Save like Nana did. Things to do with kids.
So many of you commented about the farms in a box activity I did with the girls. This combined with the many social media posts I am seeing where people are asking for inexpensive school holiday actives.... made me realise this is a worth while subject. From what I am seeing in various groups I belong to many families have been used to spending an absolute fortune on school holidays outings/entertainment/eating out etc. and now, for most, the cost of living crisis is hitting hard. They are feeling bad they can no longer spend this kind of money. Some of it is sad to me as even good old running under the sprinkler is now too expensive for many. We will not be beaten though! From really small children to teens I am going to share some of our ideas and I hope you will share some of yours so we can build up a list that will help.
From the age of four or five I did hand sewing, crochet and knitting. These are all fantastic to teach kids and hours and hours of learning and entertainment. We also had TomBoy stitch which was a form of knitting on a homemade loom. My brother stitched a cord on that long enough to go around the whole house! Learning to be good with needles and hooks led me into a life of love of all things creating.
One of our stock standard rainy day play activities was a cubby under a table. Blankets of sheets went over the table... chairs made tunnels to crawl through. A soft rug went inside. Food and drinks were passed in. Whatever they were doing in there took most of the day.
Another was play dough. A fresh batch of dough, cookie cutters and a rolling pin. Chloe and Lucy liked to make cookies and decorate them with sprinkles and glitter. They would put them on a plate and offer them to my Dad and he would pretend to eat them. He would actually put them in his mouth and their eyes would widen as they were suspicious this wasn't a good idea but he tricked them.
Actual cooking and decorating. I often made Gingerbread biscuits then let the kids decorate them. Our most famous design was gingerbread girls. They wore bikinis and the bra top was two smarties. They also decorated them to look like family and friends which was hilarious. Never got tired of this. Similarly with decorating cup cakes. Before back to school we had full baking days and the girls did so much and increased in skills as we went along.
We always visited and went out to the farm to see Mum and Dad and my brother, Nana and Pa in the city.
A fort/tent/cubby in the garden. Pretend camping, pretend campfire, the whole nine yards. When older they had sleep outs this way.
Card making. This is great as they can be as simple as a three year old drawing on a a card to really sophisticated ones later on.
Re arrange the bedroom. Some holidays we would spend days re arranging and re beautifying the bedrooms. The girls loved it and it constituted a deep Spring clean and organise as well. Sometimes new bed linen or something else was added in but not always. It was very refreshing!
On hot days water play was always a hit. Little kids like painting with water and a paint brush, a bowl of water and cups etc to dip in. Bigger kids loved paddle pools etc. Same with sand pits... they lasted for years as they become race tracks and other themes.
A lot of my childhood play was with animals. I had kittens that I pushed around in a pram, lambs I dressed up and they wore sunglasses and watched TV and even a pet Kangaroo. When the kids are here they play with the dogs such a lot. The dogs have trained the girls to throw the frisbee lol. They literally will run for hours messing around with the dogs.
Pack a picnic and go somewhere new or to the park. Or a hike. Or to the beach. We very often took a picnic to the beach and ate dinner there before coming home, bathing and fall into bed exhausted.
Marbles. Board games. We set up marble tournaments in the hallway. Marbles by torch light (flashlight) was a favourite when the power was out!
Scrap books and covering boxes. From very little I liked to cut and glue and I am pretty sure most kids do too. Mum and I covered all kinds of boxes with images from magazine and wrapping paper... some of these boxes I still have. All the special baby things were saved in boxes covered in gardens and flowers. When I was about 12 or 13 I began scrap books of recipes and ideas... I still have those and have added to them all of these years. A dream scrap book is a bit like a hope chest, it is good to be thinking, dreaming and planning.
Every really big box has always been saved for a rainy day cubby house, making tunnels, smaller boxes especially nice ones with good strong lids are saved for things like the farm in a box or a temporary race track or whatever we can think up.
Mud pie flower gardens... we used to fill a tray with sand or mud then spend hours making it into a little garden with flowers, pebbles and stuff...
Bubbles... little kids love them and we have had whole afternoons in gardens blowing paint bubbles that drift across the garden while kids chase them. Exhausted adults can slump in a chair as it doesn't take to much energy to blow bubbles lol!
Bigger kids.
