Oh Christ

[tenlittlebullets]

How do you keep a five-year-old entertained for five and a half hours?

I'm terrible with kids. I've been enlisted to baby-sit the girl across the street tomorrow morning--neighborly duty + promise of cash. I have the feeling I'm either going to be the Boring Babysitter Who Never Does Anything Fun or the Terrifying Corrupter of Youth. Current plans involve Disney movies, crayons, and possibly a use for those Great Illustrated Classics. I don't even knowwwww.

Comments

[collectingbees.livejournal.com]

Since I have a 6 year old nephew constantly at my disposal I can help!: pretend games are really fun for them, like pretending that they're dragon slayers or circus animals or something. They don't get enough of that these days and they really love it. Dress-up-pretend is also a hit (especially with girls, who like being boys for some reason? :P ) If all else fails, hide-and-seek (for the most part, if you set rules down about where she can hide safely), rocks, especially if you're the seeker because you can take your time finding them. Extra fun: if they hide in an obvious place and be too noisy to actually hide (which trust me, they will!), pretend that you still can't find them even if they're right in front of you. Or ask her to "perform" something for you (they LOVE that).

I hope that those help!

[hazellwood.livejournal.com]

What she said. I'm around my younger cousins every summer, and they love things like dress-up and 'performing'. Hide and seek is definitely a good game to play with kids-- some tend to hide in obvious places with their eyes closed because "If I can't see you, you can't see me."

[reconditarmonia.livejournal.com]

I agree. I mean, I haven't dealt with five-year-olds, but I looooooooooooooved dress-up when I was five.

[alligatorandme.livejournal.com]

I wasn't really ever into dress-up, but I did love dinosaurs! Does she love dinosaurs or other kinds of animals? If so, she might have a collection of plastic, possibly poseable animals -- you could have her bring some over (unless you're going to their house, not vice versa) and act out a story?

[(Anonymous)]

And if she has those, and a film or play she loves - she can make them act it out. :D Especially if it's a musical and she has the soundtrack! *totally didn't make her Barbies do genderswitched Pirates of Penzance*

[reconditarmonia.livejournal.com]

That was me.

[collectingbees.livejournal.com]

my nephew doesn't have any sort of adventuresome dress up clothes! Which, is a tragic crying shame, and I've been trying to sneak him some.

[10littlebullets.livejournal.com]

Oooh, good idea! I think we still have the dress-up clothes from when me and my brother were kids, as well as the more extravagant stuff in my wardrobe. And yeah, I remember playing elaborate games of pretend as late as fifth or sixth grade (when I guess they were starting to drift into LARP territory, lol).

If all else fails, we have Legos. And a piano. And the Star Wars original trilogy.

[collectingbees.livejournal.com]

My dear, my friends and I were LARPing before the term was even invented. There are so many pictures of us dressed up as cowboys/Indians/pirates/knights/God knows what running around with homemade weapons, tearing around a backyard screaming. When in doubt, dress-up pretend is a sure-fire win.

Also, Legos are a lifesaver. So is Mary Poppins. She truly must be practically perfect because she gets my nephew to shut up and behave the entire duration of the movie!

[duva.livejournal.com]

Five-year olds are a hoot. :D

[ulkis.livejournal.com]

Disney movies and crayons should be fine. Also, I've learned kids love to run. If there's enough room to run around doofily they like it.

[alligatorandme.livejournal.com]

And then they get tired and fall asleep. It's grand!

[ulkis.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately it's always almost only 5 minutes after I'm ready to keel over! :)

[collectingbees.livejournal.com]

or they avoid going to sleep by wanting to have more and more books read to them OR they want to say good night to everything in the entire house. XD

[evewithanapple.livejournal.com]

Let the kid lead. Usually they know what they want to do, and they're happy if you just go along. Or you could try to find some kind of recipe that doesn't involve the oven- if there's one thing kids love, it's making stuff. Especially if they get to eat it after.