After two days in a row (today being rainy) babysitting for my neighbor's kiddos (ages 3 and 4) plus mine (18 months), I feel somewhat qualified to remark on Things To Do When Its Rainy Outside With A Houseful Of Wild Younguns...
We started the morning inside - I dragged out the big cardboard playhouse we've had since my nine-year-old was about 4 (we decorated it with stickers and markers and colors for one of his birthday party activities). I'm totally impressed by the way that thing has stood up for so long now! Way worth the $25 or $30 I paid for it.
Then we moved to the coolish, sprinkly weather outside. Our driveway tends to collect puddles, so besides stomping around and driving ride-ons through them, I filled up a few clear Rubbermaid tubs with water, added some paintbrushes, measuring cups for pouring, plastic spraybottles, little animals from the playroom, and some floaty ping pong balls and they had a great old time just getting wet, pouring, squirting and spraying to their hearts' content!
A few weeks ago, when it was sunny, we squirted in a few drops of food coloring to the water bins - before playing, we stopped for a few minutes to observe the colors swirling into the water - when we did more than one color, we enjoyed watching 2 colors combine to make a new color! My 4 year old friend was the official "color mixer" and enjoyed stirring away until the two primaries made a surprise of a secondary!
Something else I think that is crucial to have is a big wooden easel. Ours has a whiteboard on one side/chalkboard on the other, and although the chalkboard side is wearing thin, big sidewalk/driveway chalks work really well on it. So I brought it out, too. After they colored the chalk side up well enough, we used multisized cheapo paintbrushes and water from the bins to wash it clean.
I don't know what it is, but washing chalkboards and wiping clean a whiteboard is somehow appealing to that age group...I say, "Wash on, people...wash on!"
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My other blog, filled with everyday, mundane stuff, can be found here...
Hints & Tips
- Helpful Cleanup Hint: "Putting things back in their homes". Here at our house, we refer to cleaning up as "putting things back in their homes". It is useful here at home, as well as at the store, anywhere really! I've found kids of all ages, especially toddlers, are WAY more responsive and willing to "put something back in it's home" than simply "putting it back" or "cleaning it up".
- Discipline Tip: When things start getting hairy/loud/tantrumy or otherwise out of control, I've found the best way to regain control is to turn my voice way down - in tenor, as well as volume...That helped me a lot in managing numerous preschool classes, as well as my own children, over the years. I read once, "let them borrow your calm when they need it most," and that helps me to remember how important it is.
- To help combat the effects (and you know there MUST be effects) of all the over-the-top flashy, noisy kids' toys and games, remember that teaching and modeling the art of focus and quiet observation is more important than ever...take the chance whenever you can.
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