October school holidays we dedicated to making Christmas presents. I used to save up ideas and collect materials and the girls would make gifts for their friends, family and teachers. Also cards. I couldn't list all the different things we did over the years! It became a thing that their friends wanted to come over for our craft days and we had quite a few kids join us.
Garden, build a chicken house, hatch/rear chickens, get a holiday job! Very often we went with Dad to help him and be his gate opener for the day. Work and entertainment were a very blurred line as going to get a load of wood and having a picnic at the same time was all just family fun. I don't think I ever thought of it as work. I DID think of some holidays as work as I remember my brother and I driving sheep for 16 kilometres and helping in the sheep yards at shearing. We were filthy and exhausted by evening. It still counted as good fun holidays though!
Cooking and meal prep. I really think teenagers should be making meals, washing, putting away groceries, cleaning and everything that is part of running a house and in our cases running a farm. Being an important part of the workings of the household is learning and a strong self esteem builder.
Forts and tree houses. These seem to hold intrigue even for quite big kids. It is ideal when you have some older kids, some longer kids and some animals all playing together! Add food and drinks and they will make their own games up.
Hop scotch and calk drawing outside.
Water pistols. There seems no age limit on the fun of chasing/stalking/hiding and ambushing others with water pistols. These days they come in high powered versions and our whole family, young and old spent many Christmas afternoons in the garden with these. I love it when you see the big kid come out in the grown ups!
We are big believers in kids being busy outside, at least when the weather is ok. They come in tired and hungry, get soaked in the bath and a bedtime story and they flake out fast!
There is absolutely no need to spend a fortune on entertainment. Holidays should allow some rest time. Kids are tired by the end of term. My girls used to be exhausted. The end of the year was the worst as they were over scheduled. The first week of holidays they would sleep in, lay about and I noticed they would often have a growth spurt. Every moment does not have to be organised or planned! I especially remember my days with Nana. Mainly I just enjoyed hanging around with her and going along with whatever she was doing. She still did her work, cooked, gardened and so on, with me in tow. In the evening she would sit with me and teach me some new crochet skill or something like that. My Great Aunt also came to Nan and Pa's many evenings as she lived just up the hill. She would sit and brush my hair and braid it. Oh, I loved this. Aunt Stella patiently worked my long hair into tight plaits and the next day I would have massive curls. I thought it was just dreamy to sit there and have my hair done.
I have always loved picking fruit and when the girls have been with me they have loved it too, climbing the whole tree to get every last apple. Even when really little they just loved picking the pink apples. Scarlett would fill her basket, empty the apples on the ground and fill it again!
The best thing is just having time to hang out together. In a world of schedules it is beautiful to just have nothing planned!
Often when I think we need an activity I say "come help me" with this or that.. or "lets go and collect the eggs."
I love this post because it's something I think of often. I keep my 3 granddaughters every week for "Millie Day" and I'm always trying to think of new things to do. Mostly we do the same things, such as color, crafts, play dough, outside, toys, etc. Lately it's been too hot to go outside, so we might watch a movie in the afternoon.
ReplyDeleteWe've also done flower arrangements. I bought a few vases and some artificial flowers at the Dollar Store and placed all the materials on the table and let them each make an arrangement. They loved that!
We do puzzles, play board games, cook, and paint. I have a small swimming pool I will fill up and just let them run in the yard, swing, ride their jeep and jump in the pool to cool off.
One of their favorite things is a big basket of random craft items that I let them dig through and create whatever they want. I throw odds and ends in there and it continues to amaze them. There might be fluffy balls, pipe cleaners, sequins, stickers, and just various things. I set out some scrapbook paper, glue and scissors and let them create.
The last thing I'll share is the pretend garden they created outside. I let them have a few potatoes, some children's garden tools and pots and they played for the longest time, "planting" and digging.
They love it when I write a list on the chalkboard. They love to hold me to the list :) That's another thing they love to do...play school on the chalkboard! As long as I'm participating with them, they will do anything.
Sorry for the long answer!
Oh the pretend garden! I just remembered the summer my cousins and I sat down in a sandy area of my Granny's yard and created the Hawaiian isles. We gathered rocks, created pools and clipped off most of her flowers to decorate the place with. Granny wasn't exactly happy over that but it kept seven children occupied for hours and i think she counted the cost worth it, lol
Delete"most of all they just want to be WITH you"...amen.
