Old Style Holiday Activities

trippy

Looking for some free or cheap suggestions on keeping a 5-year old amused during the summer holidays please.

Rikki

Make bean bags. Make shapes out of skipping ropes, stand up boxes, sauspans, laundry basket anything really. Make lables with points on for each target. Stand behind a line and throw bean bags into each one to score points.Gets them adding up too. Haven't explained myself very well have I.:o

mirakl

My friend always lets her little one loose with pavement chalk in her back garden so the little one can scribble away and make their own creations and you can hose it off as soon as they go to bed.

Churchmouse

Rikki wrote:

Make bean bags. Make shapes out of skipping ropes, stand up boxes, sauspans, laundry basket anything really. Make lables with points on for each target. Stand behind a line and throw bean bags into each one to score points.Gets them adding up too. Haven't explained myself very well have I.:o

I think that's brilliant!:D

Cheap as chips and sooo easy! Will definitely do this for DGS, he'll love it! Not yet three so counting will be off, but still good practice to try!

trippy

Excellent! Just the sort of thing I'm looking for. Keep 'em coming

rainbowkanga

Have you checked out your local library or netmums site for details of free events. Near me all the libraries have activities so my school aged two will be going to a craft afternoon and there is also a special storytelling session. Many libraries also do a reading challenge which is great for encouraging kids to go back every week in the holidays.

Art galleries often do similar things. My local park also has a play team on site during the holidays to organise games.

Also here school age children can swim for free in teh school hols. Not my preschooler though...

We tend to do a big chart full of ideas at the start of the holidays and then tick them off. I am a National Trust member so that's great for low cost days out.

One summer we did a scrapbook of each day and that was quite good - even days where we didn't go out we filled in what we had done- craft, cooking etc.

Playing in the garden and getting so bored they think of something to do themselves also work a treat with my three!!!

hth

Rikki

Churchmouse wrote:

I think that's brilliant!:D

Cheap as chips and sooo easy! Will definitely do this for DGS, he'll love it! Not yet three so counting will be off, but still good practice to try!

I used to do it with my two. Varied depending on age. 10 shots how many in, adding up when they could. Agaist the clock then they could run and retreive all the missed bean bags until the time was up.

Make the bean bags out of different colours ie 3 red, 3 blue etc it will help him learn the colours. You could write Red and make a coloured square on a lable for each one. Red in red, blue in blue .............. this might be a little old but worth a try children do surprise us.

I did loads of cheap mad thing with mine and had hours of fun.

wigginsmum

Visit a farm? Fish for tiddlers with a net in the local river?

Churchmouse

Rikki wrote:

Make the bean bags out of different colours ie 3 red, 3 blue etc it will help him learn the colours. You could write Red and make a coloured square on a lable for each one. Red in red, blue in blue .............. this might be a little old but worth a try children do surprise us.

I did loads of cheap mad thing with mine and had hours of fun.

Funnily enough, I had thought of this, but just for the fun of different colours. Little smartar*e knows virtually all the colours including gold, silver, purple, aubergine (how flash is that? He knows all veggies but won't eat them:rotfl: )etc etc. Learned them off his cars!!

Pooky

Mine do a fence painting every year - I draw round them standing next to the fence and let them loose with some paints (water based of course), brushes and some old clothes.

Tents out of clothes airers.

A "wash the soft toy" day - fill a bucket/babybath/paddling pool and under your supervision, let them give all the cuddlies a good scrub and then hang on the line to dry.

Picnics in the park always go down well with mine - even though the park is at the bottom of the road they love the thought of staying down there all day...they normally find others to play with too to help pass the time.

Depending on where you live, a walk in the woods, by the sea etc to find leaves or shells that you can use to make a collage another day.

Try and organise an away play day each week at someone elses house...and then have them round to play the next week - shares the mess and double the ideas.

Rainy day ideas...

A food science day - mix some cornflour and water and watch them try and work out if it's a liquid or a solid....

Dye some spaghetti/rice and get them to make pictures from it - or play with it whilst it's all squidgy.

Buy some pasta quills and paint/glitter before making some necklaces...maybe for grandmothers for Christmas?

Buy some shaving foam - it's just soap in a can - let them squirt it on a table/tray and make shapes in it with their hands....cleans up very easily.

If you or OH have any old plain t-shirts - let them have a box of felt pens and they can design a t-shirt - they don't need to be fabric pens as they'll normally forget about it once it's made!

Edinburghlass_2

Thread by MSE Martin here....

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=225397