The boys (3 and 8) need something a little less rambunctious to do. I'm trying to think of games they can play like tossing a beanbag into different circles or something but I don't have anything to use for it - that I can think of.

So far, when I do a search I only find online games.

You can use empty toilet paper tubes for "bowling" if you have a ball : ) (dent in the ends to make them topple-able)

(really, if you're traveling with kids you MUST have a fist-sized ball in your purse. And some colored pencils)

Simon says is equipment-free : ) As is "I-spy"

Tic tac toe

Finding letters of the alphabet in order on signs as you travel. take turns

If I think of others, I'll share. My mind's a little blank right now - we have lots of experience with that : )

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[quote="Anna1111"]You can use empty toilet paper tubes for "bowling" if you have a ball : ) (dent in the ends to make them topple-able)

>>> That will work if they don't start throwing the ball. .

Simon says is equipment-free : ) As is "I-spy"
>>> Simon Says will be good, I think! Dgd is 3 and doesn't get the idea of Tic tac toe or I Spy (which we tried).

This is while I'm watching the kids and dd is working. I'm trying to give my teen dgd a babysitting break.

OH! I had a houseful of kids a few years ago for babysitting, and I made hot pretzels with them in the oven. They LOVED it. It's a simple 4 ingredient dough, let them "help" with mixing & kneeding - then give them the dough to make their choice of shapes. Some kids made traditional pretzel shapes, others made dinosaurs or their first initial.

It's an easy recipe meant for kids - even tho it's yeast dough.

I got this from the newspaper about 20 years ago.





It makes nice pretzels (and other shapes).





To get that shiny, Mall finish, the pretzels must be boiled briefly before salting & baking. I've never done that - but I know that's the trick if that shiny finish is really important to you.






Soft Pretzels



Proof

2 tsp yeast

1 Tablespoon sugar

1 ½ cups warm water



In a separate bowl, combine

4 cups flour

1 ½ tsp salt



gradually add flour mixture to yeast mixture, stirring, then kneeding (you may not use all of the flour)

knead

shape into pretzels



top with kosher salt (the bigger crystals of salt)

bake 425 degrees, 15 minutes

On a similar note, you can make homemade play dough with the recipe on my blog. It uses kool aid for color & scent : )

If the weather is nice, turn them loose with a can of shaving cream in a wash tub outside, then hose them off : )

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https://www.pinterest.com/search/pins/? ... es%7Ctyped

I just typed in "Preschool Games" on Pinterest and a whole bunch of activities popped up.

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Prayer should be your first response.
Not your last resort.

Kitchen games would be a good bet (I do that myself sometimes) and they can go around feeling grown-up as they help you whip up a simple dish. By kitchen games I mean something like the following: bake pancakes together; sit them down and let them paint penne or simply use Cheerios, stringing them together on a piece of yarn when done; also, flour + baby oil makes pretty good clay dough to play around with.

What's more, online games are not all bad, some being educational too. Just find some which are age-appropriate for your kids and let them learn while they play. Are your boys fond of animated movies such as How to Train Your Dragon? Mine are die-hard fans of the movie and love playing the dragon games associated with the film characters. I make sure I sneak in some science concept based games in their game-playing time from the same website. Know what I mean? Anything to keep them (gainfully) occupied!

Board games work too, provided they have the patience to sit down for a couple of minutes at a stretch. We love playing the guessing and drawing word game Pictionary at home. Not at all rambunctious!

We used old cereal boxes and paper tubes to make a car ramp (marbles are great for older kids). Hotwheel cars are best because they are small. We used tape to hold things to the furniture and together and books to hold up portions of the cardboard for hills..... we got really elaborate! I taped the highest point to the fireplace mantle because gravity is what sends the cars or marbles down.

They were learning angles, speed, etc.. it was great fun and the ramp stayed in my living room for months. We would add to it and fix problems and run tests to get it right. Then we would time the cars to see which cars ran best? Which jumped off? Which ran fastest?

I need to do this with Izzy!