Babysitter activities will always be important. I have a strong memory of my babysitter when I was a young girl. Her name was Danielle. She used to come over and watch us when our parents went out for dinner or went away for a weekend. She was my most favorite person of all time. There was always an outdoor adventure to be had, or she had us enthralled in the most amazing craft activities at the kitchen table. Even better, cuddled up on the lounge, spinning us a tale that would have us mesmerized for hours.
With a few great babysitter activities under your hat and a story or two to tell, you will have your own little following before you know it.
If it’s a sunny day and the great outdoors is calling, these babysitter activities will delight your little charges.
Shark Attack
Grab a few hula-hoops or jump ropes in a circular pattern. Set them out in the yard a reasonable distance apart. These will be your islands. One child is the shark placed in the middle of the islands, while the other children are placed on an island. When the shark yells “shark attack,” the kids must run from one island to the other without getting tagged. The person tagged becomes the next shark.
Carnival Fun
Using folding chairs, cardboard boxes, picnic tables, and benches, set up “booths” around the yard for a carnival. Use some of the kid’s toys, such as squirt guns, plastic bowling pins, or horseshoe sets to create games. If you want to get the kids really involved, have them invent their own carnival game from their toys. You can pretend to be a mysterious fortune teller and read the children’s palms. Serve hotdogs, toffee apples and bags of popcorn to make the day complete.
Get Off My Tail
Cut three or four 1-foot lengths of string or lightweight rope and tuck them into the back of the child’s pants. Have the kids run around the yard and try to step on each other’s tails until they detach. The last one with their tail intact wins. The larger the yard, the better.
Bubble Pop
This is a hit with the under 4 crowds. Get the kids outside, sit down and blow some bubbles over their heads. Tell the kids they are not to let any bubbles escape to the sky. They can pop the bubble with their hands or let them use tennis or badminton rackets.
If the weather is turning bad outside, bring the children indoors and try a few of these babysitter activities. A lot of them can be adapted for the outside as well.
Scavenger hunt
Make a list of materials that the kids can find – blue sock, a water bottle, a blank piece of paper, etc. Give a copy to each child and see who can find the most items first. The level of difficulty can be easily manipulated in this game.
Balloon Volleyball
Blow up a balloon and wrangle the kids into a game of living room volleyball. If you have a single child in your charge, no problem. Time them on how long they can keep the balloon in the air using all available body parts.
Musical Statues
You need music on your phone and a speaker or CD player for this one. Have the children do crazy dances to the music. Then when you stop the music, they must freeze in whatever position they find themselves in. If the kids move before the music goes back on, they are out and must help you with the music or judging.
Fort Build
Who doesn’t love making home forts? Enlist your charges to design a fortress, complete with fort name, fort flag, and at least two rooms to live in. You can use tables, chairs, sheets, blankets, cushions, anything! Set the kids up with colorful crayons and paper to make the flags to fly over their fort once they have named it. To end up the adventure, let them have lunch or dinner in the fortress.
Rock Band
If your kids don’t have actual kid-sized instruments, use pots and pans, buckets, lids, and brooms. Put together a living room rock band and play along to the music. You can make this even better if you raid the closets and get dressed up like rock stars.
If you need to quieten the kids down before bedtime, or you are minding them in a restaurant, these babysitter activities might be perfect for you.
What’s missing?
Gather around some small items, such as pens, small toys, coins, and utensils. Place a few on the table for the kids to see. The more you have, the harder the game. Give them between 10 and 20 seconds to try to memorize what is there. Then cover the items with a towel. Have them turn around and close their eyes. Quickly remove one of the things. Get them to turn back around and lift the towel. Have the kids figure out which object is missing.
Eye Spy
This is an oldie but a goodie. Say, “I spy, with my little eye, something that starts with A”……. Let the kids go through their guesses. If they are too young to spell, you can easily adapt this to use colors.
When you’re babysitting, games for kids to play, either indoors or outdoors, will make the time fly. Start with these and then move onto more advanced games. If you are serious, get some simple props to help with your games. You will never be stuck with something to do.
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