How do you entertain a 4 year old little girl?

Our family - This is myself my hubby and his adorable daughter!  Help us keep a smile on her face!
United States
November 9, 2006 9:23pm CST
My hubby and I have visitations of his daughter this weekend. It's in Escanaba Michigan where there's nothing but trees. We will be in a hotel and can't afford a pool. Any suggestions to keep her occupied considering neither one of us have children, and aren't around them enough to know what to do with them.
4 people like this
14 responses
@wahmoftwo (1296)
• United States
10 Nov 06
Books, crayons, cartoons, simple inexpensive crafts, bubbles, playdough there are Lots of things you can do with a four year old. MOre than anything they just want your attention!
• United States
10 Nov 06
i agree with you attention and just spend quality time together let them think of things to do its amazing what they think is fun. my kids love the times when we would just go for a ride and stop at a place that we would just walk around and talk away from the home thats what they like.it dont have to be disney to have fun a park is great fun to them take them for ice cream
• United States
10 Nov 06
Yes, she definitely thrives for attention. It's difficult because he only sees her once a month. So, we do what we can.
@Meljep (1666)
• United States
10 Nov 06
Crafts are a big hit with that age. Anything to do with cutting up paper or glue or tape will keep this age group entertained for a long while. Make a cake and let her put the ingredients in the bowl. Anything that begins in a crude form and becomes something else is a fascination for that age.
@Meljep (1666)
• United States
10 Nov 06
I guess the cake thing won't work in a hotel. Sorry about that.
• United States
10 Nov 06
Yeah, that's what sux is that we have to be in a hotel because we live 8 hours away and the mom refuses to meet half way. Thank you though
@lesnan (537)
• United States
10 Nov 06
Lock her in a room with a 4 year old boy. Show and tell is fun at that age. WEll, it was for me.
• United States
10 Nov 06
Honestly, I don't know to laugh at this is be disgusted. I think you have issues lol
@sherinek (3320)
• United States
10 Nov 06
My daughter is also 4 yrs. What I do is give her water and water colours plus a colouring book and different size brushes. It will keep her busy for a long time. Since she'd spill water and paint on the flour, let her sit on a mat. Since you have trees around, why not take her out and show different kinds of trees, leaves, flowers, buds, etc. Let her make a dough out of water and flour. Imagine you are the child then you'd come across a lot of things. Wish you luck.
• United States
4 Feb 07
Thanks for the comment. Yes, she does love coloring, and that's usually what she does when we visit with her. I found a movie that she will sit through too - Monster House...any other movie, it's not happening.
@joycey (76)
• Australia
10 Nov 06
Organise a picnic, colouring book and pencils, cutting and pasting (just grab an old magazine), play word games, play hide and seek. And all the other things other people have suggested.
• United States
10 Nov 06
Hide and seek is interesting. I love hide and seek even at my age lol. Thank you.
• United States
10 Nov 06
Take her to the circus or something like that that she will really like.
• United States
10 Nov 06
I've looked on the internet for things to take her to do, but there's really not anything like that around there lol. It's a sad sad town (sorry people who live in Escanaba). Even the high class hotels have 70's TVs. But thank you.
@magikrose (5429)
• United States
10 Nov 06
Take her on a short nature hike. Point out the diffrent trees and leaves. Also point oit the diffrent bird sounds and colors. Get a pad of blank paper and some colored pencils and bring them along on the hike encourage her to draw what she sees. That way you 2 not only will have the memory of the visit but you will have a personel souvineer her art work. Sit down with her and just let her talk about anything and everything she wants to. Little girls love to talk. I know I have 3 ages 7, 5 and 2. Hope this helps. Enjoy your weekend. Blessid Be
• United States
10 Nov 06
Thanks for the comment. It's actually good that you said this because it refreshed my memories of when I was in school and the teacher took us outside during fall and we put leaves on a sheet of paper or something hard actually and put paper over it and colored over the leave and it brought out the shape and so forth of the leave onto the paper. That would be good too. I like your idea, it's great!
