General Chat

When the grandsons (7 and 9) stay with me for a day, (or in the case of the 7 year old, half an hour) it's always paper and pens!
They love drawing, and as they've got older, 'crafty bits' and glue have appeared.

BUT, I also allow them on my PC - half an hour at a time - to play computer games (not 'fighting' games, just 'skill' games).
They don't have their own at home, (daughter has a laptop - but that's mainly for work) and will need to use some form of computer when they go to secondary school.
Quite often, if they want to know something, I suggest they 'Google' it - I've noticed a lot of teenagers don't know how to look things up on the internet - and guide them through what may be rubbish, to look more than once, using different wording etc etc.
Their sister (15) was here when she wanted to join something like 'snapchat', (not sure which) I dissuaded her from using her real forename, but to use her nickname, and to limit details.
I'm pleased to say, her picture is.......a black square!!
:-D

Our 4 year old great grandson has a terrific imagination. I get loads of photos on Facebook of him dressed ( by his choosing the bits for the outfits) as various things and characters. His Mum and her sister are both very artistic, sister makes the most wonderful decorated cakes so maybe the children get their imagination from them.

Vera that was a lovely present love your little character.
It is encouraging to know that there are still families where the imagination is not stifled.

Maggie, not one for camping myself but sounds wonderful for the children. Those seven children plus their grandparents on the Mums’ side all enjoy camping.

As someone who has worked in nursery, secondary and at present primary education, I get loads of access to resources especially doing crafty things.

So when my children were a bit younger and the other 2 wee horrors were deposited with me for an afternoon etc, I never put on the tv or computer but had activities ready for them. We built ferry terminals out of lego, the boats out of jenga blocks plus all the toys cars they could find in the toy box. I did painting and also used pasta and spaghetti, popcorn kernals, wool and alsorts to create different pictures.

We also made a sandpit outside which my own 2 loved. Was very hard to get them in for meals and bathtime after tea...always wanted 5 more minutes....

I was lucky being where I am as we didn't have a computer til my kids were around6 I think windows 95 and that was an old comp second hand..lol Think son was 8 before he got a Ps1 !

And yes I was an Avon lady and by golly those boxes were put to good use in many ways including being a boat!

Funny cus youngest nephew always said in my house it was a bit like his classroom and you could tell I was a teacher.....

Oh happy memories...but daughter and I still play monopoly and scrabble sometimes..

Florence
in the hebrides

Fantastic Ann, nothing wrong with letting children use their minds (no matter what strange places that takes them to)...lolol

You have seen what my grandchildren get up to when left to their own devices but under supervision - I love it.

Couldn't wait until Elis was old enough to have a chemistry set which was this year.

They do have personal gadgets but their time on those is limited by their parents.

Kids come up with the funniest games and play together which I think is very important in building their relationships.

I really admire anyone who can include other children in organised play.

Vera, what a lovely present! <3

DET, nothing better than a cardboard box :-D :-D :-D

Sometimes its the parents who need the imagination, and a casual approach to indoor 'mess'.

Who used to sell Avon, door-to-door? The empty delivery boxes were put to great use in imaginative play. Anything from cut up and tied onto arms to be wings (that involved jumping off the settee) to decorating as a car.
Our pre school son was playing with a friend. The friend was asked if he was sitting in a car or a boat.
"No. Its a box" (sigh)

Your grandson's wife sounds like a fun mum and auntie.

Most youngsters have brilliant imaginations if they are not stifled by being plonked in front of the TV from the age of 1 and seldom read to or played with.

When my two were young (around 5 and 7) OH brought home from work a great pile of large new cardboard boxes. They kept the kids and their friends going all summer. They became space ships and boats and tunnels and goodness knows what else. I wasted a lot of that summer just watching them play :-D

My daughter is a teacher, though of secondary age pupils, and one wet February half term she got her two, then aged just 6 and 9, to make me a DVD for my birthday. They made plasticine models and wrote a script, then she helped them pose and photograph the models and turn it into a sort of cartoon film. It took them all week as every tiny movement meant the models had to be reposed. The children narrated it and I was given the DVD, called "Our Nan" for my birthday, together with the models they had made.

I got the plasticine bits and pieces out again today but sadly 11 years later they have gone brittle and started to break. I managed to put "Nan", me, together and that's it in my avatar. I'm sure I never had teeth or eyes quite like that!

The nursery school of the year keeps them outdoors all the time and makes them build their own things to play on.

Good on 'em I say.

That sounds brilliant, Ann :-D :-D
We usually have an 'extended family' holiday, rent a house somewhere - which costs an arm and a leg, and take day tips out
This year, we went camping - just down the road (well about 30 miles away).
My sister helps run an isolated campsite solely for 'groups' - like the cubs, scouts, guides etc., (that we regularly donate our time to - redecorating, repairing, etc) and there was a free week in the school holidays, so we took it!
There were 14 of us, including 5 children.
The site has a kitchen, toilets, showers and a 'schoolroom' - an ideal place for meals.
My elder daughter regularly goes camping, and has a canvas bell tent, other tents were borrowed.
We had the whole site to ourselves - no TV, no internet - nothing.
There's a wood. There are also badgers, kites, a couple of different species of owl and rabbits :-D
Oh, and moles - nothing quite so strange as watching a mole digging under your tent :-S
The children became deliciously 'feral', and disappeared into the woods for most of the day. We realised we should have had some sort of dinner gong, to get them back!
We had a couple of days of rain - and only went out once.

Preparing to book next years holiday, and mentioning a house - all the children said they wanted to go back to the campsite!
:-D

Sounds like great fun Ann. :-D
Ours do a lot of fun things as well both with us and parents. They like their technology as well but have always played lots of imaginary and sometimes very messy games ;-)

Not something that todays children are used to with so much technology providing their entertainment.
But I am so proud of my Eldest grandson's wife. She is a nursery assistant and often gets her two boys doing things at home away from Ipads, TVs, computer games etc (which they do also use) Eldest is 4 and youngest 20 months but she thinks nothing of having messy play in the lounge (luckily wooden floors) or other occupations that involve them doing practical things.
However the latest really impressed me. Besides her own two she has two nieces and three nephews so seven children under 10 altogether. The other night she had an outdoor movie night in her garden. She rigged up a sheet for a screen and borrowed her Dad's projector, they had hot dogs, popcorn and other snacks and the photos show all the children with eyes sparkling and big smiles as they huddle under blankets in the garden, even the 20 month old was wide eyed and happy. Now that, I think, is really using their imaginations, they will remember that.