ReplyDeleteDear Annabel,
ReplyDeleteI love that you shared these things. I had thought of writing a post on this, but you have really said everything beautifully. I remember doing all of these things as a kid, and now I do the same things with my boys. I notice the simplest, most basic things give them so much joy. It is amazing to see the things they come up with. I try to keep their toys at a minimum, as the amount they receive from everyone really seems to spiral out of control. But they are content to blow bubbles, draw outside with chalk, play in the water and dirt. They go on so many "adventures" outside, collecting things in their wagon, pretending to shop, manage their farm, or conquer monsters and bad guys. Play dough and building blocks never go out of fashion for them. Inside they make blanket forts, operate their imaginary restaurant, and put out pretent fires. While James is still a little young (I still let him scribble on paper and hang up his art on the fridge just like John's), John will sit and do crafts for literally hours at a time. I pick up craft supplies for him on sale or at the thrift store (it only amounts to a few dollars at most) and he just goes into his own little world. I showed him the farm boxes you made with the girls and he cannot wait to get started making those!
Yes, they love to help and be included. Even if I am not doing something typically considered fun (like cleaning) they want to help. John has now started gardening and can't wait to get his little patch planted this coming Fall. Every evening, he checks the cows with his grandpa and acts as gate opener. I know he is learning so much already about ranching this way.
I remember being a kid and going to my grandparents' house. My grandpa would color with me or play board games. We would walk along the creek, making our own trails and stories. We'd also walk the railroad tracks by their house, which were no longer in operation, and I would collect things like railroad spikes and aqua colored glass insulators. I remember he made a "stage" out of railroad ties and I would perform for the family. He also built a treehouse for me and my sister in the big oak tree in their backyard. This was beyond fun. My grandma would let me "help" in the kitchen. When I was about 8, she taught me how to sew squares together for a quilt. I spent hours at the sewing machine and cutting out squares. I never needed toys or to be entertained by gadgets at their house. It just seemed to naturally flow from them including me in what they were doing and giving me the one on one that I craved.
I am blessed to have such good memories, and this has served as a model when it comes to raising my boys. I want them to experience the joys that I experienced as a child. It warms my heart to see that others are doing the same. My heart breaks for the kids who are growing up in such a fast-paced, media obsessed society. And the money I see some parents spending on lavish vacations or parties- I think it really sets some unrealistic expectations and can potentially cause a sense of entitlement later on. I think focusing on simple things and building relationships is the best way.
I love these ideas. Many were put in practice here, especially water fights in the garden. I am proud that I have taught my boy swimming - he was a bit afraid of water and now he is a very good swimmer. He also knows how to cook some dishes he likes.
ReplyDeleteBallgames were important, being basketball or football, so our courtyard was full of screaming and playing everyday. Or bike riding
My boy was the happiest around my kitties and dogs, and we were going horse riding. I think having any kind of animals during childhood is the best for kids - they learn empathy, patience, good feelings and love. And that will last for ever.
