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OK…I bought some activity books, and coloring books at the discount grocery store. They were on clearance and usually $3.99. So it was a really good deal.
I want to put them out for guests who book a week long stay and have young ones. Issue is that I am not familiar with what ages of kids these days …still are interested in coloring, activity books, etc. I don’t watch any of this Disney stuff. And I know kids have likely changed a lot since I was a kid.
I purchased several of these:
Coloring books for the Frozen Princess. I think it was more than just coloring though. Possibly other activities, but maybe mostly coloring.
Activity books for Despicable Me - these include word search puzzles, mazes, and stickers.
Activity books for Find Dory
Activity books for some cartoon movie with the word “Lion” - it isn’t the Lion King though. But I can’t remember what it is.
So…I have week long guests staying in June - coming with a 5 and 8 year old. I can find out if they are girl or boy. But not sure if 8 year olds still like coloring books like we did back in the day. Or is that soo… 1999?
For those of you who are around young kids today…would you be willing to help me out with the above four types of items I bought, and what ages would be most interested?
Which one would go for older kids…but maybe not pre-teens?
Oooh, I want to stay at your place! I love to color in coloring books…and I get first dibs on which pages are mine. Otherwise, I’m known to pout and fuss.
Are you setting up an activity corner or is your other half crafting a small table and chairs for that purpose? Even a mat on the floor that they can sit or lay on will help delineate their area. I would caution against providing anything other than washable pens and crayons, in case they get creative on testing the beautiful wood surfaces of the cabin. (When I rented out my mother’s house to a young family, the two little ones drew all over the walls with permanent ink marking pens which resulted in a major sanding, priming and paint project.)
The coloring in ones never get used probably because parents bring them themselves so I’d nix them. Same with DVDs, I have some emergency ones like The Lion King, The Rescuers and Pets but usually parents have the kids favourites with them. No “Frozen” because if parents have “forgotten” to bring it there is usually a good reason for that. Not that Frozen isn’t great but no one needs to hear Let it Go on continual loop.
But I have a lot of reading books for kids. The books can be divided into three groups. Picture books for the real little ones I bought cheap because there was a 10 for the price of 1 offer but also very well drawn. And then for older kids I have a selection of graphic novels like Persepolis, The Hobbit or A Wrinkle in Time to more adult ones like Moby Dick, Watchmen and Maus. Also a graphic novel of Swann’s Way from Proust’s Remembrance of Things Past so they can say they have read it!! I figure even if they don’t have time, imagination or inclination to read a book a graphic novel can be casually read by people of all ages and who knows they might like it so much they buy or lend the actual book later! Lastly there are copies of my own favourite books from childhood: Beatrix Potter, Babar the Elephant, Tin Tin, Dr Seuss, The Hobbit, The Little Duckling and The Little House.
Also a few classic board games: Monopoly, Scrabble, Jenga, a couple of jig saws, Clue(do). Surprising number of people I can hear downstairs playing them and having a laugh. You can’t mistake the sound of a Jenga tower crashing! I also bought a 10-1 wooden box of classic games like chess, checkers, backgammon and some you’ve never heard of. You can get them quite cheaply on Ebay. I also have a petanque set which would be perfect to play on the lawn or park opposite but don’t think there have been any takers sadly.
The father of the group arriving later specifically said he chose my place because of the board games on offer and he wanted the family to just hang out and play together which is just as well as it is too bloody cold and windy to go outside much.
We provide board games (not responsible if all the pieces are not there) and Xbobx with a few family friendly games like FIFA and random Disney something or other, but also not responsible if the games don’t work, controllers are gone, etc. We started this about 6 years ago and have only had one controller walk off and one unauthorized game purchased. So I think we are doing OK.
@cabinhost as for the ‘kids’ want I have no CLUE except Frozen is OUT according to my friend’s 11 year old.
I am not sure why you would buy activity books since parents will have already bought lots of these for the plane/car trip to your place to keep junior occupied. Similarly with favourite Disney movies they will bring the dvd because it is junior’s favourite or have it on the iPad. My favourite Disney movies I provide are the old school ones they might never have seen like Lady and the Tramp or The Rescuers. But that’s just me. You can buy a job lot of used “kids dvds” or “action dvds” on Ebay for about $2-5 per dvd which will include most of the better know Disney ones.
Don’t get me wrong your place sounds awesome and very kid friendly especially the zipline and home movie theatre. And free popcorn! Great idea as who would have thought of that? I might steal that idea. What little I do know about kids is they are very particular about what they like but this can change rapidly with age so whatever you get there will be one who declares their previously hot (or frozen) favourite movie is now dismissed as “for little kids”. Good luck! As far as those Disney movies go I like them all but perhaps I am not the age group you are seeking advice about
I think if you present it as a gift they will definitely take with them and use later. I sometimes think it would be good if you could give guests a list of everything on offer and ask what they liked and what they didn’t care for so we don’t bother with things that aren’t actually needed or appreciated.
I have a 7yo, the most important thing to have is WiFi.
Just make sure you have a lot of empty paper, some empty shoe boxes, tape, and crayons and some other crafting materials and you can keep them busy for days.
Mine still likes coloring books, but Despicable me and Dory may be a bit too childish for them.
When it is a girl, just print her a load of these:
Moana is pretty hot these days, and I understand that Coco was a very good movie (although bundled with an annoying short, so I’m not sure whether it got the popularity that some other Disney movies get). But, in general, kids’ trends come and go fast, so I wouldn’t worry too hard about it. I can only speak for my own kids (who are five, and haven’t seen a lot of the Disney canon because of complaints about it being “too scary”) but my kids will color or do activity books for things they’ve never seen. And if you’re investing in movies, you probably want to pick them by whether they’re decent movies (for the age group, anyway) rather than whether they’re the next hot thing. I feel like only the most jaded kids are going to care that (for instance) The Lion King is older than they are. If they haven’t seen it, then that’s even better; they’ll enjoy seeing a new thing, and their parents will enjoy that they’re singing “I Just Can’t Wait To Be King,” off-key rather than “Let It Go” off-key. You learn to appreciate these little things when you’re a parent.
We have Spot It and Jenga and other board games as well as coloring for adults and kiddos. Our daughter is 11 and appreciates anything new she can play with at a rental house. She recently turned a domino set into “furniture” for her Legos/people. So Domino’s might be cool too, ha. I think the coloring stuff would be appreciated and relaxing, especially if a parent is fixing dinner and needs downtime?
I found it because I was looking for something to do with our daughter on a long plane ride. She loved it! We usually take it to restaurants etc so we can do something together instead of each being on our phone, etc. It is highly portable, so we love it, but yeah, I can see a guest taking it
I have an 8 year old girl. She’s a little over Frozen. Plain white paper and loose leaf paper are good for any age - plus kid friendly scissors and tape. Despicable me stuff is still enjoyed. 8 is interesting because she wants to be a little older (“teenage” books like dork diaries) but still plays with dolls. Good book for that age is Captain Underpants and the Wimpy Kids series. She likes the babysitter club (Reina Telegmeier).
For 5 year olds, depends on boy or girl, but they’ll be more into coloring books.
I live in a community that is 80% hispanic and probably 70% Mexican-roots Hispanic and in my community Coco was universally loved by viewers of all ages. If I were a kid friendly rental it would absolutely be in mine.
