Ahhh summer holidays! Sun, beach, relax…
Nope.
Not for us.
Not this year…:(
We recently bought a flat and we have started renting it out as holiday let so we took the decision that this summer we were not going to go anywhere (ouch!) .
Now.. how to survive 6 weeks of holidays with two very lively, crazy children?
I knew I needed a hand so I organized to have some moral and physical support from my family . My mother in law is “booked” to stay here until the 19th of July and then my sister will be here till the beginning of August. In both cases I know the kids will have fun playing with them
but
I had to plan few activities to make sure that there was plenty of entertainment for the children.
This is what I planned:
- My kids looove making “recipes” ie putting together anything they can find in the garden (flowers, grass, stones, feathers,etc) and pretending it’s a new dish so I bought different plastic bowls and wooden spoons, a plastic jar and here you go, the perfect activity that for once doesn’t cost you money and that will keep them entertained for at least a couple of hours! Obviously if it rains it is not doable … oh well, I have a confession to make… at the moment I still send them outside,even with the rain! We live in Scotland and most of the time we just have drizzle than sunny again, drizzle and sunny, well you got the pattern.
- Face painting! We recently bought a pretty cheap set of face painting and the kids cannot get enough of painting each other faces, legs, arms. The good thing about it is that they then get to spend one hour in the bath playing to wash it all off! Perfect!
- We make obstacle courses. Again based on the weather it can be done either outside or inside. My kids love it because every time we use different things to make one. The popular obstacle course at the moment is in the living room where we use the big cushions of the sofa, some blankets, a rotating chair and a few small cardboard boxes. We just create different levels where the kids need to walk, jump, crawl, they absolutely love it!
- We bake! Obviously the best activity for me although when it’s done with the kids it just involves a “little” bit too much of flour (or powder sugar if we make the delicious meringues!)
- Treasure hunting. As long as it involves little sweets and marshmallows left here and there trust me this is one of the easiest activities to do with kids. If they know that there are still more sweets to be found (or strawberries or other fruits if you think sweets are too bad for them) they will just keep searching everywhere and the time will fly for everyone.
- Build a snail house.
I give each of my children a big pot base and I first ask them to fetch as much snails as possible in the garden. Then I ask them to create the most beautiful snail house possible. They use flowers, plants, little stones, sometimes I give them a small bowl, fill it with water so they can make a snail swimming pool. I love to see the final project, it’s fun especially because at the end we get to have a snail race where the winner will get to have lay in a “room” full of lettuce 😉
7) Eat gelato!
Now in between activities OBVIOUSLY I propose to them to watch a cartoon or to play with some games on the iPad but I guess as long as there is a good balance everyone is happy and mummy can keep her sanity intact!
This post is an entry for BritMums Confessions of a Summer Parent Challenge, sponsored by Anchor.
