What do your little ones do during the day?

[athomeontheprairie]

I have 6 kids.

My little guys (3 yo) have a lot of free time. Play with toys, play outside, color. Reading after lunch and before bed. But beyond that, and family meals, no real structure. No plans.

Am I alone? Do you do stuff with your little ones? I did when I had two. I feel like they've gotten the short end of the stick. I don't "plan" special stuff, activities, games, crafts for them. Maybe I should?

 

Idk, tell me about life with your little ones (especially if you have 5+ Kidsa)

[Ellie]

I have 6 kids.

My little guys (3 yo) have a lot of free time. Play with toys, play outside, color. Reading after lunch and before bed. But beyond that, and family meals, no real structure. No plans.

Am I alone? Do you do stuff with your little ones? I did when I had two. I feel like they've gotten the short end of the stick. I don't "plan" special stuff, activities, games, crafts for them. Maybe I should?

 

Idk, tell me about life with your little ones (especially if you have 5+ Kidsa)

 

Sounds good to me. :-) I only had two, but I didn't play with them. I loved them, and hugged them, and all that stuff, but I did not *play with* them. No games that they could not play independently (after a little instruction from me), no crafts (ohmygoodness...before five years old?? no.).

[LindaOz]

My youngest is five and is now doing K but she and next-sister-up still spend lots of time in unstructured play. When they were preschoolers we read a lot together and I would sometimes do an activity or game with them - but not on a structured basis. They had lots of time to play freely. I think its healthy to let them play freely as it gives opportunity for them to be creative.

 

So, it sounds to me like you're doing great :)

Edited June 13, 2017 by LindaOz

[Desert Strawberry]

I planned things for Gem because he would destroy the house and everything in it if I didn't keep him busy. The others, nah. They hung out with us while we did lessons, listened to stories, napped, played, we went for walks, ate snacks. Just the usual kids stuff. 

 

Luna has therapy 1-2 times a week, plus story times, and playgroup. She tags along with us to outings. We are swimming now, and we go to playgrounds often. Now that she is healthier and more active, I'm not sure what we'll do with her. I hope she just slides into the routine, but she's been at the heart of it for her whole life. 

 

I don't think my younger kids are missing out by having less structure to their days. They seem to be doing ok. 

[....]

Unfortunately, ds2 does "school" for about half an hour every day.  He sets it up for me, too.  He usually drags over a stack of wooden puzzles and a couple of books about dinosaurs (he's obsessed with dinosaurs right now).  He will also ask to paint a picture (he really likes to paint) or color with crayons.  I'm starting to think he is very extroverted.  He just doesn't like to do anything alone.

 

Besides "school", he jumps on his mini-trampoline, plays with Peppa the Pig figurines (gosh, that kid has a Peppa the Pig problem), crawls through his tunnel and tent, drives his dinosaur herd through the living room, etc.

 

He can get really needy when I'm working with the older ones.  We usually wait until his big nap in the afternoon and then I sit down to work with the other kids. 

[2_girls_mommy]

Last year from 2.5 to 3, mine did a lot of free play, some TV time, some playdough or painting (usually to start the day, while we were all getting set up for the day.) She loved the preschooly workbooks with stickers from Dollar Tree. I keep a stock of them constantly since we discovered the ones there that she loves. 

 

But most of the day is free play. She has easy access to Legos, a train set, puzzles, several different manipulative letter sets, blocks, toy kitchen, a tent, dress ups, and all kinds of things. The floor by the afternoon in the room we all work in is usually a huge mess. We all pick up together before read aloud time. During that time, she has learned to get out markers and coloring books like her sisters and at least starts the reading time with us. (This was after she gave up napping. We used to do our read alouds while she napped. I of course read to her before she lay down.)  She gets specific reading time at night before bed from stacks of storybooks. 

 

I don't worry that I don't set up too many special crafts and lessons just for her. She gets specific preschool lessons in other ways. We belong to two homeschool groups. One has a great preschool program. So she goes to that once a week, plus the park for playdates with them in the summer. Our other co-op is for the older kids, but she has friends, outdoor play and some preschooly activities while there. I take her to a preschool dance class on the weekends for music and movement and more preschool friend time. She goes to Sunday School and Children's church on Sundays with tons of hands on crafty stuff and age appropriate activities and singing. She did our church's VBS for the first time this summer and goes to any other church family activities.  Since it is summer now and I am not doing school with the older kids I am taking her to the library storytimes for preschoolers. They have a theme each week with books, songs, and crafts that go along. So she gets plenty of that kind of thing. At home she has all kinds of outdoor stuff like wading pool, sandbox, swingset, trampoline, tricycle, etc. She helps me water plants, do the laundry, feed the pets, bake, and clean house. I feel like it is fine for her, and she isn't missing any of the planned crafty stuff from other places. She really likes that kind of thing, so we have scissors, glue, paper, and paints and all of that whenever she wants it. I don't limit it. We just have a pick time each afternoon. 

