24th June, 2020
Summer holiday around the corner, but does it matter? Due to the pandemic our children have been on a holiday break since March! Staying at home doesn't have to be boring at all. I don't know about your child, but 3 year old Christianna who owns more toys than hair and hardly ever plays with any of them and if she does it won't last long. Here is a list of fun and creative games and activities that we have came across on the internet and tested out ourselves. Hours of creative fun without any toys involved.
1. Painting cardboard box or toilet rolls instead of paper
can be fun and different. You and your child can create characters out of the bear toilet rolls by painting facial features and colourful outfits, or turn a cardboard box into a beautiful and colourful castle.
2. Create a sieve hedgehog
by sliding straws or these little fluffy things in the picture whatever they are called, (I spent 30 mins trying to find it online so I can get hold of the name of them without any luck lol, we purchased them in Poundland however I've seen them in most supermarkets in the stationary section) into the holes of the sieve, this activity is very beneficial especially for younger children as it develops their hand control skills.
3. Colour sorting using colourful balls or pompoms
or even toys! I cut out pieces of different colours of paper sheets, to match each colour of the little pompoms, then stack them onto a glass using sellotape (you can use bowls, boxes or baskets). I placed all pompoms into a separate box and Christianna had to sort them all out by placing each pompom into the correct colour glass.
4. Sponge, spaghetti and cheerios...
Sounds so silly, yet it's one of Christianna's favourites. I've pushed 2 full length pieces of spaghetti, and two shorter ones (broken into halves) into a sponge so they are standing upright and straight (you can use play-dough as the base), I've placed cheerios into a small bowl. My little girl had to hook the cheerios onto the spaghetti. Not only did she enjoy it and ate all the cereal in the end, but this activity will also improve her hand control skills.
5. Number sorting car park
is another fun way of playing a sorting game. On a piece of paper draw a car park and a number from 1-20 on each parking space. Cut out small square paper pieces and write a number from 1-20 on each of them then stick it on top of each of the 20 little car toys using sellotape or blue tuck. If you don't have that many cars you can use anything else such as washing clips, sweets, tealights - anything you can possibly think of. Let your child park each car into the correct parking space - call out the number out each time.
6. Cook or bake together,
and if like myself you never baked anything in your life, and have no skills or clue what so ever, you can purchase ready mixes where all you have to do is add a splash of water and stir it all together. My favourite thing to 'bake' together with my daughter are little pastries coated with beaten egg, sprinkled with sugar and baked for 10mins or so until golden brown. You can purchase ready frozen pastry dough from every supermarket.
7. Boost your immunity by making a home pressed juice together or a smoothie,
for our juice we used 2kg of carrots, 1 parsnip, 4 cooked beetroots, 3 thick slices of ginger, 3 small tomatoes, 2 lemons. Christianna enjoyed it so much that she broke my juicer, and of course she didn't drink the juice - only posed for the picture lol, more for me..
8. Decorate cookies, biscuits or gingerbread,
we've purchased ready kits with 4 ginger breads in it, icing and sprinkles. You will find these in every supermarket. However you can buy all of these separate!