Have a nice day everyone, Laura_s_world from Romania
hello annabel, we did alot of these things as kids too. in this day and time there is too much screen time in my opinion, kids don't know how to be kids. when our middle girl was younger(she is now 49) she used to cut up old catalogs and fashion magazines, and separate the people into families and such. she would have them lined up across the livingroom floor. this would entertain her for hours. this activity must have been good for preparing her for life, because now she is a special education teacher with 10 children of her own, 7 of which are adopted. you never know what childhood play and creativity will do. kids need to develope their imaginations. i thought your barnyards were a fun idea too. one summer we also painted flower pots to look like mushrooms.the grandkids liked doing that . just paint the pot whatever color you want , then the saucer, then turn the pot upside down with saucer upside down and paint white spots on the saucer. this idea was on pinterest. that site has a lot of craft ideas. they look cute in a flower bed. bonnie in southern pa.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely beautiful post. I agree with your sentiments wholeheartedly, and love what Kelsey shared. All of it is just how my kids were, too. I did lots of reading aloud to them...they've always loved to go to the library. We used to take a trip to the library, come home, pop popcorn, and read our new books...my eldest used to call them "popcorn parties". Also, cheap thrift store clothes and shoes (or stuff from around your own house) put in a suitcase for storage, makes a great dress-up box...the kids used to spend Hours in their outfits, making up games and stories. And running around outside!!! Cheap, homemade popsicles (Kool-Aid or juice or yogurt/fruit and frozen), dripping all over the place outside while in your bathing suit from running through the sprinkler. Reading books with an apple in the shade on a picnic blanket. Pressing flowers for crafts (and learning the names of the flowers and leaves), bringing in bouquets of flowers, building forts outside, riding bikes around, jump rope in the driveway, sidewalk chalk on the driveway, painting on a big roll of scrap paper with watercolors outside, gardening (including snacking on fresh peas or beans...kids love this!), yes, performing "on stage" (the porch) after spending hours practicing, playing "store" by collecting up supplies of flowers, leaves, sticks, rocks, etc., and then "shopping"...mostly being outside and using their imaginations! And helping, like you say. And for teenagers...getting a job is fabulous! Hardly any teenagers here work anymore, and then they have such a hard time a) getting a job later on, and b) knowing how to keep a job later on, and c) knowing which jobs you'd really rather not do anymore (great motivation to work hard in school/at life if you hate working at a fast food joint or retail...and on the other hand, experience in these areas in case you ever DO need to work in that sphere again!) Great topic, Annabel. Can't wait to read others' answers.
ReplyDeletexx Jen in NS
Hello Annabel ... I just really enjoy your posts so much & although I have been a long time reader I have never commented. I just wanted to add something here to the list of things to keep children amused. I only have grandsons so I am always looking for "boy activities" but these could be for either.
ReplyDeleteI save all my toilet roll tubes & toss them in a box. I googled "toilet roll crafts for kids". Let me tell you there is a whole world of things to make out there. Also egg carton crafts. I have a big old banana box & I toss all my empty boxes etc in there ... empty matchboxes, cereal boxes, face cream boxes - all shapes & sizes. My grandsons love to come & make things at Granny's house. When they arrive I ask "what would you like to do?" & they always reply "arts & crafts". We go through alot of cellotape but I think this is a small price to pay for the enjoyment they receive & I pick it up very cheaply at the Variety Stores. Thank you for all that you share out here Annabel. x0x
When my kids were small, we went on many scavenger hunts around the neighborhood. I paid attention to the other houses when driving by, so I would make a list of things they needed to look for as we walked, just simple and vague things like "yellow flowers" or "a dog". We took different routes each day. I tried to always throw in something difficult to find. Since my daughter was the older one it challenged her to be more observant.
ReplyDeleteA magnifying glass and a small jar can be a whole afternoon activity of finding insects, interesting flowers, etc. Include a little notebook for sketching their finds.
There are so many easy-to-do science experiments that you can find online. Mostly they use ingredients you would have in your pantry. Think of projects with baking soda and vinegar, oil and water, sprouting seeds, and more. You can make silly putty with Borax and liquid glue.
We listened to a lot of audiobooks together when we had a long commute to school. When we finished the book, we watched the movie together (if there was one). I tried to always pick a series so that we would have several stories to read, and a longer/more complex storyline.
My kids are both in their teens now and they've rediscovered a love of board games. My grandmother taught my son a couple of card games when we recently visited, and he is obsessed. He always wants to play. It is so much fun. Younger kids can do games like Go Fish, matching, etc.
For older children, origami can be super fun. You don't need the fancy origami paper. Use regular printer paper, scrapbook paper. There are tutorials for making an origami ring out of a dollar bill. You can even use old Christmas wrapping paper. Great for fine motor skills. I teach 6th grade, and you would be shocked to know how many 11 year olds are not able to fold a piece of paper!
I would often challenge my kids to draw a picture, or color something from a coloring book, that we could send to a faraway relative or friend. Leaf rubbings are easy and fun.
If the children are old enough to read, take them birdwatching. Get a birdwatching book from the library and teach your kids how to look for identifying features of local birds. Go a step beyond and learn the bird calls to see if they can identify the bird without seeing it!
Similarly, you can collect rocks and take the time to identify them, walk through the park and identify the trees, etc.
My daughter told me that one of her favorite outings we ever did was visit an apple orchard and pick our own apples. It was a simple, spontaneous and inexpensive day trip that I'd forgotten we even did.
