With many lockdown restrictions still in place, Summer holiday activities and boredom busters are in high demand for families enjoying their staycations over the Summer break.
With the long school summer holidays stretching out ahead, Parenting expert Fi Star-Stone shares her best Summer holiday activities for families wanting a boredom-free break.
1. Ice Painting
Arty fun in the sun? Yes please! Chill this summer with this cool painting activity with homemade ice-paints. Simply fill an ice cube tray with water, add a pinch of coloured chalk dust to each cube (crush up a couple of chalks) and freeze for a few hours.
When the ice-paints are frozen – draw pictures on patios or paper in the shade for some street-art inspired fun, all while the paints keep you cool!
2. Water Painting
By far the simplest of activities but provides lots of entertainment for kids this Summer. All you need are a selection of brushes (decorating brushes are perfect) and a bucket of water. Let the children paint walls, fences, or make pictures on patios and paths! And the best bit? No mess! It’s the cleanest painting fun ever!
3. Water fight station
Water fights are brilliant fun and perfect for cooling off on hot days. Even very little ones will love throwing water at their parents!
Set up a water fight station with empty washing up bottles, cups, and sponges to soak your opponents! Grown-ups verses kids is a particular favourite water fight!
4. Balloon fun
A balloon is probably the most versatile game-player of all – blow one up and play ‘don’t let it drop’ by bopping it up into the air between you all, or create balloon challenges such as ‘can you get the balloon from one side of the garden to the other without using your hands’ or play balloon tennis using paper plates as rackets!
5. Den building!
From a simple table and chair construction right up to super-duper tipi’s made from runner-bean canes and sheets that last all summer, this old-school activity is great team-building fun for families. If you’re feeling super creative, get yourself to your local woods and build some dens with sticks and leaves for awesome outdoor active summer fun in nature.
6. Make homemade ice-cream!
Missing your holiday ice-cream? Why not have a go at making your own? for super easy banana ice-cream simply slice two bananas and freeze for a few hours. Once frozen, put in a blender together with a bit of milk/soya milk and blitz until smooth. Easiest ice-cream ever! Top with chocolate sauce or a flake and you’ll feel like you’re on a summer holiday!
7. Chalking
Little ones in particular love chalking on the ground – it’s lovely arty fun that washes away easily. Older children can chalk out roads for their cars, or mark out and play good old fashioned hopscotch!
8. Perseids meteor shower
A wonderful evening activity over Summer, is to watch the magical presides meteor shower while lying down snuggled on blankets. In 2020 the Perseids meteor shower is active between 17 July and 24 August, with the number of meteors increasing every night until it reaches a peak in mid-August, after which it will tail off. This year the peak falls on the night of the 12th and before dawn on 13 August.
9.) Write a Summer journal
A great memory keeper (and keeping up those writing skills) is to write a journal through Summer. For younger children – take photos, add tickets, and do hand and footprint pictures and drawings. Note down favourite days and memories to look back on in years to come!
My Summer Thinky-Thoughts Journal is a particular favourite with primary school-age children and is filled with writing prompts and Summer activities!
10. Make a wish list jar!
Decorate a jar and label it ‘Summer wishes.’ Everyone adds a few things they’d like to do over Summer (within reason!) Add the paper notes into the jar creating a ‘summer wish list’ take it in turns to pull out activities and do them. This way everyone gets to do something they like without arguments – even the grown-ups!
11. Treasure hunt!
Go on a nature treasure-hunt! Make a list of things to find on a Summer walk, then tick them off as you find them. Daisies, fence, cows, pinecones – make it as easy or tricky as you like!