10 Great Things to Do with Kids over the holidays

So the Easter Holidays are upon us!  I have said before that I love the school holidays but I know that for many the thought of entertaining littles all day for several weeks is daunting.  Honestly that part is a bit of a source stress for me too, but that is outweighed by the sheer joy of not having the morning disaster that is the school run!  Anyway I have been thinking about what I am going to do with my bunch and thought I would share the 10 great things to do with kids over the holidays.

10 Great Things to do with Kids

• Get outside and build a shelter (weather permitting).  We live near a small woods and we love getting out there and using twigs and logs to make a shelter.  It is great for team working skills, problem solving and just having great fun outside.

• If it is raining get crafting.  Check out all our craft ideas here: Navigating Baby Craft Ideas

• Make and indoor den.  All you need is a sheet, a few chairs and some cushions for inside.  This is such a simple activity and it only takes minutes to set up.  My kids go wild for this activity and once we have the den we usually take some books in and read some stories in our secret hiding place. If I am feeling really daring we even have our lunch in the den!
• Do a cinema trip.  This is a great rainy day activity or for a day when you are feeling shattered.  I can’t tell you how many disney movies I have had a little snooze in!
• Make play dough and let them create.  You can also use bought play doh for this, but if you make the dough there is an added element of fun with the mixing part so you have messy play checked off the list too!
• Set up an obstacle course and time the kids completing it.  I don’t have anything against my children being competitive, but I like doing this as a timed event so they are competing against themselves as otherwise you can read ‘hazard’ rather than obstacle as they battle one another to win.  To make the obstacles I use play tents and tunnels to crawl through and soft play blocks to jump over along with a plank to balance on.  We have fake grass in the garden which is well cushioned, but with hard ground you may also need mats.
• Visit a monument or palace.  We live in London so this is easier for us than in some parts of the country, but I find that many of the stately homes, castle and palaces have lots of kids activities planned for the holidays and they are often included in the price of the ticket.  For example this Easter Hampton Court Palace is doing chocolate tasting and Easter Egg hunts.  Some entry prices can be so very high so my top tip is check out the annual membership price as if you live nearby this can often be way more cost effective and then you have somewhere to go every holiday!
• Create spot it bingo cards and get out hunting. i I love this game with my children as I get them to design and draw the cards first.  This means each child has items pitched at their ability level so I am setting them up for success.  When we go out ‘hunting’  it is a brilliant way of wearing them out and so leads really well into quiet time. 
• Get baking.  Baking is a great way to occupy the littles.  They love a chance to get messy and mix stuff.  My littles are not allowed to be in the kitchen unless invited as it can be dangerous and so they are always excited when I say ‘in you come’.  I also like baking as it gives them a chance to work with numbers when measuring out ingredients – oh and the bonus is we end up with biscuits or cakes at the end.

• Create a dinosaur or animal play world.  You will need a builders tray ideally for this.  You then put sand and even create a watering hole (ramekin dishes work brilliantly for this).  We go out and find things we want to add to the world like plants or rocks and then add the toy dinosaurs or animals and away they go with their amazing imaginations.  This is best done outside, but if it is raining you can do it inside too and when I do it inside I use a large Tupperware or cake box to build the world in.

I would love to hear some of your ideas so please leave me a comment.  If we get some good ideas I will then do a future post and link back to those who commented.  Looking forward to hearing how you entertain your littles in the holidays as we all have two and a bit weeks to get through and if it keeps raining like this it will be a long break!  I do love a good day trip as well and we live in London so there are plenty of great attractions virtually on our doorstep.  Our favourite is the Tower of London.