Top tips to keep your kids occupied this summer

Schools out…finally! But with the start of the summer holidays comes 6 weeks (at least) of finding fun and engaging ways to keep your kiddos entertained.

Feeling a little stuck for ideas? We’ve put together a few fun activities to help you out.

Scavenger Hunt

A fun way to get the kids off the couch and moving is a classic scavenger hunt.

It’s really simple and easy idea to set up - create a clue to find a location or item, then have another clue waiting at that spot. That clue leads to the next spot, and so on. Place a small “treasure”, such as a toy, sweeties or a game, at the final spot. This self-directed activity allows your children to take pride in completing a task on their own (or cooperatively if playing with others). At the same time, they can learn skills such as sequencing, i.e. the importance of following steps in order.

Games Tournament

Another easy activity for a few hours of fun is to get the family involved in a good old fashioned games tournament.

Dust off any old board games, create a schedule and let the games begin. In addition to teaching your children about teamwork, patience, and how to win and lose gracefully, board games can actually benefit your children’s cognitive and language development. Plus, the lack of technology required to play board games makes that quality time feel special.

This is such a simple way to get screen-free down time with your kids — and you might be surprised by how much they love playing along!

DIY Obstacle Course

Building obstacle courses is a low-cost, easy activity for only children, a group of siblings, or the whole family to get involved in!

Endless amounts of fun can be had by creating courses from simple objects you have lying around the house. You can curate your obstacle course to be as easy or as intricate as you’d like! You can whip one up in a quick 15 minutes or you can really get your creative juices flowing and can consume an entire afternoon in both the construction and running of the course.

The perfect obstacle course should be challenging, fun, and easily deconstructed or reconstructed. But, most importantly, it should be safe!

Home Science Experiments

You don’t need special experimental equipment or a PhD to get your children excited about science.  There are plenty of fun and educational experiments that can be done from the comfort of your own home, using items you probably already have lying around.

At home experiments will help to introduce children of all ages to basic scientific concepts, as well as teaching them the importance of patience, accuracy and safety.

Camp Out

Why not look out the old tent from the garage (or pick up a budget friendly one) and let the kids camp in the garden. Decorate the tent with cosy pillows, blankets and battery operated fairy lights to help make their beds for the night as welcoming and comfortable as possible. You could also go a step further and host your own pre bedtime outdoor movie night in your tent.

If your children are too young to sleep out in the elements by themselves, either bring them in just before sleeping time or join them for the night.

However you decide to spend your summer days as a family, we’d love to see pictures.

Feel free to share them with us via our social media channels:

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