38 Activities to Do While Babysitting (By Age)

The one rule that makes all of this work

Offer two options, not an open question. “What do you want to do?” gets you a shrug and then a fight about the iPad. “Do you want to build a fort or do the dinosaur race?” gets you a decision, and they feel like they made it.

Second rule, nearly as useful: whatever you pick, do it with them for the first five minutes. Almost every child will carry on alone once something has been started for them, and almost none will start it themselves.

Babies and one-year-olds

You are not entertaining a baby so much as keeping them regulated. Short, repetitive, close.

• Peekaboo, then peekaboo variations. Behind a cushion, behind their own hands, behind a tea towel. This never stops being funny to them and it teaches object permanence.
• Narrate the room. Carry them and name things. Boring for you, enormous for language development.
• Tummy time on a blanket with something interesting just out of reach.
• Container play. Put things in a bowl. Tip them out. Repeat forty times. They will be delighted.
• Texture tour. Let them touch a wooden spoon, a fleece blanket, a cold window.
• Songs with actions. Wheels on the Bus, Row Your Boat. The actions matter more than your voice.
• Board books. Do not expect to finish one. Finishing is not the point.

Never leave a baby on a raised surface, not even for a second, and always put them down on their back to sleep. Our babies and toddlers class covers safe sleep properly.

Two and three

Huge energy, tiny attention span. Plan to change activity every ten to fifteen minutes and you will have a good night.

• Animal walks down the hallway. Bear crawl, crab walk, frog jumps. Burns energy fast.
• Cushion island. The floor is lava, but simple.
• Color hunt. “Find me three red things.” Endlessly repeatable with a new color.
• Posting game. Anything that goes through a slot or into a box.
• Bubble chasing if there are bubbles. If not, balloon keepy-uppy.
• Sticker pictures. No skill required, total absorption.
• Teddy bear picnic. Lay out cups, seat the toys, pour imaginary tea.
• Big paper, big crayons, on the floor.

Four to six

The golden age for babysitting activities. They can follow rules, they still think you are fascinating, and they will play pretend for an hour.

• Build a fort. Sofa cushions, a sheet, two chairs. Then read inside it with a flashlight.
• Restaurant. They are the chef, you order badly and complain politely. They love being in charge.
• Obstacle course through the living room, timed, with a leaderboard on paper.
• Freeze dance. Music on, music off. Reliable, and it wears them out.
• Draw a monster together — you draw the head, fold the paper, they draw the body.
• Treasure hunt with five drawn clues. Takes you four minutes to set up and buys twenty.
• Shop. Price up items from the kitchen with sticky notes. Sneaks in counting.
• Make up a story where they are the hero and a pet is the villain.

Seven to nine

They want to be good at something and they want you to notice. Games with rules and a bit of competition land best.

• Card games. Uno, Go Fish, Snap, Cheat. If there is a pack in the house you are covered for an hour.
• Paper games. Dots and boxes, hangman, noughts and crosses tournaments, consequences.
• Lego challenge with a constraint: build a bridge that holds a book, in ten minutes.
• Would You Rather — ridiculous options only.
• Learn a magic trick off one card and teach it to them so they can show their parents.
• Science-ish kitchen thing — baking soda and vinegar in the sink. Ask first.
• Make a comic strip about their day, six boxes.
• Charades or Pictionary with two teams, even if the teams are one each.

Ten to twelve

Do not talk down to them. At this age the winning move is treating them like a person with opinions.

• Ask them to teach you something. A game, a dance, a thing they are into. Genuinely listen.
• Two-player video game where they beat you repeatedly. Check screen rules first.
• Cook something real together — pancakes, cookies, pizza toast. Ask about allergies and permission.
• Photo challenge around the house: something round, something older than you.
• Music swap. They play you three songs, you play them three.
• Build a playlist for their parents to find later.
• Quiz them on something they are learning — only if they offer.

When you have nothing at all

Strange house, no toys out, nothing in your bag. All of these need zero equipment:

• I Spy, and its harder cousin, twenty questions.
• The alphabet game: an animal for every letter, then a food, then a name.
• Rock paper scissors world championship, best of eleven.
• Simon Says, which quietly gets them to sit down when you want them to.
• Story tennis — one sentence each, no planning.
• Make up a secret handshake and practice until it is perfect.
• Statues, or the quiet game, when you badly need three minutes.

The last hour before bed

This is the hour that decides whether the parents come home to a calm house, and it is the hour that gets you rebooked. Bring the energy down deliberately.

• Tidy up as a race — against the clock, not each other.
• Warm bath if it is in the routine, then pajamas right after.
• Reading, lights low. Two books, and you choose the second one.
• Draw the day. Quiet, on the floor, one picture of the best bit.
• Slow breathing as a game. Blow out five imaginary candles, one at a time.
• Say what happens tomorrow so bedtime has a clear end rather than feeling like a punishment.

Screens off at least half an hour before bed unless the parents said otherwise. If bedtime is a battle every time, that is a routine problem rather than an activity problem — it is covered in the older kids class.

What not to do

• Do not default to the iPad. Parents notice, and it is the fastest way not to be asked back.
• Do not start something you cannot finish before their bedtime. An unfinished fort is a meltdown.
• Do not bake or cook without asking — allergies, and someone else’s kitchen.
• Do not take photos of the children unless the parents have said it is fine. Never post them.
• Do not go outside or off the property unless it was agreed in advance.
• Do not promise something you cannot deliver, like “we can watch a film” before you have checked.

Common questions

What should I bring in a babysitting bag?

A pack of cards, a few sheets of paper and pens, stickers, and one book. That covers almost every age and fits in a small bag. Everything else you can improvise.

How do I get a child to stop watching TV?

Do not announce it, offer the swap. Sit down next to them, wait for a natural break, and open with the two-option question. Turning it off cold with no alternative starts a fight you did not need.

What if they refuse everything?

Stop trying to fix it and sit near them doing something yourself — drawing, building, whatever. Most children join in within a few minutes once nobody is asking them to.

How do I get the family to book me again?

Ask before you leave — “same time next week?” — rather than “let me know”. Rebooking, referrals and raises are the whole of the business track.

How much should I be charging for all this?

More than you probably are. Our rate calculator gives you the number for your state, the ages and the hours.