Interfamily communication - kids entertaining kids!

This afternoon my wife and I spent a delightful half hour entertaining (and being entertained by) our 6-year-old grandson while mommy and daddy got some things done.  We did this while in two different towns an hour apart! 

You can draft older children in one family to do something similar with another family, keeping all the children busy and entertained,  giving parents a chance to catch their breath, and building some positive energy at the same time.  (All credit goes to my wife for coming up with this idea and making it fun!)

How? First, place a few stuffed animal toys around the house in plain view or partially hidden.  Then make a video call using FaceTime, Skype, WhatsApp, or something similar.

1.  Start with hide and seek.

• Version 1: One child hides in one house, taking the phone with them, but with the camera covered.  When they are ready, the seekers (in the other house) try to guess which room "it" is hiding in, or 
• Version 2: The child who is hiding doesn't take the phone, while another person in the house keeps the phone, waiting until "it" is ready.  Then the seekers give directions to the person with the phone; go left, go right, go forward, turn around, until "it" is found.  We took a few turns hiding back and forth

2.  When ready, move on to "find the ____" (just like Version 2 of Hide and Seek)

3.  After that has run its course, try playing "I Spy with My Little Eye"

4.  Finally, we gave our grandson "missions" to accomplish:

• Find mommy and wave to her
• find the cats and show them to us
• show us what you can see out the front window
• show us what you can see out the back window

The parents got some work done, our grandson got to make lots of decisions on his own and practice giving directions, and we all had a lot of fun!  If older children can get in on the fun, they are building family and friend connections, social skills, fair play skills and communication skills.  Everyone benefits!