Occupying kids

On rainy days, my cousin and I would go 'camping' in our living room. Two good armchairs and a large bed sheet made a splendid tent. As soon as the dolls, books and games were comfortably settled in, our grandma would invariably bring us sandwiches or biscuits and a glass of milk. We could eat and play Parcheesi in there for an entire afternoon.

I work on a 2 hour basis. I change the environment. So we might go out for a walk or to get something from the shops. If you can do one thing in the day like go to a museum. But don't stay for too long .

JennyLH

What a good idea, they look very pretty.
The treat of warm home-made scones afterwards. Yummy.

Let them get messy. It's part of childhood.
If it is any compensation my 2 sons used to fight non stop at that age. They are now best of friends & very close. Mind you they did bond over playing football in garden-non stop & what ever the weather. I think it is the most boring game ever but they loved & still love it.
Wish they'd played rugby-love rugby!!

1st November today, so I suggest you go for a walk and find pine cones, twigs, branches etc. that can be made into Christmas decorations, or start them off making Christmas presents for their parents.

Sometimes letting your children get messy is the best thing you can do. Do you have an old duvet cover or bedding that is past its best that you can keep especially for the children to do messy paintings or crafts. Spread this over the floor beneath the table, another to cover the table and your,e all set. Old shirts worn back to front to protect their clothing and when it's all finished you can do a quick wash of these things in the machine ready for the next time. My children and now my grandchildren all had hours of fun with salt dough. This time of year they could be making little decorations for putting on the Christmas tree for nearer the time. If you Google Saltdough there are loads of ideas, alternatively your library will probably have books on this, starting with the simplest of things for children to advanced ideas for adults. It becomes quite compulsive and therapeutic once you start it. So cheap too. Bag of flour,salt, ( food colouring optional) or acrilic paints from hobby shops or pound shops and your away. You will probably enjoy doing it yourself as well ...so easy ...hours of fun. PS before painting these have to dry out ...either naturally or in a very low heat in the oven. Good luck, and lots of fun.

Mess here, school holidays and this week I have just let DGS play to his hearts content, not even the usual pick everything up before you go upstairs.
We have the train set and roads etc at one end of the room, a marble game at the other, the coffee table covered in paper and pencils.
We have made pizzas, sausage rolls, and broccoli soup(his favourite)
He will be back at school on Monday and plenty of time to clear up then. The pleasure I have had from watching his imagination at play has been wonderful.

Treasure hunt
Scavenger hunt
Google Cheap things to do with kids on a rainy day

Cooking is a winner as is crafts frankly! And maybe a home cinema early afternoon - bag of popcorn; children's film (if you have Netflix) all watch together and chat about story! Lion King is a good one!

How's about getting a roll of wall paper liner and getting each child to lie on it and the other draw round it and colour in different occupations eg farmer, hairdresser, postal worker, dancer, singer etc etc and then make up a story about them? Not messy but could be fun - and time consuming!!!!???

Make the most of them watermeadow and forget about the mess which can be cleared up in no time. Too soon, they will be teenagers then they are a problem to entertain as you just cannot compete with you tube.

The other day I provided my two with four (rather elderly) pillows and they had a pillow fight in the hall. That went down well.

I have just had my 2 grandson's and we have made a Christmas Tree bauble each, Bakes some scones , and created a Christmas list for Santa they are ages 6 and 8 I have loved the whole day. Bowl of water and nail varnished drizzled on the top and dip in the bauble then let it dry. These are hanging up to dry. Scones were eaten warm ha ha

paints and crafts are messy but you can clear up afterwards!

Dress them in waterproof clothing and wellies.

...then take them for long rambles with puddle jumping.

Physical activity is essential to build camaraderie.

You don't have to go for a long walk, just a short walk to the park and let them play there and burn off some energy (especially good to encourage the 'lazy' one to move a bit. While you're there you could pick up some nice autumn leaves and come back and make some autumn collages with the leaves and other craft bits and pieces.
Our DGD love doing that.

Knitting? It could take up two minutes or an hour depending on how interested they are!