@usmcsgtwife (4997)
• United States
10 Nov 06
Bring some kid games, go on a nature walk and give her different things to look for like a red leaf, a green, leaf, a round rock.. = )
• United States
10 Nov 06
Thank you for the suggestions. We bring barbies and stuff, but she doesn't seem entertained for too long.
@manzician (4727)
• India
10 Nov 06
Give her some attractive picture books...
• United States
10 Nov 06
Thanks, that's a good idea. Not only picture books but books that her father can read to her to get a stronger bond with her.
• United States
10 Nov 06
kids are special you dont have to do much to it more special. just spend quality time not quality money with her and she will remember that more than how you spent. just play together, laugh giggle have fun. run in circles with her let her draw you pictures. tell her a little story and make it fun. but whatever you, just listen to her and respond when she ask you things.thats what children really want. i know i have 5 kids 4 girls and 1 boy and thas the things they remember. if there is a park or a cool place just to go stop and look around that is the things you do
• United States
10 Nov 06
Thank you, that reallyhelps me out!
• United States
10 Nov 06
My grandson loves to play with Playdoh. Make some at home and bring it along in a ziplock bag. My grandson will play for hours with this stuff. Also, try doing craft projects with her. You can find some at the Dollar Store to do with her. Buy some beads and make jewelry. Take her for a walk. Kids love to be outside. Read books. Is there a kitchenette in the room? Bake with her. But, most of all.....have a blast!
@MrsAdvice (623)
• United States
11 Nov 06
Neither one of you have children but you are entertaining HIS daugher?! lol. I guess you meant children that LIVE with you! I have millions and trillions of ideas, where to start? I am the one who entertains all the kids in my family. They are always calling on me to come up with activities or make them a treasure hunt. I don't know if there will be enough hiding places for clues in a motel room, but a treasure hunt where one clue leads to another, and in the end, a small trinket or peice of candy or gum can be the treasure. If you have coloring books, activitiy books, you can race to see who can solve the maze first, stuff like that, a tablet and pen can provide fun playing tic-tac-toe or the connect the dots and put your initials in the square game, when you complete a square you put your initial and get another line from dot to dot and whoever gets the most squares wins. You could bring along some simple games, or even a few DVD's she likes, most hotels will let you use a DVD player, get some play money, I know games using play money, flashcards, a handwriting book to practice letters, those types of activities will help her learn too. With the play money you will need a die (singular of dice) and you roll it and you get however many pennies it says on the die. When you get enough pennies you turn them in for a nickle, when you get enough nickles, you turn them in for a dime, and so on. Whoever gets a dollar first wins! 20 questions is fun. Guess who I am is fun, where you say, "I live at Disney World." and she guesses. Then you say, "My initials are M - M " and she guesses, and so on . . . up to five clues and if she doesn't have it by then, you win, but if she gets it, she wins and she gets to make one up for you to guess. There are millions more in this head of mine but I have things to do! Let me know if I can elaborate on anything for you.
@chertsy (3798)
• United States
4 Feb 07
2 words, Chuckie Cheese. My 4 year old daughter just fell in love with it. She really didn't really care for the food. So maybe you can see about spending maybe 10 dollars for tokens and not having to buy the food. Mine had a blast, she got to play games. If you have tons of snow, you can build a snowman, or play snowball fights. I mean you really don't have to spend a lot of money to impress a child of that age. Mine is sitting now on my bed watching a old movie, eating pringles. Happy and content. If all else fails, ask her what she likes to do. Just have fun with her. Don't forget a trip to Toys R US, every kid big and small loves that place.
• Switzerland
4 Feb 07
Hi We have great downloadable childrens audio books with plenty of really nice kids stories. You can listen to a preview of all books before you buy. Here's the URL: http://www.audiobookscorner.com/list.aspx?catID=168 Hope this helps for netxt time..... (am a bit lates giving an answer)