Anyone Else Have, or Had, Many Kids Under the Age of Five??

Well, when my second set was born I had four under a year and a half;) The older set of twins just turned three, and the younger set will be two in the summer. We're hoping for more before too long, and would love it if they kept coming two at a time;)

Anyway, the big hit around here is craft time. The most mess-free, but still fun, thing my girls love is:

white construction paper for the background

colored paper to cut up

safety scissors

two bowls, one with a capful of glitter, and one with some Elmer's' glue.

popsicle sticks to spread the glue onto the paper

a few crayons

They smear the glue on the white paper, then sprinkle glitter on it. They also like gluing down the little cut-up pieces of paper. Or fridge is just covered with these masterpieces!;)

The obedience game is also a hit. That's where the first child to obey your commands gets a sticker! You can play it when it's time to clean up!

I have 3 kids, ages 4 yr., 2 1/2 yr., 1 yr. and a baby due in 2 months. I am glad to see there are others out there like us. My first 2 kids are 21 months apart. After that, my babies have come every 16 months. It is emotionally taxing at times. However, I find if we are busy with activities, life is so much easier and more fun. Plus, everyone is on the same schedule which is great!
Favorites in our house are duck-duck-goose, coloring, playdough, sand box, ring-around-the-rosie, puzzles, dance party (dance to a CD of kid's songs), story time, making forts, watering plants outside, jumping on a trampoline...

As far as tips, my 4 year old has chores. He uses the dust buster under the kitchen table every day. My 4 and 2 year olds take their own dishes over to the sink and love to try and wash them by themselves. I am always asking them to help; can you go get me this, can you let the dog out, can you please help your sister wash her hands, can you please take this to your room. At this age, I still have to do a lot myself, but I have found they are capable of far more than I would have given them credit for. As more babies come, I will be assigning the kids "partners". The older ones will be responsible for helping the younger ones with brushing teeth, getting dressed, eating, what ever they are capable of.

I am looking forward to reading other people's responses and getting more ideas. God Bless.

My older one is 12 now but when he was just five I had our 4th. He was a September birthday so I had a whole year with all four of them home. We went out to the park daily. Even in hot weather, we just brought lots of drinking and splashing water. We played in the park sprinklers when they went off, painted the sidewalk with water, blew bubbles etc. I also had a friend with only two kiddos. We would get together a few times a week. It was six little ones, but I had adult conversation and they learned to play so well together. It was my sanity break, for sure.

Hints. I color coded my kids stuff. It sounds silly but then I knew whose was what. Their snack cup, drinking cup, blankie, binkie, shoes everything. As they got older it helped me to teach responsibility too. That way when I said "put your cup in the sink when you are done" I knew who to remind if it was still on the table. I also had a schedule daily. This helped me and them to know what was coming and what to expect. It is a lot easier to answer the "can I have a (5th) snack?" question when snack time is at 10:00.

Hope this helps. I love my big family. I will tell you, though. Now that they are older I have realized that the smaller age was much more physically difficult. I promise a time is coming when you will get some sleep :) Now it is so much more mentally/emotionally difficult. It all changes, but I wouldn't trade it for the world!

I love to know there are more people like me out there! I have two 3 year olds, a 2 year old and a 10 month old (and we'll probably have more or adopt more in the future).

HMMMM...stuff we like to do...
Ring around the Rosie is always a favorite. Along with that, they like to make "trains" and follow me around the house. We like Candy Land Shapes (kind of like Bingo...they fill up their card with different shapes that come out on their turn when they pull a lever). Open ended toys: blocks, puzzles, legos, play kitchen, play workshop, balls, dress up etc. Routine is absolutely important....I am starting to think my kids view their days in terms of when they eat :-D. We try to play outside EVERY day to get some energy out. We got a quad stroller so I can take the kids to the mall play area by myself or take them on walks. My kids love music so we sing and dance every day as well. Any songs that have movement are fun for them (Ants Go Marching, 5 Little Ducks, Going on a Bear Hunt, etc.). We have story time every day also. I keep separate "Mommy Books" that are kid books that they can't play with all of the time and we use those for story time. They each get to choose a "mommy book" and when its time for their book to be read, they get to sit on my lap and the others crowd around the other way.

