As a single parent, actually, for any parent, it can be difficult during the long school holidays over summer to find the balance between providing some fun and memorable experiences for the kids and keeping the budget in order. 

It can also be challenging when you are trying to entertain children across different age groups.

In these 15 activities, mums and dads who been there before you have come up with some ideas that you can do with all of your children.

 

Ages 2 – 6

1. Create a searching adventure

Give them a list of 10 things to find around your home.  Older children might enjoy a mildly competitive element so you could time them to see how long it takes.  They can compete against each other but if there are age differences, you’ll start hearing the “it’s not fair” call pretty soon. So, make several different lists and record the kids’ individual times for completing each sheet. Effectively, they’re competing against themselves for a PB.

For some children, you will have to give them one or two items at a time to go to look for. When they return, send them off to find the next couple.

With very young children, you will have to accompany them and help them to find each item.  This can work particularly well for several parents on a playdate.

If you plan it carefully, you can get a reasonable amount of time to get other things done or catch up with your friends whilst also enjoying time with the kids hunting.

Here’s an example list:

•             A feather

•             Something yellow

•             A Leaf with a hole in it

•             Something to do with drinks ie straw, bottle cap, a cup

•             A red flower

•             4 stones

•             A piece of bark

•             A paper plane that can fly 2m

•             1 elastic band

•             Something a bird might use to build a nest

 

2. Make wrapping paper

We all need wrapping paper at some time during the year so why not get some butchers paper and make your own?  You can use potatoes, foam or just the kids' hands and feet to stamp designs onto the sheets with non-toxic water based paints.

 

3. Plant a garden

This activity can occupy quite a long time if you start by decorating the pots.  Source some free or cheap pots to paint and stick things to.  Prepare some soil and then plant seeds.  If you want to see a result quickly, choose plants such as alyssum flowers or rocket seeds.  For the less patient gardeners, plant vegetable seedlings such as tomatoes or beans.  Mandevilla is an evergreen flowering creeper which can be contained in pots and gives a lot of bang for your buck.

 

4. Press flowers

Collect flowers and leaves then arrange them between two sheets of baking paper and press them inside the pages of a book. You will probably need to stack more books or something else that is heavy enough on top of the book in order to properly flatten the flowers. Use these flowers at a later date to make cards and other craft activities.

 

5. Attract the birds into your garden

This is a project that can take days to yield results but it's worth it.  Backyard birds in Australia fall into 3 main groups in terms of what they eat.  Seeds, insects or nectar.

You will have to look for some birds close by then research what it is they eat.  Doves eat seeds.  Willie Wagtails eat insects and Honeyeaters, unsurprisingly, eat nectar.

Make a bird feeder to hang in a tree or perch somewhere stable in the garden. Providing a dish of fresh water for the birds to drink or splash in will help to attract them to your little patch of the world. The insect eating birds such as Willie Wagtails and Magpies can be tamed by providing mealie worms (available at pet shops) at the same time each day.  Within days, they will be coming quite close for more.

 

 

Ages 7 – 11

6.  Write a play with the kids

Let them act it out as either a puppet play or with themselves as the characters.  Film it if you have the means so they can watch it again later.

Most white goods retail outlets have large boxes that they are happy to give to you for free. You can use them to decorate as a stage setting and props.  Anything you have around the house can be used for costumes, supplemented with a few items from the $2 shop, the Salvos or paint, glue and the left-over cardboard.

 

7. Send them on a treasure hunt

Hide items around your home.  Make a map and let them go off to find the next clue to find the treasure.  If you are feeling adventurous and 'piratey' you could write the first clue a secret clue written in lemon juice invisible ink to be revealed once the game starts. To make the invisible clue, squeeze the juice from half a lemon.  Using a cotton bud, dip it in the lemon juice and write your clue on white paper. The juice dries and becomes invisible. Scrunch the paper up, put some dirty marks on it and burn around the edges with a candle to properly pirate it up.  

To reveal the secret clue, the paper needs to be gently heated - not to the point of catching on fire! You could use a candle or the safer but less exciting option of holding it over a light globe.

 

8. Have a masquerade party

Let the kids invite a few friends around to make masks from paper plates, scraps of fabric, paper, cardboard, glitter, sequence and feathers.  Much of this material can be sourced inexpensively from art shops, supermarkets or from items around the home.  They will probably tease you mercilessly about how daggy you are but they will love dressing up in your clothes. Alternatively, organise with other parents to give their child a very limited budget to spend at the local op shop.  Then get the kids together to design and make their costumes for a dance party or fashion parade.

9. Get into the kitchen

Do some baking. Make biscuits or cupcakes and decorate them.  Making something like honeycomb which has a notable chemical reaction can be a lot of fun.  If cooking is not your thing, take the macaroni and penne from the cupboard and use it to make necklaces.  You can paint it or colour it first to make it more interesting.

 

10. Camping in the back yard

If you have a tent, great!  If not, perhaps you can spare a few sheets from the linen closet.  If the weather isn’t good, empty out the linen closet and use the cushions from the couch or mattresses from the beds.  Sure, it looks like a squatter camp in your lounge room but the kids will remember that 3-day fort for years!

 

Ages 12 – 16

11. Have a movie day

Whip up some popcorn and inexpensive snack packs and settle in for a movie day.  If it’s cold, pillows and blankets on the floor.  If it’s hot perhaps it’s possible to blow up an inflatable pool and move a screen into a shaded spot outside.

 

12. Slip and slide fun

Get a sheet of black garden plastic, a hose and some soap.  The kids will work out what to do with it! Old twister games taped together with duct tape work pretty well too. Have plenty of sunscreen on hand!

 

13. Learn macramé

Oh yes! Macramé is back! If you can’t remember how to knot your way to fashioning a hanging potted plant, there are plenty of instructional videos on Youtube.  A roll of twine a few beads, shells or painted pasta and away they go!

14.  Make some money on Gumtree

Let the kids go through their toys or clothes, perhaps old textbooks for older kids and decide on anything they no longer need that might be saleable.  Create a gumtree account, photograph the items, write descriptions and put the items up for sale.  You do need to be present as a parent when they are interacting with buyers and be aware of all of the usual precautions when dealing with strangers.

 

15. Make cards

Make a batch of cards to use for all the friends’ and relatives’ birthdays and celebrations throughout the year.  It will save you time and money later in the year.

 

BONUS: Buy one packet of balloons.  Blow up 4 or 5 at a time and let the kids invent their own games!

 

With only a couple of weeks left of the holidays, I hope you and the kids will find time to have some fun and memorable times together.

My sons are young adults now but it wasn't that long ago that there were mattresses, cushions and sheets in the lounge room for days on end.  I drew the line when they wanted to put on an extension with the linen and pillows from my bed. The boys and their friends are now in their 20s still laugh about it!

Keep striving to thrive!

Published by, Christine Weston
Divorce Resource