Go to the grocery store or Farmer's Market and let each child pick out an unfamiliar ingredient that must be included in a meal that week.
Puzzles can be found at thrift stores.
Ask around to see if your friends have something fun at their house that they're willing to share. When my kids were small, a friend often invited us to her house to swim in her pool. Her children had grown and she said the pool never got used. She would also invite us to come over and use it when she was out of town! Now that we're in a similar situation (our kids are not quite grown but they rarely use our pool anymore) we love to share it with our younger friends. A few weeks ago my husband's coworker brought his small children over for a couple of hours. They fed the chickens and played with our puppy. They had a blast! It was easy for us, everyone stayed outside so no worries about making the house ready, but the kids loved it and it gave their dad a little break.
Something my students love to do is make a vision board. I give them a list of topics to choose from (future job, where you want to live when you grow up, dream car, etc) and they make a poster or Google Slides for it. They also love to present it. You could easily do something like this with magazines, old-fashion collage style.
Hi Annabel, this is such a great post and so many ideas. My two only wanted to be outside and doing things. So I would send them on "A Quest". They had to go out into our garden(the front yard was 5 acres), and find a certain number of items that started with a particular letter or could be used for something I nominated. They loved going on their Quests. Quite often this involved them dressing up. One time Katie had on her brother's shorts, a red tuille fairy skirt, fairy wand, neon yellow gum boots, no shirt and she was wearing her Father's bushfire helmet. She was about four a the time. I can still see her stomping through 'Mummy's Weeds', my garden. I am now spending a lot of time with my Grandsons. We hunt dinosaurs in the back yard and even get the dog involved in our hunt. We look for dinosaur food and find all sorts of interesting things we can feed to dinosaurs.
ReplyDeleteThis morning I met my daughter and the boys at a beachside cafe. Katie was able to catch up with a friend whilst Spencer and I ran up and down the beach and had a wonderful time together. Like you have said it is about being present in their lives. Some people need to put their phones away for 5 minutes and just be present with their little ones. Katie uses toilet roll inners and uses painters tape to stick them to the wall. Spencer loves to push pom poms down these and watch them fall. He 'catches' them in different plastic boxes pulled out of the tupperware cupboard. He is learning to count and to use colour words. He is also learning to group items in different colours. This is a quick activity to set up and just as quick to pull down and put away. Katie also has kittie litter boxes on her veranda set up with rainbow coloured rice for Spencer to play with. He loves to pour the rice from one container to another.
I have a cheap 'Nemo' bubble gun. I can dip the gun in the bubble mix and pull the trigger. Spencer can chase the bubbles to his hearts content. He hasnt quite worked out how to do this himself, but once he does he can then entertain himself even more.
The little girls have a bag each that is filled with their crafting supplies. They can sit at their desk inside or go out on the veranda and make whatever they choose. I purchased a set of ten paper scissors that cut different shaped edges. They love cutting their own special additions to stick onto their work. Crafting is serious business at Granny's house.
Little people need to be encouraged to use their imaginations. Many are so over stimulated with electronic devices, that they don't really know how to just pretend play. Here's to more blanket forts, play dough tea parties and dinosaur hunting adventures.
This post made me feel a little sad. I did so many of these activities with my children when they were young, and I loved every single moment! When they became teenagers the sands shifted and we all drifted into our own hobbies. I miss those days so much. I guess I will just have to wait for grandchildren before I can get the pleasure of doing it all over again 😊 From Cheryl 🐦
ReplyDeleteI loved this Annabel! We have done such a disservice to our kids by making everything so exciting and self absorbed. Because we homeschool we live a fairly low key lifestyle. But with my older boys growing up it has become more and more challenging to keep them excited. They work along side of us, garden, mow, do laundry, stack and chop wood, clean and help mind the baby at times.
ReplyDeleteMy husband insisted on investing in a pool. Nothing fancy but it keeps them active on hot days. There are so many affordable options now for home pools, whereas for us to drive to a pool and pay is astronomical. We can always have friends too! We have ice cream sundaes a lot, roast smores and hot dogs over a fire and explore our farm and creek. We're blessed to live in the country on land. I've found by finding key pieces for my little ones, a water table, sand box, good trucks and bikes and keeping them well hydrated with watermelon I can keep them outside
We do lots of read alouds and also free audible books through Libby and Hoopla (linked to your local library card)
In the winter we do similar things just stay warm with hot chocolate. I have found that with some good food and good company kids stay engaged. They are just like us!
