What should my son and I do while waiting for his school bus?

April 9, 2009 3:46 PM

What should my son and I do while waiting for his school bus?

Every school day, my son and I wait for his bus to come pick him up. The wait can be anywhere from one to fifteen minutes. What are some fun ways for us to spend the time?

Relevant information:

- He's six years old.
- We're the only people at the bus stop (which is at the end of our driveway).
- This doesn't have to be educational time. It does have to be fun time.
- He should be engaged, but not get worked up.
- The bus comes with no warning, so it needs to be something that can stop without feeling too abrupt.

Things we've done: hide and seek with his little sister, drawing with chalk, clapping games, reading in the way back of the car, collecting dandelions, working on pogo stick skills.

What else could we be doing? Variations on things we've already done are welcome.

posted by The corpse in the library to sports, hobbies, & recreation (29 answers total)

I Spy. Endless entertainment.
posted by meerkatty at 3:50 PM on April 9, 2009

Play a rousing game of "I Spy..."?
Sing songs?
Blow bubbles?
Play catch?
Hula hooping? (6 may be too young; then again, I've never been able to do this, so perhaps age isn't a factor)
Hopscotch?
Jump rope?
posted by pecanpies at 3:51 PM on April 9, 2009

Slug bug, no tradebacks.
posted by roger ackroyd at 3:53 PM on April 9, 2009

Rhyming name games.

"What about Ted, he fell on his head!"
"What about Mary, she ate a canary!"

You can alternate choosing names and rhyming words. I used to do this on long car rides.
posted by jessamyn at 3:54 PM on April 9, 2009 [2 favorites]

Eye spy. Eye spy using letters (I spy something starting with the letter K. Yes, it's educational, but it's also fun.)

My little girls (4 and 2) like playing the alphabet game. You name a subject (animals, names, foods, etc.) and you try to name something that begins with each letter.

We also sing "They Might Be Giants" songs as well as standards. Songs with a lot of repetition are the best.

Also, every now and then, I'll tell them that I'm changing their names because I'm tired of their old ones. And so we'll spend maybe ten minutes with me calling them "Fred" or "Gumshoe" or "Buckaroo." And they laugh and demand to be called by other names or they decide that my name isn't "Daddy" anymore (sadly, it usually becomes "Fatty" or "PooPooHead" or inexplicably "Taco Bell.").

Sometimes I carry around a tape measure and we take turns measuring things we find. This is a lot of fun when we go on walks.

And, of course, it's fun to bring a camera and take turns taking silly pictures.

Also: Harmonica!
posted by ColdChef at 3:57 PM on April 9, 2009 [3 favorites]

My 6-year old is a big fan of 20 Questions.
posted by Daily Alice at 4:02 PM on April 9, 2009

Pétanque, with stones/pinecones/whatever happens to be lying around.
posted by Dick Paris at 4:07 PM on April 9, 2009

Invent games and try them out. Drawing games, writing games etc.
Tell stories alternating with each sentence.
Mimic: 1 person starts by making a sound and a gesture. 2nd person repeats and adds their own; alternate until error, then start again.
posted by andreinla at 4:12 PM on April 9, 2009

I'd take my ipod, my little battery-powered speaker, and just sing. Also, crazy dance party.
posted by lampoil at 4:21 PM on April 9, 2009

Cat's cradle
Clapping game (like Miss Mary Mack)
Chinese jump rope
Jacks
Tic tac toe
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 4:22 PM on April 9, 2009

rock-paper-scissors tournament. My 6-year old son and I do this all the time.
posted by Chrischris at 4:32 PM on April 9, 2009

NIM

The way I play, which is maybe not standard, is to have one pile of ten objects.
Players take turns removing 1, 2, or 3 objects.
Whoever takes the last one loses.

Fun four hours with my sixth graders, but I learned this game at age 6 and enjoyed it then too.
posted by mai at 4:40 PM on April 9, 2009

Mad Libs? Flashcards? Knock-knock jokes? Bug races?
posted by peagood at 4:43 PM on April 9, 2009

We used to play a pun game called Business. If your son enjoys silly puns he might enjoy it.

