Six Kids + Two Days = Many Activities

Hello again!  Boy, do I have an update for you!  Just this past weekend, my husband and I stayed with and babysat five young kids under the age of nine.  Clint had a busy weekend planned with work, and so I was a one-man show with these six kiddos for about half the time.  Two of the kids had some unique needs and challenges, and they all were known for being very rambunctious.  Honestly... I was scared.  But, we were creative, tried a lot of different activities, and it went well.

Wednesday, October  3rd - "Baby Storytime" - It was just Colton and I (babysitting began on Friday), Colton had been sick with a cold for awhile but was feeling better and we had cabin fever, so we went to baby storytime at the library.  It was amazing!  I think Colton liked it almost as much as I did!  So fun, age-appropriate, stories, props, toys, and a little lesson in about thirty minutes.  Then, we colored at the library.  After that, Colton enjoyed putting magnetic letters and numbers on the magnet board, also at the library.  We have some wonderful libraries around here!  Don't miss out on storytime at the library - I'm sure many libraries have them.  Here is a picture of Colton with the magnet board.

Thursday, October 4th - "Pet Homes" - I had a handful of large, empty boxes I had saved for a few days.  Colton and I turned them into homes for his stuffed animals.  He enjoyed putting his animals down for naps, and then he enjoyed laying down with them.  This is a fun way to settle down your kids for storytime or naptime when they are wound-up and won't lay down.  Colton enjoyed this one.

Friday, October 5th - "Put a Face on Your Pumpkin" - On Friday, I began babysitting for the family with five kids.  One activity we did this day was a Halloween craft activity.  The mom of these youngsters had already cut some pumpkins out of construction paper, and she had extra construction paper, crayons, and glue so that the kids could decorate their own pumpkins.  The kids had a lot of fun with it, but it is necessary to have some things pre-cut for the little ones so that they don't have to wait too long for their pumpkin.  As I did this activity, I was able to reinforce the concept of shapes, colors, and letters as I helped the kids write their names on the pumpkins.

"Spook-tacular Design" - On Friday, I also helped the kids decorate the front yard and stair banister with Halloween decorations.  Cheap halloween decorations can be found at the dollar store, and the kids went to town with them.  The older kids especially loved this activity, and the cobwebs looked great with frost on them the next day!

Saturday, October 6th - "Star Wars Reinacted" - So...kids like incentives, and these kids were no different.  Today, I used playing with Clint when he returned home as an incentive for the kids to behave for me (along with his angry birds game that they love).  He is creative and great with kids...usually he turns into a big kid himself with the little ones.  Well...he decided to "play" star wars with the kids (who LOVE star wars) and it was a big hit.  Every kid was enthralled with this play, they got their energy out through play fighting, hiding, and going on dangerous quests with him...it was awesome!  I will say, though, the kids three to eight years old enjoyed this activity more than Colton and their two-year-old did.

"Dance Party" - Saturday evening, I was trying to entertain the kiddos and decided to do a dance party.  We brought the CD player down to the basement, and put some fun CD into the player.  Well...the music was too lame for a dance party, so that idea tanked.  On to plan two...

"Masking Tape Hopscotch" - This is as simple as it sounds.  You just make hopscotch squares on carpet, out of masking tape.  It is easy and comes off fairly easily as well.  This activity was a very big hit with the eight-year-old girl I was babysitting, but her brothers were semi-intrigued by it as well.  I decided to expand on the hopscotch idea.  On to plan three...

"Crazy Carnival" - We made a full-blown carnival in the basement.  It was awesome!  I headed it up, helping the kids create games that we could play for the carnival.  Then, the older kids practically worked themselves into an excited frenzy gathering toys which would be used for prizes.  Finally, we gathered legos together, which were given out at each game to be turned in for prizes.  Sound complicated enough?  It was, but it was also a lot of chaotic fun and the kids loved it.  We used hopscotch as one of the games; to make it harder for the older kids, we put blocks on certain squares and the kids had to hop over the squares with the blocks on them.  Another game was to throw a toy airplane through a blown-up tunnel.  You had to make it all the way through the tunnel.  Another game was "Hole-in-One" with a toy putt-putt golf game.  In addition, we made up a ski-ball type game in which you throw three small tokens into three containers to earn points.  Each container was worth a certain number of points, the farthest container being worth the most points.  You earn a certain number of tokens based on how many points you earned.  Finally, you go cash in your legos for some wonderful prizes at the prize booth, headed up by one of the kids! 

Sunday, October 7th - "Nature Walk/Leaf Art Projects" - We went on a nature walk with all of the kids, one of my personal highlights on this trip.  Autumn is so beautiful here!  We all collected leaves, and then the kids each got their own labeled bag of leaves after we finished.  Then, the kids did some leaf art projects.  One project was leaf rubbings - using construction paper, leaves, and crayons.  Another project was a leaf art collage.  All of the kids enjoyed this, even the little ones.  The three boys especially loved the leaf art.

Monday, October 8th - Clint had work off today, and so we went to the Downtown Aquarium (we had a buy one, get one free coupon).  It was alot of fun but still not quite worth the money.  Colton especially loved the little fish.  Here are some pics from the day.

Tuesday, October 9th - Recovery Day... Need I say more?

Wednesday, October 10th - "Pack Your Bags" - I had a suitcase out in our room from our little weekend babysitting trip.  Colton decided to pack the suitcase with some of his toys and other miscellaneous items around the room.  He initiated it, and it kept him entertained for a while.  Hooray - I am not complaining!