Old Style Holiday Activities

mocolo

Pooh sticks!

buxtonrabbitgreen

I used to run the local beaver group so had to think of activities every week. One that was very successfull was making a puppet theatre. I got a huge box and cut a square for a stage in the front and then they all decorated it. The next week they all made puppets on sticks, and worked on a story, the theme was road safety, and the next week put on a performance for the parents. Maybe you and some other kids / parent could get together and do somthing similar. Also pond dipping. Clollecting leaves/flowers and making a collage. My kids also kiked painting the fence but I just gave them paint brushes and water.

thriftmonster

Another ides is to collect junk - carboard boxes, tubes etc and then get them to build and paint a crazy golf course for the back garden. You could use tennis or ping pong balls instread.

flufff

walk in woods,picnic,park,feed ducks,game of football/badminton.Manchester Museum is free.Dont forget clubcard deals are excellent for days out.
Big card board boxes can be turned into dolls houses/castles with a bit of paint/wallpaper samples/pens/tape/glue
Few good websites on net that you can print pages off for drawing or things to fold to make puppet theatres etc......cant remember links shall look

flufff

car boots are great places to pick up cheap toys

hex2

Love the bean bag idea - will def do this for mine.

Mine are 2 and 3 so a bit more simplistic in what we enjoy.
We have done some bark rubbings with crayons this morning, and making pictures with toy cars rolled in paint
Lots of baking - even if is is just some cheap melted chocolate and cereal so they can make crispy cakes in their toy oven
Local museums are often free - our favourite one has a see through toilet and sewer system that fascinates my eldest, the big city one has dinosaurs!
We also have a couple of annual memberships that they had as christmas presents - conkers (national forest) and the zoo, take a picnic for a cheap day out
Ikea - yours are big enough to go in the creche and play with the ball pool for a bit
take them on a bus or train journey if they never go on one

MessyTessie

I collect all sort of things in a box throughout the year (toilet rolls, egg boxes, scraps of material, kitchen rolls, paper cones from icecreams ... any junk really), add some cheap silver foil some tape, glue and scissors and let their imagination run wild.

We call it the doodle do box after the CBeebies programme, keeps my 5 yo amused for hours, even my SIL and my future BIL when they visit.

nicki_2

This summer I'll be painting and decorating DD's dolls house with her, shes 5 as well. We've got loads of proper emulsion paint (clearance, so 10p a pot ) and when we're finished with that I'll be taking her to buy a big canvas from the local chandlers and then I'm going to let her loose (in the garden) with paint etc to make a piece of modern art for the livingroom wall - she doesn't know yet so she'll be made up I'm going to let her make a proper piece of art She also asked this morning if we could play school (she's got activity books for maths, spelling, writing, reading etc and she loves reading books and writing stories/art work) :eek: That teamed with sending her off to IL's at some point (they love having her to stay for a week at a time, on her own), 2 big family events (requiring weekends at IL's) and crafts for Christmas should keep her busy for the full 6 weeks. Sorry can't be more help!

Aril

Treasure hunts. Get the paddling pool out. Potato printing. Games of snakes and ladders, tiddly winks, DVD and popcorn, dressing up, making animal masks, collages of found bits and pieces, beachcombing....I find the library to have books in the kids sections with loads of craft ideas when I'm running out of inspiration.
Aril

culpepper

we used to keep an old curtain for making tents.Tie a piece of thick string or rope to a tree and anchor it with a stick to the ground and drape the curtain over it with something heavy to help hold the sides out.
Indoors,the same curtain over a table.
Find a big cardboard box to use as a car,train,house etc.
Scrap books,flour and water paste and things to stick in.Rounded scissors and old comics or magazines.
Tea parties for the teddies with plastic cups and saucers.
Play dough(you can make your own).
dressing up with old clothes.
A paddling pool for toy boats or plastic squeezy bottles.
Bubble blowing with baby shampoo(wont sting eyes) .