Me: I'm a pool boy.
Friend: How's business?
Me: Going swimmingly...

Friend: I'm a demolition engineer
Me: How's business?
Friend: Booming!

Me: I'm a ski instructor
Friend: How's business?
Me: I'm afraid it's going downhill..


etc etc...
posted by Tapioca at 4:45 PM on April 9, 2009

Pick a class of objects and see if you can name members of that class each beginning with the letters of the alphabet. If you picked "cars", you could start with "Audi", and so on. Each person takes a turn. You can pass on really tough ones.

My friend Dana and I did this one night with cartoon characters, and we made it all the way through the alphabet, though we were mutually stumped for the longest time with the letter "I". I finally copped out to end the game by answering "Id, Wizard of"...

Or buy a feeler gage and test each other's ability to assess and quantify thickness. It's surprisingly tough.
posted by Tube at 5:12 PM on April 9, 2009

Practice tying knots.
posted by Tube at 5:15 PM on April 9, 2009 [3 favorites]

Are you in the city or the country?

could you have a special ongoing project such as a garden or a fort, that he only gets to work on when you are at the bus stop? Might help as an incentive for getting him ready in the morning too?
posted by compound eye at 5:28 PM on April 9, 2009

Botany. "See this tree? It's called a Douglas fir."

Biology. "Let's see if we can find some spiders!"

Meteorology. "Look at that cloud. Do you think that's a cirrus or a stratus?"

Anatomy. "Make a fist. Your tiny little finger bones are called 'phalanges.' Isn't that a silly name. Not as silly as your humerus! Get it? Humour... us? OK, Mom isn't funny. But I have a funny BONE!"
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 5:35 PM on April 9, 2009

If I had a kid, I would teach him how to play dice. There are a lot of games you can play, they are all simple, fits in your pocket, quick to stop if the bus rolls around the corner, and he can hustle all his friends at school.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cee-lo_(dice_game)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Threes
posted by bradbane at 5:36 PM on April 9, 2009 [1 favorite]

Outdoor science-related stuff was always a win with me. When I was little my dad would wait for the bus with me and we would play with wooden helicopters, kites, and giant bubbles which were AWESOME. Especially since cool, humid early mornings are the best time for bubbles.

We also used to pluck slugs from the sidewalks and shoot them through straws at cars. He started it.
posted by Queen of Spreadable Fats at 6:02 PM on April 9, 2009

The internet says that the helicopters retail as wacky whirlers. And I forgot to mention the fun times to be had making parachutes with horse chestnuts for weights!
posted by Queen of Spreadable Fats at 6:12 PM on April 9, 2009

If I had a kid, I would teach him how to play dice.

Just be careful about letting him take them to school. (Sorry to killjoy)
posted by Decimask at 6:31 PM on April 9, 2009

If you've got a drainage pipe or some sort of tube that goes under the roadway (not everywhere has these, but we had them at our stop), you could always play Pooh Sticks.

The sum total of the game is that both players choose a somewhat identifiable stick. Both players drop said stick into the stream of water going under the road through the drainage pipe. Whichever stick comes out the other end first--wins!

(This is quite a silly game, but it amused the crap out of me until high school.)
posted by sperose at 6:33 PM on April 9, 2009

Listen to Lilly Allen and ponder the herd mentality of riding the bus!
posted by JuiceBoxHero at 7:32 PM on April 9, 2009

Slingshot target practice! (If you're rural)
posted by glider at 7:52 PM on April 9, 2009

Dot Game (as a kid, I used to compulsively play this against myself) or Hinky Pinkies.
posted by serazin at 8:29 PM on April 9, 2009

Hacky sack. There is no finer bus stop pastime.
posted by knowles at 8:59 PM on April 9, 2009 [1 favorite]

Kick a soccer ball!

Oh, and I love the alphabet game. You can use it for anything: foods, places, cars, animals, etc. Good for long car rides as well.
posted by JenMarie at 12:15 AM on April 10, 2009

The Minister's Cat!
posted by workerant at 11:44 AM on April 10, 2009