10 Fun Activities To Do With Your Children During The School Holidays
22nd April 2014
When it comes to the schools holidays, it can often feel like a strange period of time until you get into the swing of things. You and your children no longer have to stick to the same routine you have 5 days a week and although this may sound very appealing, it can often leave you feeling a bit out of sorts at the beginning.
The secret to a successful school holiday is finding the right things to do to keep the kids occupied and having fun, as well as leaving you with enough down-time so you can relax and feel like you’ve had a break too.
With this in mind, we’ve come up with 10 fun activities you can try out with your children during the school holidays that you can enjoy with them too, keeping everyone happy!
1) Colouring books
Buy some colouring books, crayons, pens, markers etc. and let your kids enjoy colouring in the various pictures. Save these books over the years so you can look back on them when the children are older and enjoy the memories.
This may seem rather old fashioned, but kids love this traditional past time and it can keep them occupied for a long time too!
2) Homemade pizza
Let your children invite a few friends round and make homemade pizza together.
To save on time – and messiness- you could buy the pizza bases from the supermarket and let the children put the tomato puree on top and chop up the toppings to place onto the base.
Help them select a range of ingredients such as; sweetcorn, onion, chicken, mushrooms, bacon, pepper etc. and then sprinkle with cheese before placing in the oven to cook for 10-15 minutes.
3) Egg and spoon race
If it’s Easter time then why not hold an egg and spoon race?
Lay out a course with deliberate obstacles in the way, line your competitors up, each with a spoon and a hard-boiled egg balancing on it. Let them begin the race at the same time and the one who completes the course without dropping their egg off the spoon wins the race!
4) Gardening
Gardening is a great way to get your kids some fresh air. You could let them help you out with general garden maintenance such as watering the plants – you could buy them their own little trowel to help you turn the soil and dig holes.
If you’re feeling adventurous, you could help them create their own herb garden and plant herbs such as mint, parsley, coriander and chives. Likewise, you could grow a vegetable patch with potatoes, cucumbers, carrots and peas. This will help your children learn where the food they eat comes from and give them an appreciation for the outdoors.
5) Outdoor treasure hunt
Hide various bits of ‘treasure’ around your garden, such as fake jewels, crowns, gems, rings and other pieces of jewellery and let your kids try and hunt them down. You could even make a treasure map with clues for them and use a damp tea bag to stain the paper, making it all the more real and help get your children in the mood for their exciting treasure hunt!
6) Collages
You could do a colour collage, where your children cut out pictures of your favourite things and create a collage out of them on card. Use crayons, glitter and paint to fill in any gaps and get creative!
7) Theme park
If you don’t mind spending some money, you could all go to the theme park for the day. Depending on where you live, there is Alton Towers, Thorpe Park or Drayton Manor to take your family for the day and enjoy the rides- and the animals at some of them!
8) Visit the library
Take your children to your local library every week or so and let them choose any books, games, DVDs or CDs they might want and then go back and swap them for something different. You can also take advantage of the free access to the computers.
9) Swimming
Take your children swimming and let them play games. You can teach them how to swim underwater. Once they start building up their confidence, you can slowly build it up so they can eventually swim to the bottom of the pool and collect things such as weighted, foam bricks or coins. Just check the timetable first before you go, as you don’t want to turn up when it’s adults only.
10) Fruit picking
At the start of the summer, take your kids strawberry, blackberry, raspberry or gooseberry picking for the day. See how many you can collect in the baskets and if you have enough you could make a yummy pie!
So, why not try some of our fun themed activities to do with your children over the school holidays for some all-round, creative and crafty fun!
For further information about children’s activities or after school clubs around the Bulwell area, please get in touch with our friendly team here at Tiny World.