 

So I do not worry that I don't set up a ton of activities for her just yet. I did buy her the Rod and Staff preschool ABC workbooks, which I don't think she is ready for yet. I figure this coming year, around the start of second semester we can add those to her day for a few minutes. 

[mykidsrmyjoy]

I have 5 children ages 1-8 with another little one due this winter. I don't really *play* with my kids. I'm with them from the time they wake up until the time they go to bed, they are constantly interacting with me as I go about my daily duties and guide them through their daily chores and routines, but honestly, when would I ever find the time to sit and play for an hour? I feel like I have given each one of them the gift of several siblings to play with, a mommy who is able to stay at home with them, guidance and structure for their day, plenty of quality toys and activities, reading aloud together, 3 meals a day that are eaten together, a minute here and there throughout the day to have tickle time on the couch or play hide and seek as I go put away some laundry...you get the idea. :-)

Most of the morning for the 1 and 3 year olds is spent eating breakfast and then free play, either alone or with siblings. We are more relaxed during the summer when off school, but when the older ones are doing school the toddler boys will play together some and then spend some alone time in a bedroom. We all eat lunch together and then spend some time outside afterwards. Most of the afternoon is taken up with naps.

Edited June 15, 2017 by mykidsrmyjoy

[Zinnia]

I only have 4.  My baby is 4, and she is the perfect kid for the kind of stuff that I tried to do with #1.  :D  Only I don't have time for that anymore.  She definitely gets the short end of the stick.  

 

I think I'm going to do 30 minutes of themed stuff with her in the mornings this coming year.  She would love that.

[happypamama]

I've got five from three to fifteen. I get you. I try to carve out a little time for doing early learner activities and picture books with my little guys, but it's very hard. I'm so glad they have each other because they play a lot of the day while I work with older ones and do necessary housework.

 

When my parents were here this winter for several weeks before and after baby number six died, I saw that it really did take the four of us adults to accomplish everything. No wonder I feel like there's not enough of me. We do the best we can for our little ones.

[PeterPan]

What I did was make it work. What I should'a done was hired someone or sent him to preschool. And that's with only two kids but a huge gap (9.5 years). 

[rose]

I have 7 with one on the way. The four youngest basically have free time all day. I do get them to do the odd thing to help me like some clean up and such but mostly they play with each other, argue, have snacks, are mischievous, etc. If they're getting ornery near dinner time I'll have someone read them a story. Occasionally my dd4 will do R&S preschool pages but she mostly does this independently. Ds6 does about 45mins of school per day, about 1/2 hours of set chores and then is free the rest of the day. I'll have him do extra chores sprinkled through out the day. He's one of my most difficult to deal with. He really hates being bored and thrives on stimulation. I'd like to up his school time but it's hard to fit it in.

[La Condessa]

I have two littles of my own, plus two extra littles that come twice a week to do preschool with us. Having them scheduled to come keeps me from letting the preschooly stuff slide completely. Even so, we're pretty relaxed with lots of unstructured play. I plan for my older girls to have lighter loads of their more teacher-intensive subjects on those days, and they mostly do independent work during the ~1.5 hour time I am working with the littles. I do a mini violin lesson for each of them, pulling out one of my independent school-time activities for those who are waiting their turns (like pattern blocks, c-rods, magnet dolls, watercolors, play dough, etc.), and then I do preschool math or phonics with those who want to, one at a time with the little cuddled in my lap. After that, they all go jump on the trampoline or play Legos or color for a while and I do some work with my older girls. Then during lunch, they join in as we work on memorization, listen to read-alouds, or work on Spanish. They seem to be doing well with their little doses of individual attention and lots of independent play. The other days of the week, I still do violin with my boys, but usually no other individual subjects.

[Lorelei King]

my little ones love to run around the yard and explore the forest behind us.  we take hikes and i talk them through the geology, biology and some basic current events of the day.  exercise, science & world events.  for me too! :)