Help with thinking of imaginative games for GC

Thank you all for the great ideas plenty of choice now to have fun

Have a cinema day. First choose your film on DVD or Netflix (other services are available). Then make a poster to advertise it. Pop some popcorn in the microwave, then put some in little bowls (could decorate little plastic tubs if the attention span will run to it). Make tickets and sell them to each other, along with the popcorn. Then watch the film, pausing halfway through for a small ice cream. Afterwards, draw a picture of their favourite bit of the film. Lunch can happen anywhere in the agenda. I’ve done this with 4yo and 6yo, and the whole thing lasted all day!

Current play thinking is "loose parts" so lots of random things, preferably in natural materials.
Wooden blocks, pine cones, wooden spoons, cotton reels, clothes pegs, buttons, ribbons, tweezers, bowls, colanders. Practise golf balls (the plastic ones with holes in). Chopsticks. Pipe cleaners with dried penne pasta and Cheerios for threading. Paper plates. Crayons.
Add in a roll each of eyes and mouth stickers (Amazon!) and let their imagination run...

Going back to the shop, I bought a cardboard shop from Hobbycraft that requires colouring in. And don't forget the toy money and debit card.

My friend comes over with her small folk and they have wonderful fun emptying out my big button box into a bowl, then they sort them into colours. They also love playing with old phones - calling all their friends, Grandparents, each other. When the weather allows, they can 'paint' the fence with brushes and water - or draw with chalk on the path - easily removed when it rains.

Making dens and playing shops kept my grandchildren happy for hours.

A tea party for Teddy or a favourite doll? It's most fun of course if you have a dolls' tea or coffee service handy, but otherwise plastic beakers will do.

An ordinary slice of bread, buttered and cut into doll sized slices will go down a treat.

Remember to give Teddy a bib!

Hettymaud I learnt a similar game while I was a college. A wonder bag, as in I wonder what I’ve got in my bag, have a feel etcetc. A great game. Don’t forget cooking with play dough, (easily made lots of recipes on line) and a really great one Gloop! Cornflour and water mixed together on a tray or similar. It’s very very satisfying! Add

Tie a ribbon to a small stick to dance with and wave the floaty ribbon.

Cookie making

Get a wide tray and pop in some cornflour and get them to explore the texture when they add water, it will be liquid when in the tray but solidify when they scoop it and then back to liquid when returned - fascinating.

Buy some, or Google a playdough recipie - good for all ages, at this time of year it’s fun to add a pot of glitter to it for festive dough.

If you wrap up some very ordinary household items such as a spoon, a carrot, an apple, a pack of tissues, bar of chocolate, a key - anything really ..then make them feel the parcels and guess what’s inside. Mum used to do this and we loved it.

When my DGS was about 3 his Mum was expecting again & I used to have him on the mornings she had ante natal. We used to get all the cushions on the floor & make 'train' then we would get on it & decide where we were going that day= the zoo, the park , the moon etc. It was a wonderful imagination game & we could play it for hours. He loved it & I think it was good for him to use his imagination rather than play with his toys too. When we heard Mum's car drawing up we would put all the cushions back & act as if we had been playing with his Lego all morning! She knew of course & played along but he always thought is was our secret game. He's 10 now but he still remembers our train game.

What about just before they come you hide little things in your living room and you could play hunt the treasure

Sorry there are 24or5 numbers on the wheel so they do not always win.

I have an Ikea Tombola wheel, like a standing up dart board which you spin around and it stops at a number.
I have white floor tiles but sheets of paper work just as well.
Make a grid of numbers 1 to 16, then have different prizes when they spin the wheel, I use half grapes, orange segments, cucumber sticks etc, also a selection of forfeits sing a song, dance, draw a picture.
DGS and his little friends love it and DGS and I sometimes play on our own.

Great ideas - my grandsons (6 & 4) are coming on Friday for 6 weeks so I'm looking for all sorts of things to do with them. As we haven't seen them for 2 years I don't really know what sort of games they play but watched a video yesterday of a mum hiding little Christmas ornaments about in a barn for her children to hunt. When they got them all they got a prize which was a fishing game so I thought this might be a good one (don't have a barn unfortunately so it will have to be the garden).

Painting even with hands /feet ( plastic table cover on the floor and basin of water and towel ready to clean feet!), making food, places etc out of plasticine/playdough . Shops with stuff from the cupboards. I used the bottom stairs as shelves a d if course money. Find the stickers hidden all over the house, hide and seek, making a picture from bits cut from magazines. Laying out an obstacle course from cushions, soft toys, wooden spoons, cardboard boxes, basically anything that won't hurt if fallen on and "time" them racing round. Dressing up in adult clothing, shoes. Playing at the kitchen sink giving them plastic items to wash up. I found children would make a game out of anything really with a tiny bit of prompting.

Any easy game with young DGC is to hide a small item (e.g. coin, hair scrunchie, tiny toy) in one of your hands, put both hands behind your back and they have to guess "which hand?" This is a simple game which my two would play for ages: it's useful if you are waiting around anywhere, such as a cafe. (Your 4yr old DCC might like being the "hider" of the item, too - this puts them "in charge", which they usually enjoy.)

A variation of hide the thimble. Hide anything. Takes turns to be the hider or finder. Great fun

All of the above. And I love it when they make up games. On Sunday they thought it was hilarious to take turns hiding in the loo while the other one switched on a light in the kitchen, then the other one had to guess which light. They're 9 and 5.

Mine love to make 'things' from cardboard boxes. I simply collect a few of varying sizes from the local supermarket when I know they're coming. Scissors, felt tips, string and sellotape - sorted! Quite amazing what they come up with. We also have great fun with inflatable beach balls (one each) in the garden. Had the same balls for six years now without replacement. Amazing.

ours love a camp with a blanket fixed over chairs. They have cushions in there and a tea party.

Singing in the kitchen, banging on pots and pans - inspired by the Bobby Bare song in the 70s. A couple of wooden spoons, a few different pans, and work though your entire repertoire of kids’ songs.
youtu.be/OjN4_A5UqQA

Hi Jeannie have a look at this blog post from a Senior Infant teacher, it's full of ideas. I would sing the song "Let's Go Shopping" that she mentions to my grandson when he was little and now that he is almost six, he still stops in his tracks when he hears me singing it . (Unfortunately, the song is not available to learn the tune, I learnt it from my mother).

seniorinfant.blogspot.com/2012/03/theme-lets-go-shopping.html

I think you dont have to "play" with them, but you can set up scenes:

A dinosaur forest
A shop
A carpet picnic for toys
Etc

Hide the Thimble (‘what’s a thimble grandma?’) is popular here. We use a small soft ball. Very popular - yes, getting warmer, no - going cooler now .... boiling hot!