It’s important for kids to see their friends outside of school, so you may find that you’ll soon need a stock of playdate ideas for 6 year olds. At this age, they’re likely to have a fair few friends , so make sure that you have at least a couple of these ideas ready to pull out of your hat.
Firstly, although your child and their friend may both love video games, you won’t be able to get away with just plonking them in front of a screen. By all means, let your child show their friends the games they have and allow them a period to enjoy some two-player fun, but try to make the most of your child having their friend round by arranging some activities.
Playdate Ideas for 6 Year Olds
Here’s just a brief selection of quick and easy ideas for playdates for kids around six years old. If you’re stuck for an idea and need something quick, these are all tried and tested favourites!
Pizza Making
You’ll be hard pushed to find a child that doesn’t like pizza. Even those who don’t like cheese or tomato can be accommodated if you make everything from scratch.
You can tailor this activity depending on how much time and effort you think the kids might want to put into it. If you want to keep them occupied for a little longer, consider letting them make and knead the base. Conversely, if you think the kids would rather concentrate on the toppings, then make things easy for yourself and just buy some plain pizza bases.
Kids love to have an input in their own cooking, and are much more likely to eat their meal if they’ve helped to prepare it. Set out several different types of toppings and allow them to adorn their bases however they want. Just make sure that you’re handling all the oven work.
Pottery Painting
There’s been a surge in the amount of pottery-painting cafes over the last decade, and it’s easy to see why. It’s the perfect activity to while away a couple of hours, and isn’t dependent on the fickle nature of the British weather.
Brilliantly, it combines a lengthy activity with a keepsake for kids to take home afterwards, making it one of the most economical days out for those on a tight budget.
The Arcades
If you’re lucky enough to live close to somewhere with a selection of arcade machines, you’ll find that a trip there makes for a low-effort day out.
There’s invariably a host of two-player games that run the gamut from bashing moles with mallets, to frenzied air hockey matches. The beauty here is that if the kids don’t enjoy one game, you can all quickly switch to the next machine.
Of course, the only problem with arcades is that you can easily burn through some money quite quickly. That being said, an hour or so shouldn’t set you back much more than a lot of other activities. If you time it to go an hour before a mealtime, you have a natural break to ensure that the kids don’t need too much prying away!
The Park
For the ultimate in low-cost days out, why not take advantage of the provisions already made for families in the area? Kids love a park or playground, but being able to navigate them with their friend enriches the experience tenfold.
Just hitting the playground should keep them entertained for long enough, but if you’re concerned that they might get bored after a while it might be worth taking some back up.
Pack yourself some inexpensive items such as frisbees, footballs or a kite to take along. This will give the kids something a little bit different to their normal trip to the park.
There’s lots more playdate ideas for 6 year olds to entertain your kids. If you have any that I’ve missed, then please share them with us all below.
If you can’t get out of the house it might be worth checking out these easy ways to entertain kids too.
Maybe you could just make the most of your garden. Take a look at this list of garden toys ranked.