In Lieu of TV . . .

[CocoCoops]

It's heading into winter time and we are in a climate where it RAINS (and rains and rains!) all winter so I'm hoping there are folks out there with really good ideas on how I can prevent my sons (5 & 7) from coming home from school and gluing themselves to the TV until bedtime.

I'm looking for really good ideas where the kids can be self-sufficient in entertaining themselves - I don't mind be a part of the action and welcome those ideas, too, but I do want to instill in them a sense of responsibility for their own entertainment.

We have a toy room full of toys and legos and only about 10% of the time I can convince them to hang out there... potential old-toy fatigue there I think. Need to get rid of a lot of old stuff - but what's a good replacement?

We have a room with 2 desks that I call the "Craft Room" upstairs. I would love to hear any good ideas there for activities the boys can do on there own.

They are in 2 afterschool activities, one son has 3 ... but most don't last more than an hour. Generally, I really want them to not get sucked into TV, Video Games, and Computers so without a really good outdoor situation (RAIN + we have VERY small back yard + neighborhood kids are few and far between) I'm hoping someone out there has some great ideas!

 

[terri01p]

Books,
Playing with friends
Building a model
Playing with a pet
Let them prepare their lunches for the next day
Listen to music or stories ( adventure in odessy's are good ones)
Coloring, crossword puzzles, loads of stuff like that

My children use to come in from school and never watch tv, so many other things to do, we always had a puzzle of some sort going.

 

[familyS]

A few more suggestions for you:

Puzzles
Drawing
Music and dance
Help prepare dinner

(CocoCoops, I am going to post your Bert/Ernie statement at work )

 

[koolaidmoms]

Teaching them to cook dinner
Create science experiments together
Arts & Crafts - creating a large scale something - village, pyramids, etc. that will take a few days or a week to complete
Studying something of interest to them - dinosaurs, Egyptians, Roman times and creating something from that period.
Games they can play together - card games, Battle Ship, etc.
Get books from the library to learn something they are interested in - Magic, knitting, building large lego statues for display

Hope this helps some.

 

[firefox2]

Scouts maybe? I found when my kids were in Scouts, they always had tons of activities to do for the next meeting. I also limited my kids tv time, and just told them that they can do other things (reading, crafts, etc.). So, because my kids were limited on tv time, they have now grown to rarely watch tv (they are 17 and 20 now). I could say honestly, my son (20) maybe watches an hour of tv a week, if that, and my daughter (17), well, she can't be bothered at all, so maybe she watches an hour a month, if that.

One thing I got my kids into that was easy at that age.....making beeswax candles and rolling them in sparkles, and then they would give them as gifts for Christmas, and anything made in the New Year, they would donate to the hospitals for Hospice or Preemie ward, to sell in their shops. Warning though, if you decide to get them into this, talk to someone at Michael's or something, only certain sparkles can be used that won't spark.

I know what it's like, I live in Victoria, the rain capital of the world I think

 

[minkydog]

I always had a rule that there was no TV until after 7pm. That pretty much took care of that. When they were your kids' ages they had NO access to computers, video games, cell phones or any other kinds of electronics except their CD players.

What they did have were craft supplies. In the dining room or on a card table in the kitchen. After school my kids just wanted to chill out with me, doing some kind of crafty things (as opposed to being upstairs, out of the way.) I never set up any sort of craft-of-the-day. I just made the stuff available. If they wanted to use it, fine. Or they could read, play board games, do puzzles, or any other quiet, non-running-in-the-house activity.

My kids have wonderful memories of making doll houses, making animals our of chenille, working with playdoh, sewing on burlap, glueing pictures to construction paper, and creating Christmas ornaments with glue and glitter.

Childhood is too short to waste it in front of a TV or computer monitor.

 

[itsheresomewhere]

I don't know if you can do this but I made our basement into a playroom with climbers, reading corner and gym mats. Lately, all we have is rain so it is getting used a lot.

 

[minniebeth]

Forts, forts and more forts! Forts out of blankets, sheets, pillows, blocks, clothes, you name it and let them be creative. They can do reading, playing, eating and everything else in their forts. Let them keep them up for a few days even if it's a big mess and then it will give them something else to do to put them away, building on the skills of team work and organization!

Also, there are a lot of creative kids' recipe books out there, set up a creative snack that they can make and eat after school on their own. Let them help plan and cook some meals and snacks.

 

[minkydog]

Forts, forts and more forts! Forts out of blankets, sheets, pillows, blocks, clothes, you name it and let them be creative. They can do reading, playing, eating and everything else in their forts. Let them keep them up for a few days even if it's a big mess and then it will give them something else to do to put them away, building on the skills of team work and organization!

OMG, how could I have forgotten FORTS? My kids loved to make forts. That occupied them for hours at a time.

 

[Tinijocaro]

Pull something new out every day for them in a central location-dining room table maybe -just not in the toy room.

A couple board games or card games

Legos

Colored pencils or markers and paper, glue, stencils...

Activity book of some type

Teach them cat's cradle

Let them make a fort

Help them set up a store.

Here's something my kids loved for the longest time. I bought several types of dried beans. I gave them a bowl, cup, ladle, masher...they had so much fun with that. They even played store with it and used it as currency. They loved to sort the different types of beans.

 

[PatsGirl]

I love the idea of cooking with them, maybe each child could have a turn helping to make dinner or dessert once a week? I found that my kids liked to do anything "grown-up" and keeping with the kitchen theme that would include going through the local flyer and making a shopping list and meal plan of sorts.

