Looking for advice from anyone with an older child and a baby!

[katy1310]

Hello

I've been asked to look after my friend's 6 year old daughter now and again through the summer holidays as both she and her partner work and they find childcare a bit difficult.

My own LO is 16 months (but technically really just like a 13 month old, as she was 13 weeks premature).

I've got my friend's DD on Monday from 12.45 till 5.30 and I'm a little bit nervous about looking after both her and my own daughter for all that time on my own!

Just looking for advice from anyone who has children with this sort of age gap - what kind of things are fun and not stressful to do, and is there anything they can do together? How do I keep them occupied for all these hours? My friend's DD was really hard work last time we looked after her, but that was a couple of years ago and I think she's calmed down quite a bit since then!

Thank you

 

[going_crazy]

If the weather is nice, can you take them to the park, or just for a walk? That should kill an hour or so, and you should be able to find something to talk about!

If you're at home, will your daughter have a nap at any point? If she does, you could use this time to bake some simple fairy cakes with the 6yr old? And your daughter could help decorate them later on!

Other than that.... Colouring is always a good one (if you have a printer, you can get some colouring pages off the net). Most pound shops sell 'activity' packs (colouring, wordsearches etc) so have a couple of them to hand.

If you're feeling brave, set up a tray with some cornflour - this is always a good one for any age (including adults!)

Sometimes local libraries have free activities on for most ages so maybe check that out?

Oh, and puzzles are great... I found my older girls love helping my LO do her puzzles, and they will do their own too (if you don't have any at home, check out the charity shops, or ebay or something)

Hope it's not too stressful for you! xxx

 

[hypnorm]

Colouring, painting, sticking, glueing, play dough, walks, beach, tv any thing like that would be good.
Sophie can join in too.

Depends how messy you can stand things.

Hope Monday went ok!
Will see you tomorrow!

 

[5-a-side]

How are things going? have you started looking after her yet?

I have a 5yr gap with my two and they do vary with what they like to do, but I just have to arrange space for each of them.
Their favourite thing to do together is bubble mix. Eldest is good at doing them, youngest good at popping them.
dd1 likes to makes cards, dd2 likes to scribble and colour, so arts/crafts are fun.
Dont forget the wonders of a disney dvd every now and again if they weather is rough or they just want to chill out.