I do allow my littles to do lots of crafts, and make lots of messes. If you're in the US Dollar tree is a great source for cheap coloring books and materials. Making slime is a big win for my 9 and 5 year olds. We also look for animals and plants to identify using the Seek app!
I try to keep life simple and still honor their personhood, my older boys do play some video games but it is
all in balance with work and outside play.
Sorry that last comment was from Jesse in Pennsylvania
ReplyDeleteI loved this post so very much! I am also enjoying reading all the comments. :) Our home was the gathering spot for our boys friends. They would get about an hour a day to play video games here. In those days, they would connect up all the computers with long cables running from the bedrooms and the living room and then compete in teams against each other. The rest of the time they were out and about and at the town pool during the Summer. In the Winter, they would be out sledding and having snowball fights. Nights brought them back for dinner and then they would play flashlight tag when it got dark in the warmer months. Many a morning we would be stepping over bodies to get to the coffee maker in the morning because our home was filled with kids who had spent the night and taken over every inch of the living room floor and the couches and recliner. One Summer I pitched our large tent in the backyard for the entire time and they boys slept out there with their friends. They loved it and my hubby loved being able to get to the kitchen in the morning and not worry about stepping on or waking the kids.
ReplyDeleteMy kids are now grown and have families of their own. Three of our grandsons live near us and the youngest of the three, spends one day a week during the Summer with me. He and I garden together, do the shopping and stop in to see G-pa (my hubby) at work, and go to the town pool for him to swim. He helps me organize the pantry by taking care of things on the lower shelves since I have a hard time getting myself back up from a squatting position. He loves to organize things and he always gets a reward of some type like a homemade smoothie, popsicle or we make cookies with lots of sprinkles! He is the sprinkle master. LOL! My older grandsons help with picking fruit from our garden and the second oldest also loves to help me pit all the cherries since the cherry pitter is still somewhat of a novelty to him. When the grandboys were younger, they loved to play with the Tonka trucks that I had saved from when my own kids were little. The boys thought it was so fun to play with their daddies toys. Now they can be found helping G-pa build cornhole games for family members and special friend. We all love to play cornhole together.
Hi Annabel struggling to comment so I'm trying again.
ReplyDeleteWe just went on a family vacation with our two adult children and their spouses and our 10 yr old grandson. It was just for a few days but it was wonderful. We spent several hours on the beach looking for interesting shells and sea glass. Our grandson loved this. One day it rained for a few hours but the hotel had a pool table which was a new thing to our grandson so again, he was happy to learn about playing pool for a couple hours. He also loved swimming in the pool- he likes to play pool volleyball with us. The point is that we spent time doing things together with no tech or screens at all! He is interested in geometry and enjoyed learning that shooting pool is using geometry skills. Mostly, he enjoyed spending time with family. I know most of us can't go on vacations anymore but we can spend time with our grandkids playing catch in the backyard. Even something as simple as watching the clouds and finding shapes.
ReplyDeleteSome how I missed this post. Thank you for sharing so many great ideas.
ReplyDeleteWhen all the children were young, I would take them to Summer Reading events at our local library. It was a win-win because not only did they enjoy whatever event or special guest they had, but the kids kept up their reading over the summer.
One year, our family van broke down and we had no money to repair it. Well we couldn't go to the library. So I came up with themed play..."Funtastic Fridays" That's right, fantastic! I did an obstacle course, a bike theme with the Queen song "Ride my Bicycle" edited version, and we learned about the LaBrea tarpits. This last one involved an activity where they wore bathing suits and played with plastic dinosaurs in vats of homemade chocolate pudding (the tar for our pits). 😊 A personal favorite was making cement stepping stones with all those itty bitty toys that always ended up on the floor but they refused to part with.
My kids range from 25-10 and all agree that Fantastic Fridays were the best thing about their childhood!!
Blessings,
Leslie in Ohio
Sorry, they wer
DeleteSorry, they were called "Funtastic Fridays". My auto correct is too helpful. ;)
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