“Mum, I’m bored.” Does this sound familiar? Keeping kids entertained during the holidays can be a challenge. Parents are torn between keeping children engaged, outdoors in the fresh air, away from phones and television screens whilst also not spending a small fortune in the process.
Here are some ideas to battle boredom in the school holidays that are different and purse friendly:
Build a Tree House or a Den
It doesn’t have to be fancy, but it’s sure to get the whole family involved. Make a plan, get the materials and start putting it together. It will encourage your son to use his critical thinking, problem-solving and communication skills along the way.
Keep Active
With your kids being required to spend extra time inside the home this term their bodies will be charged with surplus energy. It is crucial to burn off this energy. Range of motion, balance, strength and coordination are all learned through play. And play based learning has been established as critical in overall social and emotional development.
Turn off Screens
With social distancing rules in place it is to be expected that your son may spend more time than usual on a device of some kind these holidays. Where possible, encourage your son to be productive with his screen time, using it to socialise with his mates or engage with something educational.
Keep in mind that the stimulation can result in a larger cognitive load on your son, draining his energy and making it more difficult for them to cope with general stress, this can cause behavioural problems. A short term distraction could cause long-term issues in the future, so try and stick to the limits you set during school term.
Make His Interest Your Interest
Take the opportunity to keep your son occupied with his personal interests. Talk to your son about his hobbies, maybe it’s the solar system or football. Play together or watch films or documentaries about his interests. Make learning and spending time together fun.
Bake Together
Most children love to eat, especially treats, so why not show them how to bake. You can experiment with different recipes, specifically things they like to eat, with an aim of making them as nutritional as possible. It will encourage healthy food habits and get them excited about being involved with meal times and cooking.
Explore and Create
Plan some activities that will allow your son to exercise some creativity or explore different subjects or themes, such as arts and crafts or science experiments. The Kidspot and NASA websites have some exciting and easy science-based activities to try and Crayola have fun colouring pages to download for free.
Engaging in activities outside of school supports learning and co-curricular activities at school. Subscribe to our BGM enewsletter to find out what co-curricular activities are on offer for your son that fit with his abilities and interests at Christ Church Grammar School.
