Easter is coming and will be here before we know it. For some families Easter will mean a long weekend home with the children and for some families it will be 2 full weeks of school holidays!
We want our children to have time to relax and recharge, but it’s always a good idea to have some quick and easy ideas to fill moments of boredom. These activities are also great for a quiet weekend or when you’ve got kids home sick.
Stay at home ideas
Alphabet Exercise
What you need: Paper and pen, space.
What to do: Choose an activity to go with each letter of the alphabet. For instance, A = jumping, B = skipping, C = standing on one leg. Help your child to spell out their name using the exercises!
DIY Movies
What you need: Snacks, paper, markers, movie.
What to do: Make your own movie experiences! Let your children make tickets, money and set up a snacks counter. Practicing early literacy and numeracy skills through play is the best way to learn. If your kids are feeling creative they could even act out a movie for each other or you!
Masterchef
What you need: Ingredients to make vanilla cupcakes, cupcake icing and any cupcake toppings such as sprinkles, lollies and chocolate.
What to do: Set to work cooking up a storm and decorating! Work together to make cupcakes and then let each family member decorate their own. You could share pictures on social media and get friends and family to judge a winner.
Fashion Parade
What you need: Your wardrobe
What to do: Young children love dressing up and being allowed to raid their parents’ wardrobes is very exciting. Putting on a fashion show is a lot of fun and makes some great memories.
Author for a day
What you need: Pen, markers, and a post it stamps.
What to do: Receiving mail is a real treat these days so why not get children involved in sending letters to friends and family they don’t see regularly? Children love to have a purpose for their writing and drawing. This is a great way to explore storytelling – an older child can write a story while a younger child can draw and picture and explain the story to you.
Artist for a day
What you need: Canvas from the bargain shops and paints. (Food colouring and water work just as well).
What to do: Painting is a fun (and messy!) activity. Have a family painting day, you could try completing a picture together or everyone can do their own thing. For older children you can find great tutorials on Youtube for how to paint a specific scene.
Out and About Ideas
Visit somewhere new
What you need: Car and packed picnic.
What to do: It’s easy to get into the habit of going to the same parks (especially if you can walk to them!). Why not try something different and visit a park you’ve never been to before?
Left or Right?
What you need: Car and packed picnic.
What to do: An activity your children will love. Jump in the car and let them pick the directions! They are in charge of when you turn and what roads you take. Set a time limit and then pull over and google the closest park. You might find some hidden gems.
Time to research
What you need: A list of parks in the area. Paper and pens.
What to do: Which is the best park in your local area? Which one has toilets and a BBQ? Go visit the parks and get your kids researching. You can even help them to add information and reviews to google maps to help out other families!
I Spy
What you need: Paper and pens
What to do: Make a list of things you might see in your local area and then go for a walk as a family and play I Spy together.
Sleep Outside
What you need: Tent
What to do: Kids love camping, but going away can be a lot of effort, so try a sleepover in your backyard! Set up the tent, roll out the sleeping bags and enjoy some camping snack (but still enjoy flushing toilets and hot running water). See you if you can spend 24hours outside.
I hope you enjoy trying some of these activities with your family and enjoy the memories that you make together.
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