With the summer holidays just around the corner, it is time to get organised and consider what activities you can book into the calendar to keep your little ones occupied. Due to the British weather being a little unpredictable at times, it is best to have a bank of outdoor and indoor activities to choose from to avoid being trapped inside with children climbing the walls.
These energetic creatures can have fun anywhere and they do not always require money to be spent on them to ensure they have a good time. So what sorts of things can you plan to busy these bees and keep them smiling?
Garden galore..
The garden is a treasure trove of activity. Everywhere a child looks, there are new corners to explore, new flowers to smell and bigger holes to dig. Take advantage of this location and decide if any of these activities are for you:
☑ Gardening = allow your charge to help you to plant flowers or repot them so that they can watch them grow over summer. Whilst this is not the right time to be planting everything, you will still be able to get their hands dirty and let them become a part of the process.
☑ Experiments and observations = this could be as simple as leaving bird seed out for the birds, planting watercress or using different types of soil to see which works best when growing seeds.
☑ Nature trail = planning a nature trail and asking children to collect various items that can be found in the garden can be great fun. Treat this as a competition or simply an explorer’s adventure and create a poster of the day’s successes.
☑ Paddling pool in the garden = is a simple and effective way to entertain youngsters. Throw some balls and rubber ducks into the pool and they will be happy. Make sure you remember to take the towels outside to avoid the mess…
Creative crafts..
Some children like to get dirty and explore whilst others prefer to sit down and create a masterpiece of their own. Crafty ideas could be:
☑ Summer Scrapbook = depending on their age, taking photos of their summer fun, collecting ticket stubs and wrappers and collating these at the end will allow them to look back on amazing memories.
☑ Junk modelling = reuse your packaging and set your charge a task to create a musical instrument or a new invention. They just might be the next huge entrepreneur.
☑ Painting = collecting stones on one of your many adventures is a great start for this project. Allowing children to paint their own design could produce a multi-coloured rockery for everyone to admire.
☑ Journals = for those budding writers, encouraging them to keep a summer journal is the perfect way to hone their skills and allow them to express their thoughts and feelings over the summer break.
Whatever the weather, there are so many projects that you can motivate your charge to own and complete. Setting children tasks such as these will keep them thinking and allow them to practise their many school skills as they go along. Your poppets will love these perfect projects.