Holiday Play Ideas

For You and Your Kids

The summer holidays are here and can sometimes be long and finding things to do with the children and keeping everyone happy and settled can become a bit tricky as time goes on as you and they run out of ideas to play!

I have put together some holiday play ideas for to inspire you and get creative together with your children, so you can fill in the day with wonder, fun and learning about the world around them.

It is a great opportunity to take some time and share creative and exploratory moments together and also some time to do things independently to build creativity, mindfulness and thinking skills. I used to treasure these moments on holidays when our family had time together to play without the constraints of time and schedules.

On a hot summer day that is so typical of our January, getting out early before the heat hits is a great way to explore some of the water activities that are so popular in our nation.

Here are some of the ideas:

Here in Murray Bridge The Splash Festival!

The local swimming pool

Take a drive to the beach and sing some tunes or play some games like ‘I spy’, ‘Spotto’ and my mother in law’s favourite ‘adding the numbers together on the number plate’ she did this to help her maths improve.

A water park – .https://thebeachouse.com.au

A wildlife park like The Gorge – or perhaps the Hope Valley Reservoir

Some kayaking on the river (there is a local boat hire here in the Bridge) or at the reservoir….

Perhaps a walk to or by the river or your local park for some play and ball games or a family game of cricket?

Drawing is a rhythmic mindful activity that allows your creativity to go wild. Draw lines or circles, what can you put inside them? What colours might you use? Could you blend a couple of colours. Are shapes a part of your picture? Asking questions can help stimulate their thinking about what they would like to draw. Shading and colouring add to the masterpiece. Doing this together on the table is a wonderfully bonding experience.

preschool learning

Water play at home with spoons, lids, buckets & reuse some bottles or perhaps a teaset and teaparty? Perhaps make some pet rocks (you find on your walk in the park or by the river) when you get home you could make them together with paints or textas.

Building in some yoga activities supports both us and our children to feel more peaceful, relaxed and calm. Doing it with them and showing them you too value this way of relaxing, will support them engaging in this mindful practice.

Some of our favourite poses to try at home, do you have any favourites?

Some more new ideas to try at home for when the summer weather changes or it’s family time….

Make a tent or cubby in the back yard out of a sheet and chairs or a table so the children could have a picnic underneath it.
Find some leaves and place paper over a leaf then use some colour pencils and colour over the top of the leaf on the paper to do a leaf rubbing
Make a list of your children’s favourite songs, make a playlist from Youtube and have a dance party
Play some board games together
Go to your local library and get each child to choose a book and then have a reading festival where each child could read their story, then swap it with a sibling and then they could perhaps act it out, talk about their favourite section, draw about the stories. Gives an insight for the children into their siblings interests and encourages listening and reflection very valuable skills.

Space for you

When the children have settled in and had some play time, taking some time for you as a parent is also very important, so remember to care for yourself as well and recharge your batteries, so to speak. What do you enjoy doing, makes you feel relaxed and happy? Even taking a moment to think about it, is caring for yourself. I encourage you to take 5 minutes to have a cup of tea or coffee and enjoy it.

Finally,

Summer is a wonderful time of the year where we can have a variety of seasons in the weather (it can certainly change from one minute to the next!) and these ideas may help you through the ups and downs of the holidays with your children. If you do try any of these ideas I would love to hear about it. You can always email me or message me with your wonderful photos or feedback, we always welcome any input from our play community!

Take care of each other and play together,

Till next time play, connect and learn

Tina Bambury Play with A purpose

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