Everything you need to know for a happy Easter holiday at home

As the lockdown leaves parents desperate for indoor entertainment, has some suggestions

School’s out for Easter. Except it was already out. It’s been out for two weeks, and this year – amid cancelled trips and closed attractions – the normal enthusiasm for the holidays is sadly lacking. It’s been more than fortnight since our children were sent home from school, and since then, parents up and down the country have been making some attempt at home schooling, with varying degrees of success. While their childless colleagues may well have opted to cancel any annual leave booked, given they can’t actually do anything, parents still have to parent.

Many will have made the calculation that they may as well take the days off that they’d booked over Easter. But how to spend them? We can forget cottage breaks and long walks, visits to relatives and pub beer gardens. This year, your longest trip will be to the shop for essential items. Without the kids. And no, it won’t be the same.

“This is going to be an Easter holiday unlike any other, not least because for many parents it won’t feel very different from what has preceded it: oddly structureless days in which everybody seems to be eating a lot of chocolate,” says Justine Roberts, founder and chief executive of Mumsnet and mother of four. “Some Mumsnet users are looking forward to not having to even pretend to follow lesson plans, and personally I’ll be delighted to break from my home school, which I fear has already gone into special measures.”

So what are your options when it comes to filling your children’s time for the next two weeks, when many of the usual forms of entertainment are out of the question? We sought out ideas from a range of parents and experts. Here’s what they came up with...

Rosa Silverman

“We’re going to haul the tent out and camp in the garden. To be honest, it sounds like more fun to me – the novelty of living outdoors, but with proper lavatories. Plus I’ve already warned my husband that once the kids are asleep, I’m going to sneak in the house and sleep in our bed, which I will enjoy having all to myself.” – Ellie Gibson, Scummy Mummies

“If you have kids under the age of six or seven, the best tool you have available to keep them entertained is their own imagination. Making dens out of bedding and sofa cushions is always a winner and no parent should

‘The best tool you have to keep them entertained is their own imagination’

ever underestimate the power of an empty cardboard box.

“I made a race car last week for my twins and they basically lived in it for a day. The most important thing is to give them options and let them make decisions. That way they’re invested in it and you can keep them entertained long enough to scoff an entire Easter egg and wash it down with cup of tea while it’s still relatively hot.” – Simon Hooper, Father of Daughters (father_of_daughters on Instagram)

“The school holidays are brilliant for cooking with the kids, and if you’ve got little ’uns why not whip up a lovely meatballs and pasta in tomato sauce? Get the kids to roll the mince into balls, about the size of a golf ball – you can use a Quorn mince for a meat alternative. They can crush up a tin of plum tomatoes using a fork, and also break up some pieces of fresh basil into them.

“You may need to help with frying the meatballs, heating up the sauce and cooking the pasta, but assemble it together and job done! They will feel like they’ve achieved something, it will be delicious and it’s never too early to introduce cooking meals from scratch.” – Gregg Wallace, Masterchef judge

“My children have discovered a new passion for horticulture, started organically through a dissection of some strawberries that were meant to be their pudding. The seeds were duly planted in old egg boxes and covered with the plastic container in which the strawberries arrived, thereby creating a DIY greenhouse.