Summer Holiday Mini-Series: Part 2
Hi there Yummy Mummys!
Welcome to the 2nd installment in the School Summer Holidays mini-series!
Today I’m focussing on those days that – for whatever reason (usually the weather! Or possibly Chicken Pox! In which case, check out my Chicken Pox post) – you are stuck indoors. Being stuck inside for a day or two can be really fun – but in a long week of nothing but rain (yes, I did say summer holidays!) it can get a little cramped and your house may start to feel like it’s getting smaller by the hour! In my opinion, sunny days are great stay-at-home days, and wet weather days are great daytrip days – I go to a great soft play place that takes 45 minutes to get to (nice long drive to some favourite music), and then the kids can climb and bounce for hours, before a nice sleepy drive home! But inevitably there will be days that, for whatever reason, (bad weather, illness, you don’t have the car, or you don’t drive) you’re at home and not sure how to keep your child busy. Hopefully I can give you a few ideas…
Firstly, just because you’re doing indoor activities, it doesn’t mean it has to be messy. Even if you’re doing crafts, there are degrees of mess. For example, I always use Paints from a tray (in colour circles), because they are nice and tidy and don’t make half as much mess as big pots of paint! On sunny days, I take the paints and things outside as they can make as much mess as they like in the garden, but indoors, especially in a small house, we try to limit the mess. The kids don’t know this, of course, it’s all in the choice of things you give them to play with – I give them things they can go wild with, but it might be going wild with crayons rather than felt tip pens, for example. I have hidden all glitter and it only comes out on special occasions! I swear that stuff takes well over a year to truly irradicate. It might be that you have a big kitchen-diner or playroom with laminate flooring that is ideal for messy play though – in which case, get the kids in old clothes and let them make a big mess!
I’m pretty useless at thinking of cool crafts to do, so if you’re feeling a little uninspired like me, you may find the help of a magazine like Creative Steps helpful. They’ve got craft ideas for all ages (including textiles for older children which I thought was quite impressive!), and the Summer 2012 edition even has some Oylimpic themed things to make!
But crafts aren’t the only indoor activities that can keep kids entertained – let’s not forget the art of indoor den-building, storytelling, or playing ‘shops’! There is really so much to do indoors if you just spend a bit of time planning it out in advance – all it takes is 10 minutes of sitting down with a cuppa and writing a long list of indoor ideas that you can refer to when you’re stuck for inspiration. Here is my list of things to have in stock, both crafts and NON-crafts, which should keep your little ones happy for weeks!:
Oilcloth/wipable messy tablecloth for the table.
Paints in a tray – circles of paint that come with a brush and have a clear hinged lid. The kids have one each (so no arguements over colours) and they’re really cheap (99p) and easy to replace.
Playdough – lots of different colours, cutters, sea shells, pots, rolling pins, cupcake cases and spoons. It costs £9.99 for a bumper playdough set from Argos, including 20 pots of playdough
Pritt Stick – A less messy alternative to PVA!
Kitchen-style aprons for the kids, wipable/oilcloth, suitable for cooking or messy activities. Should cost about £5
Wooden spoons for cooking and pretend cooking
‘Bits and bobs’ (for over 3 years) – glass stones, pebbles, buttons, toy jewellery, little treasures to sit at the table and play with.
Colouring-in books
Lots of books to read, a mix of ficton and non-fiction is ideal. Something like the Guiness book of World Records is a great one to have in the house for kids – I remember spending hours looking through it as a child – and recently picked up the 2006 edition in a charity shop for about 50p! Also, altases or maps will broaden their horizons, in my opinion children are never too young to learn that the Universe doesn’t revolve around them!
Family photo albums to look through
Childrens DVDs – both short episodes and feature films – be sure to sit with the children and watch together if it’s a film they/you haven’t seen before, to avoid any scary parts and answer any questions
Dry pasta, rice and lentils (for pretend cooking)
Dressing up clothes and old clothes
Paper, felt pens, crayons, drawing pencils.
Blankets and sheets for den-building!
Puzzles
Toys and blocks
If anyone has any other fun ideas to add, please do leave a comment and let me know!
See you soon for my final installment!
Yummy Mummy xxx
