--the 3, 5 & 9 year old. I don't usually babysit, so I'm looking on things to do to entertain them for 3-4 hours. Besides a movie. And nothing too messy.

Do you have any suggestions for me?

Why no movies or cartoons?

they watch a lot of tv as it is.

well, I may make an exception and bring Muppets From Space.

'cause, you know--it's Muppets From Space!

Pepe: "You tell him, and I will smack you. I will smack you like a bad, bad donkey, okay!"

This works great ,
A roll of duct tape ,
and a jar of peanut butter .

Glob of Peanut butter in the mouth , followed by duct tape over the mouth and on any arms and legs as nessary to restrain them , chuck them in a closet or a conveinent corner , then just go about you life , scowling menisingly at them accationly ;)

I AM kidding , I hope you know that !!??!!

Candy land the board game RULES , or bake some Cookies and let the kids help , makeing their own personal cookies and decorating them , sorta messy but fun

Also, you can go to the craft store and get some already assembled bird houses and some acrylic paint and the kids can burn a couple hours painting them. They have lots of other stuff too. Kids love to make stuff.

Play basketball. :D

Teach them poker. Seriously. You don't have to throw in the betting part, but teach them the game.

blecch. Hate cards. Not a big game fan, either. I'm a lousy grandmother, which is why they don't often ask me to babysit :)

Ummm.... have them draw a tree, as detailed as they can. Should take them the full 3 or 4 hours

pierce them.

Show them all the web sites they aren't supposed to see yet. ;)

Or tell them all about your opinions regarding oral sex. hehehe

now you guys are just being silly!

OK, gimme a few to get my act together....

Is it way past planting season there? Could y'all dig a little garden, each plant their own sunflowers, pumpkins/whatever so when they/you visit you can check how they're doing?

Are they visiting you or vice versa?

get some catalogs, safety scissors, school glue and large pieces of paper and let them at it. Add pasta, leaves, anything dry out of the garbage.... challenge them to make a pic of their ideal back yard (the little'un'll just squirt loadsa glue but that's fun too

my next suggestion was a mudbath, but I re-read and you said not too messy :(

Why not too messy?

btw, how am i doing as a post ho here? :lol:

it's over, you know. It was last weekend. but I appreciate the suggestions. Always good to have a few handy dandy rug-rat distractors on hand!

They live in town 5 or 10 miles away from me. Had to babysit because Daughter No. 1 had a show of her jewelry. I posted her website, but no one looked, so oh well!

Make monster costumes out of your closet.
Shoots and Ladders.
Hide & Seek.
Pirates.
Red Light Green Light.
Duck Duck Goose.
Color Hunt. (who can find the most colors or shapes)
Easter Egg Hunt/Treasure Hunt.
Scavenger Hunt.
Play in sprinklers.
More to come...

Messy is what unites 9yo and 3yo and is where 5yos live. Key to successful babysitting is to do fun stuff they are usually not allowed to at home. unfortunately that usually means messy.

OK can you get large pieces of paper? like the ends of printing rolls? You can have each kid lie down while the other draws tound them, then they cut out the shapes and decorate them/color them as themselves or as they would like to be. You can provide yarn for hair, wobbly eyes.... (not too expensive ofr too messy).... ? any good?


Or music. Can you teach them to play something? Or sing something where they all have a differnet part to sing?


What about making mother's day presents?

Oh, sorry, didn't see the start date, just the recent :(

no need to apologize--all good ideas, and I can still use them