Occupying kids

I have to say it's quite sad to read that you don't want a mess? I have my little people aged 1 and 2 every week and we make a whole load of mess and what fun we have!!
They are a bit little for crafting but we go for walks and jump in puddles, have picnics on a blanket in the living room, Get plastic bowls and wooden spoons from the kitchen and make a racket with them, we cook on the toy kitchen and Dress up their dolls, we sing endless rounds of Wheels on the bus and Row your boat complete with actions! ?

They have my undivided attention for the day and are happy and worn out by the time they go home, they are small for such a short time please indulge them and enjoy this time, they won't always want to play with you ?

My dgd are aged 11 and 8 girl and boy. We do all sorts. They love ludo and the four of us (including granda) can spend up to an hour for a game.

We also bake easy stuff. I have a great recipe for a fat free egg sponge that almost floats away and they have it off to a tee. We make one for teatime and one for the freezer. Also shortbread is so easy. Jam tarts with shop bought frozen pastry.
They also do a chore in the garden for about a half hour, brushing the patio, sweeping up leaves. And if course they do the setting of the table and clearing it afterwards. Sometimes there's a squabble that one had to lift more than the other.... But if I say 5...4..3...2 etc they know they don't want me to reach 0.

Re: Unruly boys....

Public transportation allowing, could you take them to a local museum, or perhaps the cinema and then maybe pizza afterwards?

Stores can be interesting even if it's perusing the local pet shop or a sports equipment store. Not sure if it's the same in the UK, but our US shopping centers often have 'game centers' and electronic game consoles. The "multiplex" cinemas are usually adjacent to food courts and all manner of kid friendly 'junk' food.

Although I don't consider some of these (bad weather) activities to be optimal (except perhaps the museum or cinema) one may have to resort to extreme measures when faced with a severe case of school age boredom

I get everything out of the recycling bin Paper clips string glue & see what we can make

For anyone looking for Xmas gift ideas, this large craft jar which is sometimes reduced to £14 from Ocado is suitable for 5+. Has loads of interesting bits and bobs and lasts for ages.

Galt Giant Art Jar

Oh my, what a wonderful thread this is. I don’t have my DGC to look after since we moved to live on the other side of the country to them, but I used to have my DD’s eldest DS when he was small, up til he was getting on for 3 and we used to do all of the things mentioned here. Collecting fir cones was a challenge sometimes, he’d insist on packing his pushchair with them and they’d keep falling off, but he loved them so we did it. We’d get a bus into town once a week as a treat - a novelty for him - and go to the library so he could choose his books for mum and me to read to him. I loved it - and would do it all over again in a heartbeat. Thank you all for bringing such happy memories back xx

Ours are a bit younger, but our latest day went like this:
Teaching them to knit (2 minutes till they got bored), watching a dvd (20 minutes of the latest Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - we all hated it), playdough (45 minutes, about the same as it took me to clean up afterwards ). Going on a bus (always a winner, 3 hours, taking the longest route into town and the double decker back, a run round the park at our destination and fish and chips. A lovely lady in the cafe came over to say how beautifully behaved they were - she'd obviously missed the noisy ruck when we had to physically separate them and sit them at opposite sides of the table). Making gingerbread people (1 hour - dead easy and involving lots of messy kneading, cutting, decorating). Going down the allotment with Grandad - hurrah, 20 minutes peace and quiet for me. Add on 3 hours of reading, rolling round, magic tricks, Lego, Hallowe'en bingo, looking through family photos, doing the games on last year's online Advent calendar.... Easy peasy. Though I was glad it was my gin night.

A lovely, busy day today (we went out) until we got home, one climbed on to the table, the other one pushed her gently off (That's NOT ALLOWED!!) and the little one then shoved the older one hard. Crocodile tears from one and a sulky face from the other one. Back with mummy now.

Just returned from taking DDiL and DGC back home after a 5 day stay with us. It took an hour to tidy the house after them and worth every second.

How anyone can agree to look after children for the day if they are not prepared to countenance a mess, passes my imagination.

Did they never let their own children make a mess when they little?

when I had young kids I had to have an alternative occupation available every 20 mins. Fortunately we had a sand pit in the garden, a guinea pig in a hutch and a pond to fish in. they had wellington boots so they could splash in puddles. Indoors we had a box full of cartons for making blue peter style models, they liked Plasticine and play dough made of flour etc. then of course we had the kitchen in which they could help bake etc and cut raw potatoes to make prints on paper etc.

There are some ideas on this site

www.goodtoknow.co.uk/family/holiday-ideas-40-ways-to-entertain-your-kids-66855