Running out of things to do.... fun ideas needed

[RobinRTrueJoy]

I am " mentoring" 2 little 8 year old girls. They come for about 1+ 1/2 hours twice a week. So far, I have taught them brushing, picking feet, haltering, leading. I act like a judge and have them do a show class for Halter and showmanship. We do Egg and spoon class. I set up obstacles, like walking across a crunchy folded tarp, backing thru cones, jumping, backing through L shapped pvc pipes, put rain gear across a horses back, opening umbrellas and walking the horse around. When the weather gets nicer, I am going to build a tiny bridge for them to lead the horses over.

They are so little, I don't want them to actually "work" here cleaning stalls... although I think that eventually a little won't hurt them if only to show that there is some work involved, that its not all easy and fun.

I may try muscial feed bags... but there is only 2 of them.

Any other ideas that I can do with them?

Thanks!

 

[ChrystalPaths]

Got alot of old horse magazines? Give them each a pile, some index cars, a bit of glue, multi color markers and then tell them they can create their own stable. Make up names for each horse, pedigrees even. I also used several old pics I had of my own horses. I still have Glacia and Michelle's old card stables. They called it "All The Luck Acres." Now they are each 22 yrs old but they would spend hours with those cards and spiral notebooks keeping tack of shows and ribbons and breeding and babys due just like real horses. Then they'd go outside and set up "jumps" and canter and trot like horses over the jumps with a stop watch. Hope this helps. Thanks for the memories by the way, remembering my girls living and breathing horse made me smile.

 

[The Dynamic Duo]

Red Light Green Light!! Great game for the younger ones!

 

[rabbitsfizz]

Do not underestimate an 8 yr old :lol I was mucking out stalls at that age and I was not the size of a modern day bucket- we only had the metal ones back then.

I would have sawn my leg off rather than miss a day.

A good old pair of rubber gloves, and some poo picking never hurt anyone- get them working.

Return to child labour- that's what I want to see

Seriously I think it is only right for them to realise it is not all fun- there is no harm in a bit of hard work as well.

 

[kenna]

That's not to say you can't make working fun somehow

Maybe i'm just weird, but I always liked mucking stalls :lol:

 

[Millstone Farm]

why not have them make and decorate stall signs for each of your horses?

and aisle sweeping knows no age limits!

 

[Champ]

how about cleaning cobwebs / cleaning tack or feed & water buckets or for games try:

keyhole race

flag race

barrel race

or pretend they are doing drill team stuff when leading there minis :bgrin

 

[lvponies]

You can go to the dollar store or craft store and get all kinds of pretties (ribbons, scrunchies, bells, whatever) for your horses' manes and tails. Let the girls groom them and then doll them up. My daughters used to love doing that when they were younger. If they do this.....pictures, please!!

:

 

[Robin1]

My neighbor girl is 7 yrs old. She will come get one of the mares, do a complete groom on her then dress her up. I haven't had her clean stalls but I wouldn't be against it. My neighbors on the other side of me, informed me the other day that their 5 yr old son has decided he needs a horse (I took a couple over for his B-day party last month) So they asked if he could come over, with them, once or twice a week and clean the stall and groom the horse. Both parents grew up on farms, so if he wants to do something he has to do the not so fun part too.

Robin

 

[Joyce]

I think you have a wonderful idea for the little ones and it will be fun having them help you.

But please tell them to be extra nice to Teacup for me !!

Joyce L

 

[stormo41]

In horse camp we would have Slow Races, the rules are simple, you have to keep the horse moving and the first one over the finish line losses. what about simon says with the horses, or even simon says grooming. Red light green light is amazing! barrle racing (with them leading of course). thats all i got for now

-Vanessa

 

[PaintedPromiseRanch]

Do not underestimate an 8 yr old :lol I was mucking out stalls at that age and I was not the size of a modern day bucket- we only had the metal ones back then.I would have sawn my leg off rather than miss a day.

A good old pair of rubber gloves, and some poo picking never hurt anyone- get them working.

Return to child labour- that's what I want to see

Seriously I think it is only right for them to realise it is not all fun- there is no harm in a bit of hard work as well.

GO JANE! when we have people come and want to help or find out what it would be like to have their own horse, scooping poop is always on the list... after all if they want to know what owning a horse is all about, that is #2 (no pun intended!) - because #1 is feeding, that has to come before they can poop :lol: :lol:

 

[PrestigeMiniHorses]

Aww dress up horsey sounds great...I remember we used to do that a while back and the index card stable sounds wonderful too.. I will keep that in mind too for a possible activity for my younger 4-Hers too..

 

[busyminimom]

Well people have said it, but helping with stalls is a great idea. My son, now 9 enjoys racing me to clean a stall. Even could play red light, green light with that. He really loves it and has for awhile now. Actually he has now started to ask if he can do "poop patrol" when he is in a "MOOD" or "Snit" he says it makes him feel better. And honestly I understand that.

So have fun with the girls and good luck.

 

[Humhill]

I know someone who teaches riding lessons and when the school has vacations she does a camp. One thing she does is painting. There's some paint you can get that is safe to put on the horses. It just wears off after a couple days, or you can wash it off. You can give them an anatomy lesson. Trace out where the skeleton is.

They can also practice doing hunter braids. I always liked doing that and taking bailing twine, braiding pieces together and making halters out of it.

 

[TinyMiteVillage]

Get some cheap halters and some uff paint and let the girls decorate each horses halter...........then teach them how to french braid the tails.........I love doing the tails with braids........or if you can get your hands on some old horse shoes let them decorate a Good Luck Horse Shoe for each horse.......

 

[justagirl]

. what about simon says with the horses, or even simon says grooming.

-Vanessa

I do this alot with my 2 of my younger boys . I set up obstacles and we do Simon Says with the obstacles. Fun for the kids and obstacle training for the horses = kill 2 birds with 1 stone ... win , win situation

:

 

[Debby - LB]

Do not underestimate an 8 yr old :lol I was mucking out stalls at that age and I was not the size of a modern day bucket- we only had the metal ones back then.

I would have sawn my leg off rather than miss a day.

A good old pair of rubber gloves, and some poo picking never hurt anyone- get them working.

Return to child labour- that's what I want to see

Seriously I think it is only right for them to realise it is not all fun- there is no harm in a bit of hard work as well.

Well there you go! Exactly what I was thinking....At that age even vacumning is fun!! All the kids that stay here fight over who gets to pick the apples, then brush the horses some even love to dump and scrub the buckets. Beware though when they hit a certain age is all comes to a hault...that's when you find out who the true horse lovers are.

 

[PaintedPromiseRanch]

Actually he has now started to ask if he can do "poop patrol" when he is in a "MOOD" or "Snit" he says it makes him feel better. And honestly I understand that.

boy do i understand that... i have to tell you, after 2 divorces i swore i would never get married again... of course (after 9 years) i met a wonderful man and he wanted to get married. it felt ok, i trusted him... right up until the night before the wedding i was fine! i woke up that morning in a total panic, I CAN NOT DO THIS! but no way could i hurt him like that either... i went outside and scooped poop in my bare feet for an hour or so, got myself grounded, went in and cleaned up and went to the church and got married. we are coming up on 7 years and it was definitely a good thing, but if it weren't for horse apples :lol: , there might not have been a wedding that day!!

:

 

[ILoveMyGelding]

When we have our party at our barn every year, we play games with the kids. Musical chairs, egg and spoon, and water cup race (transfer water from one cup to an empty one with a spoon. Who ever gets the most water at the end wins).