Cheapest ever way at keeping young ones quiet!

tsimehC

Video games! It's all I remember of my bitter childhood, sadly. They are relatively cheap compared to forking out money for a new mattress.

smithyjules

rachbc.. I had forgotten all about using sleeping bags to zoom down the stairs!the lovely nylon ones work best lol!!!

MRSTITTLEMOUSE

[QUOTE

This morning she is out in the garden with a tub of water and some paint brushes "painting the path".Marvelous stuff is water lol![/QUOTE]

This was something that kept my three little girls and then my grand-children happy,
It never fails.
You just made me have a very happy memory thinking about them back then when they were all little.

Olliebeak

If they're still quite young and you HAVE to be busy, then all they need is somewhere safe and something to stimulate their imaginations. But best of all is to teach them imaginary play and get them thinking constructively - even at a young age. Your time and company are the best of all at a young age.

As they get older they won't crave your 100% time and attention as much - but they will have learnt from YOU about how to imagine things/situations and recreate those for themselves safely.

My DD has found it quite difficult these past holidays to allow her 8yr old boy (extra needs) to play safely unsupervised while a 21mth old hangs around her legs constantly. Paint on the stair carpet; felt tip pen on the white Upvc doors (front and back!); toothpaste all over bedroom curtains (but they have a DOWNSTAIRS BATHROOM!); scattered his toys everywhere in his bedroom (just opens boxes but doesn't play alone) and then did the same in his older sister's room while she was at her dad's for a few days.

Oh the joys of motherhood :rotfl: and school holidays!

thriftlady_2

My kids are all playing cards -blackjack. How Old Style is that? Completely unprompted. I don't expect the current good humour will last though as DS1 takes these things very seriously:rolleyes:

buxtonrabbitgreen

Thinking about sliding. What mine all used to love doing was what we called cardboard sliding. We took a few cardboard boxes to a hill near the house. They made a piece of cardboard big enough to sit on and slid down the hill. We always had to take extra boxes as all the neighbourhood kids wanted to join in.

Twilightgirl

Salt Dough

4 cups flour
1 cup salt
1-1.5 cups warm (from the tap) water
1 tbs cooking oil

Mix all together!

If its sticky add more flour....if its dry and crumbly add slightly more water! Then cut out shapes with cutters.

Then cook in the oven till hard! When cooled paint them.

You could also make holes at the top to put ribbons through and hang them and even at christmas time.

My boys love this.

You can also just put in the fridge and just let them play with the dough, and add food colouring, when your mixing it all up, to do different colours.