In about a week’s time, my only daughter will start school, so I’m in a reflective mood. Like many parents with young children, the last five years have been a bit blurry. I can’t say that I remember all of it, but it’s only now, as the pre-school period draws to a close, that I’m coming anywhere close to realizing what a valuable era it has been.
But, being a cheapskate, instead of waxing lyrical about the highs and the lows, I thought that instead I’d list some of the low-budget ways I kept my kid entertained. I’m not saying these are great parenting techniques, in fact I’m tempted to give a ‘don’t try this at home’ disclaimer, but we found them fun, and most of them are free, or as close to it as you can get.
1. Creatures of the Deep
While this tickling game is probably responsible for giving Sophie a life-long fear of the ocean, or a future freak-out whenever she encounters a fisherman’s basket when eating out, it’s a hell of a lot of fun. First things first: you have to say the name right. ‘Creatures of the Deep’ must sound like a B grade horror movie narrator, I’m thinking Boris Karloff or Tom Waits, half strangled and loaded with menace.
The responsible adult puts their hand behind their back, and asks the squealing child ‘what’s coming out from behind the rock?’ (Same voice, people, stay in character). Then the hand emerges, disguised as any number of sea creatures, who proceed to tickle the kid.
My personal faves were ‘giant squid’, a hand with fingers spread out that suckers onto the kid’s head; ‘giant crab’, a particularly nippy creature, that can chase the child sideways through the house, claws raised; and ‘baby crab’, a delightful little creature that Sophie delighted in ‘killing’ so I’d say, ‘oh no! Here comes it’s Mommy’ (try to sound a bit American here).
(Modelling the giant squid)
We also had ‘electric eel’, which stung and swum away; ‘sea anenome’, an inverted hand with waving tentacle fingers that gripped anything that came near, and occasionally transcended species boundaries by jumping, triggering lisped dialogue such as ‘oh no! How am I supposed to send you to school with a sea anemone stuck to your head’.
2. Name the sea creature
Continuing the marine theme, a popular travelling game (on public transport) was name the sea creature. Taking turns, adult and child use their hand(s) to mime the actions of well-known sea creatures. By the end, Sophie and I knew each other’s repertoire a bit too well, meaning that the surprise factor was virtually non-existent. But hey! Beats looking out the train window.
If you’re looking for inspiration, we had a hermit crab: it discarded its hand shell then scuttled around looking for another. A dolphin leaped and bounded through the air, a bit like a dodgy 80s dance move. Obviously we had to have a shark, but this is fun to mime, involving a vertical hand fin and some menacing swishes. There were also jellyfish, squid, crabs, fish, eels, sea anenome and starfish.
(Sophie doing her shark fin).
3. Agility Rainbow Snake
This one’s actually a recent invention, inspired by fitness writer Jen Sinkler’s ladder mobility drills, and my friend CS’s descriptions of doing chalk drawings with her children on their driveway in Tasmania. CS had two kids, a boy and a girl; apparently the little girl would draw princesses and her brother would draw dragons stomping them.
Instructions: get a $2 bucket of chalk from the Reject Shop, or similar discount store. and draw a large snake on a relatively flat piece of concrete. It’s a long stripy snake with a viscous looking head and a curly tail. Give each stripe a number: ours went from one to twenty-seven.
Then think of ways to race your child up and down the snake. We hopped, jumped, crawled, skipped, galloped and did this funky kind of salsa thing we got from the fitness website. There aren’t really any rules, except you’re supposed to land in the square every time you move forward, and my kid cheated a lot.
4. Mystery shopping
No, not that kind of mystery shopping. In our household, mystery shopping means leaving the house for a nice walk and seeing what free stuff you can scrounge on your journey. We’ve had some crackers. One particularly memorable morning involved gathering fresh lemons from under a council building’s tree, and later using them to make lemonade; and ransacking the junk pile of the local theatre company’s recent wardrobe clear out. At particular times of year, we also hang around under a large avocado tree, checking out the recent falls.
There are a number of op shops near my house, so mystery shopping sometimes involves a detour into one of these. Mummy picks up a dress (and as this is a small town, hopes that she doesn’t run into its former owner) while Sophie gets craft stuff, books and the occasional toy.
Helen Hopcroft: an artist's life 