When you think back to the summer holidays when you were a child, you probably remember weeks of freedom from school, games, holidays and relaxation. When you’re a parent looking ahead to the summer holidays, you likely see a challenging time where you need additional childcare. You don’t just have to keep your children safe and fed during the holidays, you need to keep them entertained! A summer holiday slumped in front of the TV might be easy to manage but it doesn’t create memories your kids will cherish later in life.
Today we’re taking a look at some of the ways you can keep your children busy, occupied and entertained through the long weeks of the summer break.
Crafts
Craft hobbies are a great thing to get your children involved with during the summer holidays. If they are captivated by the craft in question, they can spend days at a time working at it, so it could be well worth your time to invest in a rainbow weaving loom for example, or a simple sewing set.
You can make it more likely your kids will stick with this craft by taking an interest! Admire the results, and sit down and work with them. Modeling the behaviour you want is much more effective than simply telling your kids to do something! If you’re able to start this craft off together with your children, it’s more likely they’ll continue it themselves when you’re busy with work, so they can show what they’ve been doing and display your pride!
Get Them Involved in the Kitchen
Working with your children in the kitchen is a great opportunity to bond, to begin to teach them vital life skills and to respect some of the sources of danger in your home!
This is time consuming and can create lots of mess, so it can help both you and the children if you plan in advance! This also builds their anticipation, and makes baking day more of an event.
Decide on a recipe together – your kids will be more engaged if they have a hand in picking what they’ll be making and eating, and shop together for the ingredients. As long as you do some preparation in advance (chopping with a sharp knife, for example), this form a safe, fun family activity.
Walking
Children have a lot of energy and it can only help you to parent them if you give them the opportunity to burn it off. Don’t forget the usual school day comes with multiple sessions in the playground to run and play, and it’s worth trying to mirror this at home.
A long walk in the countryside can help you clear your head while they burn off some of their abundance of energy. You can even make it an educational experience. Research the area in advance and create a scavenger hunt of things to find, from natural features like streams and lakes to plants, flowers and wildlife!