Bake simple biscuits, easier than cakes and fun to stamp out different shapes if you have the cutters.

Mine like doing gym on the sofas (eek) - I don't mind but some grans may not allow that.

A bit of tv after lunch or late afternoon is fine too.

Have fun

Gosh lots of clever ideas here.I'm impressed with you all.

Autumn is a great time for walks in the countryside - get the wellies on and give them a small bag each so they can collect leaves, etc. When they get home, they can stick them in a scrap book/ any paper. Helps them learn about nature! Wish mine lived near enough so I could have them for the day. You don't say if they are boys/ girls but I remember mine fighting a lot at that age. They grow out of it! Have a good day.

What about a picnic? Let them choose and make the food. Go for a walk, not too far, and wrap up warm. I have my 6 year old GD this week. We've baked and done art work. At the moment she's looking at my i-pad. For a bit of peace and quiet, it's worth it! Do you have a library to visit?

Give them one hundred percent attention for the day.
Are there any physical jobs you could involve them in: raking up leaves, tidying the shed/ garage, sorting out cupboards, even if they don't achieve much. My children used to like 'helping', particularly dirty jobs.
Make a tent indoors,(sheets over furniture) and let them spend the day there.
Take them out for a muddy nature walk, collecting twigs, leaves, conkers, acorns etc to build a display.
If they simply want to play on technical devices, let them but in separate rooms.
And simply: stop them fighting.You are the adult.

Get each boy to write down 5 things they want to do.
Make sure they are doable eg not go to Disney.
Cut up a cereal box into 10 strips.
Write one idea on each strip.
Roll a die and who ever gets the highest number gets to close their eyes an pick out one piece of card..
It doesn't matter who thought of it but let them know that tomorrow you will try and do what is on the card.
The following day the other child picks out a card for the next day.
That gives you 10 days of activities. Of course it's 3 strikes and you are out... if one of the boys does something unacceptable that is one strike. If one of them gets 3 strikes, then they miss a turn at picking out of the activities jar. Take a look at the Money Saving Expert page. They list lots of free ideas for going out.

A few hours of mess v a memory of a happy time spent with you - no contest really I would say. Put down newspapers/plastic tablecloths if you need to but do something creative with them. I am teaching my grandchildren to make simple meals like beans on toast, scrambled eggs, cheating pizza ( a wrap spread with ketchup and sprinkled with grated cheese then grilled until the cheese melts) and they love to help. Yes, it can get a bit messy but nothing drastic! We also bake little sponge cakes they can decorate. They love playing games like Kiddies Monopoly and we also do a quiz which only involves thinking of an animal/fish/bird then answering Yes or No to questions until it is identified. Great fun.

2 of my GS’s used to fight and squabble so I adopted zero tolerance and separated them immediately to separate rooms where they had to read until they calmed down. I was not going to allow them to stress me out and I invented the “ 2 bees” .... be kind and be quiet !! And every time I shouted bees, it worked a treat as a 1st warning ! As they knew that if I spoke a 2nd time they’d be separated, and the separation time just got longer. Cooking is a great idea I always did that with mine on a rainy day. Or we’d do the word game, they each have paper with all the alphabet down one side. Then columns headed animals, countries, girls names, boys names, films/tv etc so they had to think of all answers to the relevant letter of the alphabet. It takes ages, they think it’s fun plus it’s educational too. Good luck !

I would wrap up warm and get them out into the Countryside for a couple of hours,they would be tired by the time they came back and less likely to fight with each other.
The excercise will do you all the world of good and brighten up your mood.

Oh let your house get messy!! Do as kittylester says oilcloth on kitchen table ..paper, glue,paints, the lot! Soon cleared up. Bit of tv. Make brownies or cookies. Lunch in between all that and the day is soon over.
Can't you take them on the bus just for the fun of it? You don't need to even get off. My GC loved the novelty of at as they go everywhere in cars.
Sadly mine are older now and when they do come round are only interested in computer games. Make the most of them being little, sadly time flies and they are suddenly teenagers with their own lives