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My previous post was about creating activity ‘pins’ to add structure and variety to the school holidays. In a nutshell, the idea is to break down the holidays into themed weeks and create an activity for each day that links with the theme.

In today’s post, I’m going to share with you exactly what we’ve got planned for our holidays, or at least the first 3 weeks. I will share the second three weeks later one. Feel free to use our activity plans or make up your own. My kids are 5 and 1 so that’s where these activities are pitched.

We have got Chinese Week, Bird Week, and Fruit Week.

Chinese Week

My kids love Chinese food, so I thoughtit would be good to capitalise on that interest and have a week looking at Chinese culture and the country of China. As you can see, there is an activity planned for each day. Some are long (like the films) and others will just take a few minutes (like the scratch art). I have never made Spring Rolls before* so if anyone has any tips, then let me know!

*Update: I have now made the Spring Rolls (see photo below) and they were DELISH! So keep your eyes out for a How-To appearing on the blog very soon!

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
Make Spring Rolls	BakerRoss Dragon Scratch Art	Watch Disney’s Mulan	BakerRoss Decorate Your Own Fan	Chinese Takeaway watching Kung Fu Panda

Here are some photos of how we got on!

Baker Ross Design Your Own Fans

Baker Ross Scratch Art Dragons

Homemade Vegetable Spring Rolls

Bird Week

I love being outside in nature, and I think it’s important to encourage children to be outside too. I think most children have an interest in wildlife (animal noises are some of the first recognisable things that toddlers say!) and so my job, as a mummy, is to cultivate that. Looking for wildlife on our doorstep will be a great way of opening their eyes to the world that is all around us. I think that will be a great activity (I might even fish out the binoculars if I can find them!).

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
BakerRoss Decorate a Bird House	Watch Rio	Go on a Bird Hunt around our Village	Make Chocolate Nest Buns	Feed the Ducks

Our bird nest buns

Fruit Week

Getting kids to understand about healthy snacks early on can really help them form good eating habits. The internet is full of ideas for fruit-themed crafts, and there are loads of ‘PickYour Own’ places these days. To the children, it’s just a fun activity, but there is so much learning going on here too – where food comes from, the creation of healthy snacks, why apples have a star shape at their centre.

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
Pick Your Own Strawberries	Paper Plate Fruit Painting	Make a Smoothie	Cut Up Fruit and do some Printing	Play-Doh Fruit Models

Activity Rich, Bonding Rich

I first started planning these ‘pins’ as a survival technique; I was feeling overwhelmed and needed to break down the 6 week holidays into more manageable chunks. But it has become a family tradition which we all relish (myself very much included).

We all know the struggle of trying to keep a household running (laundry, groceries, cleaning, chores) whilst simultaneously entertaining the children. It’s hard. But now the kids know that, at least one point in the day, they will have my complete, undivided attention, and we will be doing something fun together. It has been a really lovely time of bonding.

It’s also been quite fun thinking up themes and planning little trips and crafts that I just know they’re going to LOVE doing. It’s like storing up a little surprise for them each day.

I hope you feel inspired, and, from one mummy to another, good luck with the school holidays!

For more school holiday pins, check out my Farms, Trains and Unicorns post!

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