to entertain a child...

Hi guys! So I recently spent an entire day- literally- babysitting 3 kids, 9 and 7 year old boys and their 2 year old sister... If you're anything like me, one of the first thoughts in your head is how to keep them busy all day! It's a challenge. So I thought I'd offer a list of things to keep kids of all ages occupied!

• Build a blanket fort with chairs and sheets in the living room! If you babysit in a small apartment, try building it off the couter and stretch the sheet over a chair on the other side. Once inside, you can get a flashlight and tell stories, whether silly, scary, or from a book you brought along! This is especially good for keeping them quiet during a little one's nap time.
• Build with legos, blocks, duplos, K'NEX, etc... (if there's a little one, have the "building center" in one room and shut the door and play with baby toys with the baby. Also, pick up carefully when done or make it a point to keep the door shut!)
• If it's winter, go outside and build a snowman, sled, make snow angels or a fort! Have them do most of the work and help them along so that they wear off energy, but you still have some left =) When you come in, let them have a special treat, like hot cocoa and a snack.
• Act out a story! Find a favorite book or an old fable and dress up and set up a stage (if they have hand puppets, make them charectors!) and bring the story to life! Make lines easy, or even tell them which charector to be and then simply read the story as they play out the charector. 
• Play dress up! This works especially well for little girls! If you have some make-up things, bring them along (check with the parents first!) and give them makeovers. All little girls love getting into mommy's make-up, so they will just love this! 
• If you're good at doing nails, bring some polish along and offer to give them a "manicure". If you can't paint flowers, bring nail stickers or do little polka-dots! They'll think it's special just because a "big girl" did their nails!
• If it's summer, let them draw with chalk, take a walk to the park (bring a few water bottles, especially on a hot day!), play in their sandbox, have them put on their swim suits and "flood" the sandbox with the garden hose even! 
• Bring new board games that they don't have! They will love learning a new game, especially if it's about something they like! For example, if a little girl loves ponies- what girl doesn't?- then bring something like "Herd Your Horses".
• If you have some older kids, try bringing a more complicated craft like origami!
• If you are there for a long enough time, try baking some cookies with them! Let the little kids dump in ingredients as you ask and have older kids roll the dough into balls or even try a spritzer! Let them color or watch a cartoon while they wait for the cookies to finish baking!
• Make a scavenger hunt list and have them touch every item and check it off. If you have little kids who want to participate, try teaming them up with their older siblings!
• Make a clue trail! Draw pictures or write clues on pieces of paper and put them all over the house or yard! Place the clues in ideal spots to wear the kids out, for example, if one clue leads to the upstairs couch, have the next clue lead to the downstairs bed room, and that clue might lead back to the top level and so on. have a special prize at the end for each kid, like a piece of candy or a quarter or something!
• Play blind man's bluff!
• Try making a store! bring some old stuffed animals or toys and set them up, then give each kid some "money" (you could use monopoly money even) and have them "buy" the items from you. They will think this is great because they don't normally get to buy things on their own.
• Make playdough! Put 1 cup flour, 1 cup water, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1 Tablespoon oil, 2 teaspoons of cream of tartar, and a color of their choice into a pot and stir it over medium-low heat until it feels like mashed potatoes. It will be hot, so put it into the fridge to cool quicker! Soak the pot so it's easier to clean later.
• As a very last resort, when you can't stand the constant questions and squabbling any longer, bring out a few movies that you brought from home that they haven't seen or don't own! Know your audience- for girls, try a princess movie or even a Little House on the Prairie or Shirley Temple episode. For boys, try an age-appropriate knight, car, or dog movie, like one from the Beethoven series. If you have both boys and girls, try an animated disney movie with both guys and girls in it!

Hope that helps you! Good luck and have fun with the kids!