It is school holidays in Victoria. I was incredibly happy to see them arrive. Term 1 went ridiculously quick and was much busier than I would have liked it. I will certainly be trying for a calmer Term 2.
I posted a couple of weeks ago about kids activities in Melbourne that you can take the children to. We will be going away next week, so with only one week in Melbourne and everyone needing some rest, we will probably only do one, maybe two of these. The remainder of the time will be spent at home, pottering, reading and doing a few home based activities.
I have listed 10 great activities that you can do at home with the kids this school holidays. Again, we won’t be doing all of them, maybe two or three, but it is always nice to have a collection to choose from!
Note: All the images below come from the respective source listed. If you click on the image it will take you directly through to the full post about the activity.
1. Paper Mache
It has been many years since we have made and I don’t think the younger three have ever made it. This creation from Playing By The Book is amazing, but I will not be aiming that high. More like a balloon for each child and they can decide what they would like to turn it into.
2. Construction and Experimentation
Our preschooler has been very much into cars of late and we have been using wooden planks to drive cars up and down on. I think he will love this idea of using gutters posted by Not Just Cute. I also think my older boys will be able to set up some elaborate experiments with balls to journey along these gutters.
3. Collage
Little Fingers Big Dreams is experiencing the opposite weather to us living in the Northern Hemisphere, but these types of collages are also an activity which we have done in autumn before. I have found though it is important to make sure the leaves are dried first, so they don’t turn yucky when they have been stuck on the window for a while.
4. Play Dough
I have to admit to going through phases with play dough and we are certainly well over due to make some new play dough. This time I will try the idea as shown by Good + Happy Day, breaking the batch up into smaller amounts and adding glitter to the mix. I already add essential oils to make it smell nicer and I might even add rice to one lot as well for more texture.
5. Tower Construction
Now I don’t think I have 400 cups to work with like they did at It’s A Boy’s Life, but I know that I have a collection of cups from parties over the years that would be perfect for this activity. Check out the post to see what other fabulous creations the boys made.
6. Setting Up Shop
My 6 and nearly 4 year old are really playing well together (mostly!!) and have been doing lots of pretend play. I think they would love using real items for their play like Counting Coconuts has set up for her son.
7. Growing Grass
You really should check out this gorgeous post from Childhood Magic. They used Chia seeds to grow this lovely grass and I would love to try growing some grass like this with the kids.
This post shows another gorgeous example of creating “Little Worlds” or “Fairy Gardens” for preschoolers. They are very popular around the blogosphere at the moment. Check out the wonderful Australian blog Let The Children Play to see some examples of how these ideas are spreading.
8. Scavenger Hunt
I love the idea of a scavenger hunt and this one from The Activity Mom looks like it would be a lot of fun, Although it would take a little time to set up, you could reuse the cards over and over again, in varying orders to create more scavenger hunts.
9. Making Your Own Playing Cards
Squiggle Mum has many great ideas and I loved this one about recycling a catalogue to make your own set of playing cards. So many learning opportunities in this one from cutting and pasting to memory recall and language development.
10. Shadow Tracing
My preschooler is facinated by his shadow at the moment and since seeing the fun they have with shadows and chalk on Ordinary Life Magic, I am looking forward to doing this activity with him.
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