There’s no need to resort to leaving the babysitter new toys or typically forbidden treats to feed your kids to ensure they are happy while you’re away. Instead, why not give your sitter a few no fuss, low mess activities she can do together with your kids. These fun activities are entertaining and take very little effort for you to pull together.
6 No Fuss Activities to Share with Your Sitter
1. Paint with Water
Painting with water works anywhere – on a chalkboard, sidewalk, or even on the floor. It’s fun, requires nothing more than a paintbrush and cup of water and can be cleaned up with a bath towel in no time at all.
2. Build Your Own Cupcake
This cupcake craft is guaranteed to provide hours of fun for your preschooler and her sitter. Simply leave them the printable cupcakes and interchangeable cakes, toppings and papers and let them cut out the pieces and mix and match to build their own cupcakes. The project might inspire a tea party or maybe another cupcake project, such as decorating store-bought cupcakes or baking a homemade batch.
3. Create a Fairy House
If you have an imaginative child who likes to be outside and a creative babysitter, this is a fun afternoon activity. Encourage your child and his sitter to use their imaginations and whatever they can find inside and out to create a mini fairy house in a pot or directly in the garden.
4. Tie Dye Easter Eggs
Dying eggs is super easy with this ingenious method – simply leave a dozen eggs (boiled ahead of time if you find the time), vinegar and food coloring. Have your sitter set your child up with a colander and a shallow pan or bowl, place an egg in the colander and splash with a bit of white vinegar. Add a drop or two of food coloring and then another color and have your child swirl the egg around to distribute the colors, essentially “tie dying” the eggs. Let the eggs sit for a few minutes to set and then rinse briefly in cool water. Makes for a cool project and a healthy snack, too!
5. Bake a Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake
Simply leave your (very responsible and safety minded) sitter with a boxed cake mix, bag of chocolate chips, cooking oil and three eggs, along with this handy recipe. In very little time and with minimal effort, she and the kids can whip up this really yummy chocolate chip cookie cake.
6. Collaborate on a Masterpiece
Working side by side with a child, as equals, makes a project extra special. Rather than setting your child up with art supplies and a canvas and leaving her to work on her own while you take care of other responsibilities, make her day by grabbing the seat next to her and announcing that you are doing a partner project. Your sitter makes a fine art partner for her, too, and will be glad to spend time collaborately with your child on their own artistic masterpiece. You can use what you have on hand – paper or a canvas and paints of any kind – or make a special trip to the art supply store to pick and choose supplies for this special painting project.
Your sitter will appreciate your thoughtfulness in planning these fun projects, your little one will have a fantastic time while your away. Do you have a few easy, entertaining projects up your sleeve? We’ve love to hear about them!
