School holidays....the time all parents dread as it means trying to come up with new and exciting things to do with the kids to keep them occupied
. The following ideas should help keep a smile on the kids faces and therefore a smile on yours.
Roll up your sleeves and have the kids help you out with a baking session. Try making some tasty treats such as gingerbread men and chocolate chip cookies. By getting the kids involved they will be entertained whilst they wait for them to cook and can design their very own treats. The state of your kitchen afterwards however is not guaranteed!
If the weather looks like it could be stable and warm for a few days running, set up a camp in your back yard. Kids of all ages will love it, and they can have their friends over for a camp under the stars. It will be like they are on holiday but need not travel any further than a few metres out the back door. You could even cook up a camp style dinner to add to the experience, topping it off with marshmallows by the fire!
For the rainier days when you need to stay indoors, play a story writing game. This game works best with a group of kids so perfect for the play days when you have your childrens friends over. Start by writing one sentence at the top of a page and pass it to the first person. Have them write one sentence and fold the paper so that the next person can only see the sentence before. Pass the paper around the group and by the end you will have a funny silly story that the kids will love.
One way to combine the outdoors and indoors is to make a collage by collecting things from the park. The kids could make a collage of bark collected from the park, leaves and flowers. Just make sure you have lots of newspaper and glue and happy to clean up a little mess afterwards.
Get together any old socks and make sock puppets and then have the kids make a play and perform it for you. The kids can help design the sock puppets and use their creativity to come with a story and work together with each other to perform it. Hours of entertainment and minimal mess!