School holiday survival tips: keep the kids entertained and out of your hair

It’s great that the school holidays allow you to spend more time with your children, but keeping them entertained and occupied is not always easy. Balancing the kids’ activities with your day job and everything else that comes with adult life is a skill all on its own. Below are a few tips and suggestions when planning the school holidays.

Get planning

Grab the kids, a desk calendar, koki’s, glitter and colouring in pencils. Part of the fun is planning the holidays with your children. Give each child a day that’s ‘their own’ and where they get to decide what the outing or activity will be. Giving control of what’s what during the holidays will make your kids feel trusted and appreciated, and they may take their holiday activities so seriously that they’ll see them through and give you a chance to lift your feet and have a cuppa!

Stock up on…

All things arts and craftsy! If your children are nursery school or primary school going age they’ll love getting creative with paints, pencils, canvas and if you’re feeling particularly creative you can even add clay to the mix. Set up a room and cover as many surfaces as you can with newspaper and let your children create a masterpiece.

Play dates

The more the merrier! If you get along with the parents of your kid’s friends that’s a win-win situation right there. Select an outing or child-friendly restaurant/ venue where the kids can play and the parents can sit nearby and chat while keeping an eye on them.

Educational outings and activities

Being on holiday doesn’t mean they need to stop learning ;). Mix things up with visits to museums, art galleries or live performances. At home you can introduce educational activities too – enrich their minds with music, teach them to bake or cook a few dishes, let them practice their writing or counting (age dependent) or even create their own board game.  

Set up a few boundaries

School holidays are fun, but can also be tiring for parents. It’s important to set up a few rules so that when bedtime creeps around it doesn’t come as a shock to the kids. Decide what time holiday bedtime is, bath time and even quiet time - where the kids can wind down listening to music while packing away the remnants of the day’s fun.

The most important thing is to have fun and enjoy this time with your children without going crazy! If you follow the suggestions above, team up with like-minded parents and keep the wine ready for after the kids’ bedtime and you will be fine!