t’s that time of year again, and the school Summer Holiday is stretching in front of us. On the plus side we don’t have to get up at the crack of dawn to coax, cajole, beg and bribe our little darlings out of their beds, into their uniforms (via a reasonably nutritious breakfast – coco pops count right?!) and out of the house with more than just scant seconds to spare!!! That is without bringing the minefield that is packed lunches into the mix and the sheer terror when you realise you’ve run out of Dairylea Dunkers!
So now we move on to the crux of the matter – once the novelty that they’re on holiday has worn off, we all know that it won’t be long before the cries of ‘I’m bored’ start. A phrase that, in our experience, isn’t just limited to younger children that have the attention span of approximately 5 seconds! No …. our teenagers are not exempt, they too are very quick to trot this gem out – usually when their friends are busy!
Then you add in the threat of isolation due to a dreaded ‘ping’, from the NHS App, and it limits your opportunities even more. So, we thought we’d bounce some ideas around the office and see if we could come up with some inspiration for you, and ourselves, to keep the kidliwinks entertained over the summer.
When on this topic, the things we remembered most from our own childhood memories (some older than others!), were things like rock-pooling, picnics, making fairy cakes and camping in the garden – or variations on those themes. None of them were expensive activities or overseas holidays.
Flowery Bits
Something you can do at home if you have a garden or out and about. More than one of us fondly remembers making and wearing daisy chains, along with the ‘do you like butter’ buttercups under the chin. There is no cost at all to doing this and it entertains the younger ones for ages, plus it’s a lovely bit of nostalgia for those who remember it fondly from our childhood.
Cooking
Whether it’s fairy cakes, pizza or something totally different this is a fantastic (and very practical) activity. Although with the really small ones it’s not a bad idea to find a way of differentiating between theirs and your offerings as, like it or not, you will be forced to sample, and call me old fashioned, but I prefer my food without the added snot & saliva! The earlier you get your children into the kitchen experimenting the more comfortable and genuinely useful they will be in the culinary arts. We were astounded recently when our friend’s 10 year old cooked 9 of us a full breakfast, all on his own!
The Beach
So many opportunities here for fun – rock-pooling, paddling, sandcastles, swimming etc …. Your teenagers will be faaaarrrrr too cool to take part in the first 3 but at least they’ll be able to sun themselves with their headphones surgically attached to their ears watching tiktok, whilst surreptitiously mooning at other teens! For the younger ones it is just an enormous playground with so many opportunities for fun
Picnic
Loads of us had great memories of picnics. You can play around with the format – in the garden, out & about, with bikes – you get the idea, you can make a whole day out of it or not. The important bits are the blanket, the food (it has to be something that will survive a journey in a rucksack) and drinks (squash for them, wine for you!). If they’re older you can be more adventurous with your food choices as they can carry some of it. Saying that though it’s unlikely you’ll be able to persuade your teen(s) to go on a picnic with you unless you invite some of their friends and let them sit miles away from you and pretend they’re not with you!
Cinema
A great way to wile away a few hours. You’ll be forced to watch some inane Disney drivel, which you’ll secretly end up really getting into and perhaps even shedding a tear at the sad bit. If you’ve got teens you’ll only be allowed along to buy them obscene amounts of gold-plated confectionary, forced to sit as far away as possible or preferably (for them) banished back to the car. I recently went to the cinema with a friend & our 2 teens. We were told unequivocally not to even turn around from our seats and look at them or acknowledge them in any way. We had the best time turning around, waving and blowing kisses at them!
Ok so this article is a bit tongue in cheek and probably not the most helpful in practical terms! However, we had so much fun talking about all these things, even if we did get ridiculously side-tracked. If you really are desperately searching for inspiration then just google ‘what to do with the kids in the holidays’ – that’ll keep you busy for a few hours! Meanwhile we’re off to scour Amazon for fairy cake decorations – enjoy your summer everyone.
