5 & 8 year old boys

[mummyMia]

I have had an enquiry for afterschool, term time only for two brothers aged 5 and 8. My eldest is only just turning 4 and I wasn't planning on taking any mindees older than him. Then I got this enquiry. Mum is having trouble finding anybody with space and as it is term time only I am considering it. I have not actually met the boys so don't know how well behaved they are or if they fight a lot with each other. I have no experience of 8 year old boys and have no idea what they like doing. I don't have any older boys toys either. I am worried it will be hard to keep the older one occupied. The younger one might play well with ds. Can anybody share any experiences of this age group?

I have dd aged 1 and ds just about to turn 4. Ds is starting school in September so I will be doing the school run anyway. I also have a mindee aged 1 but she goes home right after school run so there would be very little overlap between her and the boys. If I took on the boys I think I would be as full as I want to be and wouldn't take on any other mindees.

[blue bear]

Really depends on the personality of the children and how long they will be with you. Ask mum what they like doing when they visit and the boys, they will soon let you know what they like.

I would go car boot shopping for Lego, micro vehicles/ play sets, hand held game machines like DS, k nex, cars, farm animals,

Mine like den making with blankets, ropes and pegs, dressing up and lots and lots if craft.

I tried older children when I first started minding and vowed never to take on children older than mine after it upset the pecking order of the house

[Twinklestars]

I have an 11 year old mindee who likes the same as my 6 year old, going to the park, ds, wii, DVDs, board games although my 6 year old and 5 & 6 year old minds are more into digging for treasure anything to do with pirates etc

[marleymoo]

hm, 8 yr old boys are better than 8 yr old girls to occupy. they tend to still like doing outdoor stuff. dens are good, as is lego and water play.
get hold of some larger scale play stuff such as guttering tubes etc for his water play to make things more his scale. it's quite cheap and you can cut it down into dlff lengths if you want to. you can add to this later too by buying joints, hoppers etc. also, plenty of buckets,paint brushes, sweeping brushes, paint rollers etc. they can use these for mark making on walls, fences, outdoor floors. i peg a cheap plastic shower curtain onto washing line and fill old fairy liquid bottles with water for kids to squirt onto curtain - they love the noise it makes. or we use plant water sprays.
i also attached different lengths to a side fence to make a giant click clack toy and they use it to roll balls,marbles, cars and trains down and of course water too. make the top one so it's high enough for the bigger kid but reachable by the little ones with a step. it's good for PSRN for the EYFS kids coz they will learn about forces (friction), angles, what size will fit in and what won't. why doesn't wet sand go down etc
by the time i get home from the school run its 3.30 and they all go at 4.30. this keeps them all occupied for that whole hour believe it or not

[buzzy bee]

My DS is 1 and I have 2 9 yr old boys after school... he absolutely LOVES them! We go to the park and they tend to play football and DS goes on swings etc. At home the older boys actually play with the younger kids toys, so I ahven't had to buy any lego or anything.

I've got a chunky plastic construction kit which is 12 months+ so very safe for little ones and the older ones love it.

They also like drawing, baking and reading stories to DS, and they go on the computer and the wii and DS watches them.

They do play fight but I think that's quite healthy and the little ones love it.

I'm so glad I have older mindees as my DS doesn't have any older siblings and I feel he really benefits from it. He's so confident if we go to a play park and there are older kids there.

I say go for it!

[jadavi]

marley moo I love your creative ideas with minimum resources...an inspiration!

[mummyMia]

Wow, so many brilliant ideas. Thank you ladies:) I especially like the guttering idea. Even if I don't end up looking after these boys I will definitely be using this. Ds would love it. When we were putting up some coving he spent hours rolling his cars down a piece of coving that was propped up against the sofa. He was ever so upset when we had to use that piece.

Off to B&Q for some shopping ....