Hello everyone
Long story but I am looking after a three and a half year old little girl for around seven hours tomorrow.  I don't know her very well but well enough for her to be happy to stay with me (the lady with the big black dog!!).  She is a lovely, happy, lively talkative little girl.  She will be bringing some toys but I just wondered if anyone had any ideas for making her afternoon a fun and happy one.  We don't have children and I'm really looking forward to this and feel quite honoured to be trusted with her.  Quite happy to take her out and we'll certainly be going for a dog walk.
Thank you!!

I have a three year old neice who I try to avoid having to mind as I'm the least maternal person you'll ever meet but I usually find the really simple things amuse her far more than expensive toys. She will probably love going out with you for a dog walk. Do you have somewhere near you where you can feed ducks? Or what about a play park...my neice loves to play on the swings and slide and hang off the monkey bars (usually causing me to have heart failure!!). Or if you are near a beach, sandcastles and poking around in rock pools are great. As for indoor entertainment...she loves to draw or paint. Finger painting (and toes) is really fun but incredibly messy. Also, baking simple things like muffins or cookies is fun for kiddies as you can let them help you mix things up. Again, can be messy but remember how much fun it was to get messy when you were a kid?

Good luck...I guarantee you will be exhausted by the end of the day!!

Painting! My kids loved painting. Don't know if you want the mess though <LOL>  And drawing pictures and colouring and playing with dough, its better than plasticine and won't matter if the dog gets it. Failing that there's always the tv! :D

Yup - painting and a big cardboard box has kept my kids amused for years!

Brilliant.  Thanks - it looks like simple is best and I reckon we can do most of that - feed the ducks, do some painting (or something similar!) water Ella with the hose (she loves doing that) then collapse!  Will let you know how we get on :)
Love Alex

Chloe,

A mother who thinks like me:D :D :D :D :D :D :D

A washing-up bowl and some kitchen things would be great fun - different sized cups, mugs, bowls, a colander, spoons :D  things that float/sink  - again really messy with the water but great fun :D :D (supervised naturally ;) :D :D :D )

How about finding your nearest indoor soft play area cos if the kids are still off school near you it will be empty and they are always great fun (and she will probably think you are the bestest ever). But as the others have said paints and boxes will usually do the trick. Have fun cos your gonna be sooo tired tommorrow.:)

Nikki

Paper and crayons :-)

:D

Add some fairy liquid to that bowl - put 3 year old in garden and watch her get herself soaked :D

And an eggwhisk - see how many bubbles she can make!

If you really want to make use of the washing up bowl do some cooking first!  Fairy cakes go down well, let her decorate them with gross coloured icing!  She can then do the washing up!

My neighbours son loves coming in to help me cook.

Oh yes baking is another good idea :)

Indigo has 'made' a cake today for Flo's 13 B'day today at nursery. ( Linda who runs the nursery has the same Bday as Flo and she is an ex inmate :D ) It was decorated in blood red icing

Also the going to feed the duck's  is a good one and if you need a break during the day as I am sure you will need , sit the siad child in front of telly if you have Sky and put Cbeebies on :) Educational whilst entertaining ;)

Lucy
xx

Happy Birthday Flo :-D

Flo says thanks Kerry :)

Lucy
xx

Awww no problem :-) i hope she got everything that she wished for :-D

Thank you everyone for such great ideas and Happy Birthday Flo for yesterday.  Two hours to 'lift off' I'll let you know how we get on :)

Good luck...I'm sure you'll be fine. Tired...but fine :)

Hi everyone - going to bore you now
Well we had great fun, she was such a very easy child but blimey where do they get their energy?  We made some cakes then, while they were going cold, we went to the local park play area.  This terrified me, I didn't realise it was the last day of term so was much much busier than normal and I have to say I prefer my quiet little walks with Ella!  I have never seen so many children and some of them really aren't very nice.  Anyway Jessica loved it although I was convinced she was going to break her neck and followed her around everywhere!  We then walked to another park and fed the geese and saw two herons which I was impressed with but Jessica wasn't that bothered.
Got back and iced cakes and stuck postman pat 'stickers' on them.  Had quick drink and disturbed OH's watching of the test match which was fun!  Took Ella for a 'walk' which I'm sorry to say consisted of occasionally throwing a ball for a very confused dog whilst pretending the woods had secret cages in them where we had to look for special leaves and feathers. Back for scrambled eggs on toast made very nicely by OH as I don't do eggs - do all children eat that slowly?  Watered garden and an even more confused Ella who had a mad puppy run around which she hasn't done for ages.  Got into pajamas, bounced on the bed and did lacing cards whilst watching Maisie the Mouse video.
Phew, how do you lot with kids do this every day?  Had to put dinner in fridge and have take-away.  Loved it but got a bit upset as it's something I'll never have.  Never mind I'm borrowing her again next week :)
Thanks for the advice, she wants to see animals next time so I'm going to find a childrens zoo, any ideas South London or Kent?

That sounds like a lovely day and you certainly put a lot of effort into making it so :)
Have you never thought about fostering?

It was a lovely day, thank you :) We have tentatively discussed fostering and adoption but I think our age and the fact I have a bad back (which is very bad today!) has made us decide against this.  Most of the time I'm quite happy with dogs, it's just occasionally I wonder what it would have been like to have children too!