If we mums are honest, there are two positions to take on school holidays. Position one is the mother who loves spending more time with her kids, being creative, making, baking, visiting, reading, playing, being buried in the sandpit. Position two is the mother for whom the school holidays are a mere countdown to school going back.
I have discovered that I sit neatly on the fence at this stage in my kids' lives. Master 7 as many of you know has Aspergers' Syndrome. The first few days of the holidays are thus awful for him as he adjusts to changes in his daily routine, and for greater chunks of the day allocated to unpredictability. There are only so many things I can plan to do in a day, and some days even though he sees it drawn or written down, he wants to do something else. Understandable. It's ok for him to spring something on me, just not the other way around. Miss 3 loves drawing, painting, making; the most portable of activities and easily adaptable to the plans for Master 7. Messy crafts just don't tend to go down well every day here...
We are now halfway through the ACT holidays, and the kids are flagging. They want and need some routine, and mornings provide that. Afternoons however seem to go on forever! Mr BB is away for work for a couple of weeks, and so there is no respite from Mum for the little people.
I have therefore dusted off some tried and true activities that you may want to try to get you through the next few days. As they are familiar, Master 7 is happy to try them. As they are creative, Miss 3 is all over them.
Toilet roll craft. Rattles, binoculars, didgeridoos, rockets, cars, slides, tunnels, planes; there is no end to the uses of the rolls. Try some of these web sites for additional ideas and printables to help you.
DLTK is a winner for most crafts and activities here.
Have a puppet show using the creatures from here.
If you find the idea of craft using toilet rolls eeewwww, then just use cardboard tubes from food wrap, al-foil, etc. Cut them using a bread knife, the sawing action makes it easy.
You can also add some fabric scraps to make serviette rings here.
My other tip. Don't underestimate the power of Google. Any kids' craft, craft recipe, technique etc can be found this way. Similarly the search function of YouTube. Bubble mixture, street chalk, bakers' clay, edible paint, papier mache, crystal garden, hand plaque,or even a vinegar volcano
Finally, everyone's favourite, with thanks to k3 crafts:
I have discovered that I sit neatly on the fence at this stage in my kids' lives. Master 7 as many of you know has Aspergers' Syndrome. The first few days of the holidays are thus awful for him as he adjusts to changes in his daily routine, and for greater chunks of the day allocated to unpredictability. There are only so many things I can plan to do in a day, and some days even though he sees it drawn or written down, he wants to do something else. Understandable. It's ok for him to spring something on me, just not the other way around. Miss 3 loves drawing, painting, making; the most portable of activities and easily adaptable to the plans for Master 7. Messy crafts just don't tend to go down well every day here...We are now halfway through the ACT holidays, and the kids are flagging. They want and need some routine, and mornings provide that. Afternoons however seem to go on forever! Mr BB is away for work for a couple of weeks, and so there is no respite from Mum for the little people.
I have therefore dusted off some tried and true activities that you may want to try to get you through the next few days. As they are familiar, Master 7 is happy to try them. As they are creative, Miss 3 is all over them.
Toilet roll craft. Rattles, binoculars, didgeridoos, rockets, cars, slides, tunnels, planes; there is no end to the uses of the rolls. Try some of these web sites for additional ideas and printables to help you.
DLTK is a winner for most crafts and activities here.
Have a puppet show using the creatures from here.
If you find the idea of craft using toilet rolls eeewwww, then just use cardboard tubes from food wrap, al-foil, etc. Cut them using a bread knife, the sawing action makes it easy.
You can also add some fabric scraps to make serviette rings here.
My other tip. Don't underestimate the power of Google. Any kids' craft, craft recipe, technique etc can be found this way. Similarly the search function of YouTube. Bubble mixture, street chalk, bakers' clay, edible paint, papier mache, crystal garden, hand plaque,or even a vinegar volcano
Finally, everyone's favourite, with thanks to k3 crafts:
Uncooked Play Dough
2 cups of plain flour
4 tablespoons of 'cream of tartar'
2 tablespoons of cooking oil
1 cup of salt
2 cups of boiling water
food colouring
Just pop it all in a mixing bowl and mix!
It looks as though it is not going to mix well at first but hang in there and throw it onto the bench to knead, and it will come together really nicely.
We put different things in ours also such as glitter and sand. Just be careful you don't put things in like rice as they tend to go mouldy - we find glitter is really good.
Hope this helps everyone.
Cheers and Happy Play Doughing! (get into it, it is really relaxing to knead)
Yes, these are generally all messy, but they'll love them, and anyway, who vacuums daily on the holidays?!
xx
xx
1 comment:
Thanks for all the links and ideas. I have to admit that I fit into position 1.... I have many friends though who would happily admit to being Position 2!
Hope your holidays have given you more of Position1!
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