Jun 22, 2010

Ten on Tuesday - 10 Ways To Entertain a Child

My husband wasn't the only one who enjoyed the beautiful, sunny, day on Sunday. Frankie got to play in her pool too. In the summer we let her out in our daughters old wading pool to soak up the sun and spread her legs even more than usual. She loves it so here's a rare shot of our Frankie.

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On to the Ten on Tuesday topic for today - 10 Ways to Entertain a Child. This is an interesting topic since it really varies by child and by age. Let's mix it up a bit. Shall we?

1. Boxes - I think we've all given a baby a gift at one point or another and noted that they're more interested in the box than the carefully chosen gift that was in it. As they get older they hide in them, build with them, and can find endless things to do with them.
2. Books - My girls still like to be read to on occasion.
3. Museums - not all museums (my girls recently advised me to leave art museums off my list of places to take my nephew when he visits) but if you are careful to match the museum to the kid it can be great. Air and Space. The Spy Museum. The Newseum.
4. The Pool - Stinkerbelle can spend hours in the pool - especially with a few pool toys.
5. Cooking - My girls have always loved to cook and so do the girls in my GS Troop. It's not just the cooking either. They love choosing the recipe, and gathering the ingredients, and of course the tasting what they made.
6. Crafty stuff - My girls love anything messy. Stinkerbelle's newest hobby is beads. I will be sporting some very nice new bracelets soon.
7. Puzzles - I've recently become mildly addicted to jigsaw puzzles (JigZone anyone?) and Stinkette wanted to get in on the fun so now we're doing old fasioned jigsaw puzzles together.
8. Bike rides and hikes - I can't say I do this a lot but I'd like to and I'm working up to it.
9. Board games - Stinkette never misses an opportunity for a family game night.
10. Playgrounds - I can remember when DQ was little and I had more time on my hands and we'd drive for miles to get to our favorite playgrounds. The ones with the biggest and best slides.

How would you entertain a child? Let's say its a nearly 9 year-old boy. My nephew will be visiting in August and I'm compiling a list of ideas since I don't have a lot of experience with boys.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I don't have a whole lot of experience with boys either, but I used to spend a good deal of time with my nephew. I found that at nine, they pretty much like a lot of the same stuff girls do - crafts, cooking, swimming. Some of those museums you talked about sound pretty cool for a 9 year old boy too.

Vicki Knitorious said...

Oh puzzles! We were recently speaking fondly of strategies learned from our great granddad -- a master (and rather silent) puzzler. One of my twin sisters was much more into puzzling than the other and always kept her current puzzle on a board under her bed... which would get messed up at regular intervals by the other when crossed. Oh, the memories (and the fighting!)!

Carole Knits said...

You could take him fishing! Great shot of Frankie.

Kristi aka Fiber Fool said...

In watching my friend's boys I don't think there is a ton of difference in keeping them entertained until they are little older. A 9 year old may getting to that point. I bet the Spy Museum would be a big hit though. Shoot, *I* want to go to a spy museum :-)