How to have stress-free holidays
You have survived the first week of the holidays – now you have one week to go. The ideas of things to do with the children are starting to run out.
It is always a bit of a mission to find things for the children to do every day, especially things that don’t require money.
Think of your own childhood and what you use to get up to in the holidays.
For many people they were fun inexpensive activities that have formed the lasting impressions.
Is this what we want for our children?
Here are a few ideas that will not only promote having fun but also allow the family to spend some valuable time together.
Go for a walk – go somewhere you don’t normally go – to a different park, different neighbourhood, cemetery, etc.
Go exploring at the local park – talk about different things at the park – particularly plant life etc.
Get them out in the garden – allow them some space where they can create their own garden. Encourage them to care for their garden, by explaining what they need to do to keep things alive, etc.
They may even choose to make a village out of their bit of garden – this leads to building houses, having greenery, vehicles, roads, etc. Wow – that was a fond memory of my childhood.
Go to the beach and allow siblings to have a sand castle competition, beach races, ball games, or visit the rock pools.
On a wet day you may like to have a picnic inside, pretend that you are going on a big trip and going to take your lunch – let your imagination run wild, then them build on to the imagination.
Let children have some water to play with – have a real tea party, let them do the washing outside by hand, have some vessels filled with water and they can experiment with filling different things, water has endless possibilities and it doesn’t need to be wasteful.
Go for a bike ride somewhere you don’t normally go – find some cool tracks to follow.
Fishing off the jetty – if you don’t have the necessary equipment see if the neighbours have anything you could borrow. Part of the fun could be making something to catch fish with.
Create a scavenger hunt around home or in the park.
Have set things they need to look for – the more difficult you make it the longer it will take for them to complete.
Inside they could create huts with blankets and furniture.
Let them sleep in their hut for the night – what a treat.
The ideas are endless and this is just a few to get you started.
Enjoy the break, and sharing some special times with your child, they are only young for such a short period of time and one day won’t want to do things with mum and/or dad.