For me, the days that are best with my kids are the days that I am focused and have activities planned for them. As I'm sure is the case with everyone else with small children, the days when I want to talk on the phone or do something "by myself" are the days they gang up on me :-D. I have also found that if I need to do something (like make lunch), finding ways for them to "help" (even if it takes planning on my part) always makes them happy and allows me to get more done. They like to sit in their high chairs while I make lunch and dinner and I give them age appropriate things to "help" me with. For example, the older kids can pluck grapes and wash them, my 10 month old likes to bang spoons.:-D

We work on sharing and taking turns ALL the time. We talk about how to be helpers to each other not just mommy. I praise them often for the good things they do to help each other. If they hurt each other, after their discipline, they have to "make it right" by telling the person to their face they are sorry and following it up with a hug. We also work on talking in "bid kid" voices. I won't respond to them if they whine at me except to say that they need to try again.

WOW...I could go on and on. I love playing with my kids. It is nice to know though that if I can't play with them, they can play with each other and entertain themselves for a little while. Having a larger family is a blessing!

Hi M. A!
I have 4 kids who are growing quickly, some people will comment Ohhh YOu have so many! But within my group 4 is small, Most of my friends have 6+, this is in a homeschooling (cahtolic ) community so large families are standard and celebrated. You might want to read a book called None To Give Away By Elsie Doig Townsend it is out of print but you can find it on alibris.com or abebooks.com for aobut 1-2 dollars. Also there are alot of website for large families, you may want to try my friend's blog http://www.myspace.com/momoflotsofkids

I keep hoping I can convince my husband to have a few more, but as he is older than me I do not think he can be convinced. AHH we shall see!!

C. Willis

Right now i have 6 kids ages 10,9,7,6,5,and 3.two are my stepsons but at one point when it was just my 4 i had a 5,3,2,and a newborn!!!I can just say iwouldnt trade my large family for the years even when they were younger.In fact i miss the younger days!!!We used to play a lot of memory they always had fun.We also always kept busy with doing things outside even though it takes longer to get outside it was always fun!!!Things I've learned?that with large families your house is never quiet lol but thats good.Your kids always have someone to play with and believe it or not the more kids i have had the less the sibling rivalry has happened it still happens but not to the degree i thought it would!!I really could write a novel about all of this but i wont :)

I have 3 kids just turned 4, 2, & 5 months. we enjoy finger paints, playdoh, going to the park, stuff like that. I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the responces to see what other moms are doing. Glad to hear you all are open to more kids too-that's rare

I too had 4 under the age of 5! My oldest is now 12!
Hide and seek in the house is always fun. Sometimes just mom hides and the kids have to find mom. One time I threw the unfolded laundry over my head and sat in the hall way and they ran past me about 7 or 8 times. We busted up laughing so hard when they finally discovered where I was. My house is small so I had to be creative. Kids love when Mom acts like a kid and actually PLAYS with them!!! We also go to parks A LOT, Do Simple puzzles, simple card games(memory is fun), coloring books, drawing time, Reading time is awesome! Little dancing contests (freestyle ~ kids love it and sometimes I will video tape them and then let them watch... They love to see themselves on the TV)... Now that mine are a little older, we have them invovled in a ton of stuff... Life is busy but full and FUN!
They are a blessing and these years will fly by! Good luck!

Just wanted to say congrats on the large family! I love large families and think they're just wonderful. If I hadn't had such a rough time during my first pregnancy, I'd be going for a lot more kiddos myself. Blessings!

My daughter is 3 and she loves to play Candy Land. There are other games for that age group you can get and they are not all expensive (the older games are cheaper).

Have you ever heard of Jon & Kate plus Eight? They are the couple who had twins, decided to try for another child (had to have fertility help) and ended up with 6 more. They have a show on Monday nights where the camera crew just follow them around for everything they do. It is very educational, even though I only have one small child it still helps me! I always think, if she can do it with 8 kids then I should have NO problem with my 3yr old, LOL. Anyway, that show and Supernanny has taught me a lot about how to keep kids stimulated. I am not sure if Jon & Kate have a website but Supernanny does - maybe you can check it out and see if it gives you any tips!

Sorry I couldn't be more help!

My daughter was five when our twins were born making our 5 kids. The twins are 9 months now and love to go for walks. We have a triple stroller and our son 18 months and the twins sit in the back.

I have 3 children 32 months apart from start to finish ;-) My first 2 (girls) are 14 months apart & our baby boy came along 18 months after our 2nd! Now they are 4, 3, & almost 2.

It is chaos much of the time - we love taking "treasure hunt walks" together. We make a list of things we want to see or hear on our walk & then venture out on our adventure! Taking turns deciding what make-believe game we'll play next! Going to the zoo! Putting on fun music & dancing together. Cooking together - each kid having a special (age appropriate) job making the meal. Get a big box (from an appliance store), cut a door & windows in it, color/decorate it & make it a club house!

I'd love to chat & share ideas with you if you'd like. Enjoy this time & have a blast!