Themed Activities: Farms, Trains & Unicorns!


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I like to plan activities to stop the kids moaning keep the kids happy during the school holidays. I find that if they have something (however big or small) to do each day, the holidays run much more smoothly. In our house, we choose a different topic for each week and then plan activities accordingly. For more information about how to do this, check out this post.

Today’s post is a run down of the activities and themes we’ve got planned for the second half of the summer holiday (and if you follow me on twitter, you might see some photos of us actually doing them!).

Feel free to use our plans or make up your own. My kids are 5 and 1 so that’s where these activities are pitched. We have got Train Week, Farm Week and a short Unicorn Week.

Train Week Activities

Activities toy train

I think most kids find trains fascinating – they’re so big and fast and noisy.

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday
Visit York Train Museum Make a Train out of Cardboard Boxes Play with the Train Set Go on a real Train Journey Watch Thomas the Tank Engine on YouTube

We wanted to kick our week off with a visit to York Train Museum to set the scene. If you’ve never been, you should! It’s free to get in (donation if you like) and is filled with REAL trains that you can explore. If you live too far from here, you could substitute it with watching Cbeebies’ Chuggington.

On Tuesday, we’ll be decorating big cardboard boxes and sitting inside them!

Activities Cardboard Train

Our cardboard box train

But the real highlight will be Thursday’s train journey. If you don’t fancy riding a real train, you can probably find a local park that runs a small ride-on train in the school holidays.

Activities Train Station

At the train station

Farm Week ActivitiesActivities Sheep

Farms are a real crowd-pleaser when it comes tochildren.

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday
Play Animal Snap Decorate Farm Cupcakes Make a scarecrow Old MacDonald Picture using BakerRoss stickers Visit the Farm
Activities Farm Stickers BR

Snap is a classic card game that helps children to recognise different animals although I am particularly looking forward to decorating the cupcakes on Tuesday (find step-by-step instructions here). I’ve already baked the cakes and put them in the freezer so that we can straight on with the fun bit – colouring and cutting the fondant icing!

I’ve never made a scarecrow before so it could be a disaster (!) but I’ve found this ‘how-to’ so we’ll give it a bash.

No doubt we we’ll be singing lots of ‘Old MacDonald’ (it’s the toddler’s favourite anyway!) and of course the visit to a real farm will be brilliant!

Unicorn Week Activities

Activity Hanging Unicorns

We stuck our Baker Ross Unicorns to the ceiling!

The 5yo is really into Unicorns at the moment so we had to fit a Unicorn week in somewhere. With the Bank Holiday and the way the holidays have fallen, though, it’s just a quick three-day plan.

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday
BakerRoss Flying Unicorn Craft Watch Despicable Me BakerRoss Unicorn Stencil
Activites Flying Unicorn BR Activities Unicorn Stencil BR

I really love the BakerRoss craft kits (as a mummy who isn’t very good at craft, it is great to buy pre-prepared kits for a decent price!). So we’ll be making the flying unicorns on Tuesday, and also using the unicorn from the pink stencil set to do some painting on Thursday.

The film for this week will be Despicable Me because the little girl on it loves unicorns (a bit like my own little girl!).


 

So there we go -another 3(ish) weeks of activities to get your teeth into! If you fancy looking at my other plans, check out this post for activities linked to China, Birds, and Fruit!

 

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Diary of an imperfect mum

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18 Comments

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    • 6
      Lucy At Home

      Unicorn week was specifically requested by my daughter but unfortunately there weren’t many days of the holiday left. We might see if we can have a longer Unicorn Week another holiday! Thanks for commenting. L

  1. 7
    Katy - Hot Pink Wellingtons

    I love these – great and easy ideas! I know my son would love Train week – we went on a ride on miniature train at the weekend and he absolutely loved it. We’re now on the hunt for more of them locally – there seem to be loads! Thanks so much for joining us again at #SharingtheBlogLove

    • 8
      Lucy At Home

      We’re on our last day of Train Week today and the girls (and mummy!) have really enjoyed it. They especially enjoyed the train yesterday, and my 1yo shouted “choo choo” for the whole 20min ride! Haha. Thanks for commenting. L

  2. 10
    Merlinda Little (Glimmer of Hope)

    Like you I also schedule activity! Last week we rode the train and went to a lake to feed the ducks. This is planned and I told my son about it which made him anticipate and count the days till we do this!

    He really enjoyed it. We dont have much budget but that trip is so worth it!

    Nest week will be something big as I will get my first paycheck! Not big .. not even a hundred haha… but it will be enough for us to get somewhere again. My son is so looking forward to it and hopefully it will turn out well!

    #ablogginggoodtime

    • 13
      Lucy At Home

      Haha it’s a survival technique! I have to plan or I won’t have the motivation to do anything and then I’ll get some very loud complaints from my charges! Hahaha. Thanks for commenting. L

  3. 14
    Laura - dear bear and beany

    Great ideas. Train week sounds lots of fun. Alice asked for us to go on a train ride over the holidays, I love how much they enjoy it. I wish we had more interesting places to visit on the train. Thank you for joining us at #SharingtheBlogLove Laura X

    • 15
      Lucy At Home

      It’s great seeing “ordinary” things through a child’s eyes – it all seems so new and exciting to them! We didn’t go anywhere exciting on the train (it was actually to a hospital appointment!) but they just loved watching the scenery whizz by so quickly and all the bustle of the train station. Happy days! Thank you for commenting. L

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