 

[golfgal]

The best way for them to do all of the above without you being the cruise director is to have friends over. If there aren't kids close by you will just have to start planning this out. Can their school friends come over right after school-ours can take the bus with their friends (well they could when they rode the bus).

 

[princess momma]

I find that if I get my kids started on something they'll be interested but if I suggest things they'll sit on the couch and whine. For example, if I take out the crayons, markers, paper, etc., and spread it out on the table they jump right in. But if I suggest that they color, they wouldn't want to. It takes a little planning but it's worth it.

Some things my kids do to stay busy:

color
PlayDough or sometimes we make our own scented PlayDough (which they love!)
Legos
crafts
cooking/baking
board games
puzzles

 

[golfgal]

I find that if I get my kids started on something they'll be interested but if I suggest things they'll sit on the couch and whine. For example, if I take out the crayons, markers, paper, etc., and spread it out on the table they jump right in. But if I suggest that they color, they wouldn't want to. It takes a little planning but it's worth it.

Some things my kids do to stay busy:

color
PlayDough or sometimes we make our own scented PlayDough (which they love!)
Legos
crafts
cooking/baking
board games
puzzles

If my kids sat on the couch and whined they would be offered a dust rag or a mop, not toys to play with .

 

[princess momma]

If my kids sat on the couch and whined they would be offered a dust rag or a mop, not toys to play with .

My kids actually like to mop and dust and do windows. They even fight over who gets to spray the Windex.

 

[Pigeon]

We have a one hour of screen time a day on weekends rule, with none during the week other than using the computer for homework. It works very well for us, so TV watching is never an issue.

How about reading, board games, art projects, crafts, leggos, lincoln logs--any toy that involves building is good.

We instilled a love of reading in our kids, so that's what they do when they want quiet recreation. They both play instruments. My older dd (12) has to play for an hour a day and with that, afterschool activities and the insane amount of homework she gets, there's no time for TV during the week anyway. The younger (9) also gets ridiculous amounts of homework, practices her instrument for half an hour, and she plays with her toys pretty well. She also dances and will practice gymnastics, which is great fun in the house.

 

[3boymthr]

We had this problem a few years ago. Well, I was sick of them wanting to do nothing but watch TV for hours and days on end. So I made it a hard and fast rule that the TV does NOT come on before x time unless it's raining or snowing heavily. At our house it's 6 o'clock in the winter and 7 o'clock in the summer and on school nights they have to get their homework done first. I don't even try to find things to distract them. They know it's the rule and they just entertain themselves.

 

[emer95]

Let me tell you what changed our lives. We live in Buffalo, so it is cold and dark for much of the time we're at home on weeknights. A few of my friends at work started a "No TV on weeknights" rule and told me how much better it made their family time. I thought my kids would flip out at that rule, but we instituted it and it really has made for a much more pleasant household. They don't watch any TV, play any video games or go on the computer (other than for homework reasons) Monday through Thursday. They were surprisingly fine with the rule change. The nice thing is they never even ask- it's a given. They know they aren't allowed so they don't ask about it. They do watch TV and play video games on weekends, but that's ok with me because it's more like a treat. We do watch the news at 6:00 (mostly for the weather) and then when the kids go to bed at 8:00 dh and I will watch TV.

During the week, after homework is done they play games with each other or the whole family will play, do puzzles, jump rope in the basement, arts & crafts, read, play with their toys (they are 9 and 10 but they still play with their dolls every day) or do chores.

This is the single best thing we have done for our family.

 

[CocoCoops]

Logged in today and read all the great suggestions! So helpful, I am inspired to spread the word to relatives that game & craft-based XMas gifts would be so appreciated. The one year an aunt gave the boys a handheld video game (just a cheap, albeit cute Disney one) I knew I'd have a tough year. Indeed just 3 months into it and I had to take it away due to the excessive use and fighting between boys trying to share.

Last night we went out and got MoonSand. Yup, messy but they played with it for 2 hours last night & 1.5 hours this morning. No TV!

I'm inspired to clean out the toy room and get rid of old stuff with them and set it up for better use as a play room with games & puzzles.

LOVE, love love the "TV is not on until 6 o'clock in the winter and 7 o'clock in the summer" rule. One is in cubscouts and one more year until the other is, too. And with my own hopes to eat better, cooking with the boys sounds fun . . . gotta buy me some more step stools! And the forts and candle-making ideas - priceless.

If anyone's still following this thread - one other question: Any good ideas on how to build a good rewards chart? Like what are some of your most popular-with-kids tasks and how do you set up the rewards? Stars, accumulation of stars for money or activies? Format? We'll be at WDW in Feb, maybe there are some good ways to have them earn something toward their stay there, but not sure what good rewards would be yet.

KEEP 'EM COMING! I hope these ideas help others, too! THANKS THANKS THANKS
=A

 

[minkydog]

I had a chore chart for hte kids. Each one had 3 chores per day that they were responsible for, plus some behavioral thing they were working on(eating with mouth closed, saying please and thank you without prompts, doing something kind for each other, no back talk.) They could earn a star if they accomplished both the chores and teh behavior goals.

When they earned 7 stars they got to pick from a variety of rewards. Some examples were:
1hr at a local park on the weekend.
Long walk with daddy
Get to stay up an extra 30 min on the weekend.
Get to eat off the red plate!(they loved this one--just a plain old red plate)
Get to pick the bedtime story that night

When they earned 21 stars I made the rewards something really great, like going for ice cream with dad, going bowling or skating, pick out a Disney movie at Blockbuster. None of the rewards are very costly and I rarely used food or money as a reward. And I NEVER used video games or TV as a reward!