Holidays are the perfect time to catch up on all those menial jobs around the house you just never seem to have time for during the year. But it’s also the perfect time to kick back and just hang with your kids – and have some serious fun on the way.
We’ve likely all heard the old adage, “Children grow up before you know it”. Well, it’s true!
We are so lucky, New Zealand is a wonderland where the great outdoors are close at hand to play and explore, providing the best platform for spontaneous play. There are so many adventures to be found, and best of all, they’re free.
beach fun
- Build dams to make puddles
- Cart stones to build stepping blocks across streams
- Watch tiny creatures carry food to their awaiting families
- Collect shells and sticks
- Splash in rock pools
- Let the waves chase you on the waters edge at the beach…its okay to get wet and dirty.
Laugh together and be a child yourself. These are the times your children will look back on and talk about forever.
fun around home
Whether you choose to adventure afar to the great outdoors, or stay closer to home, there are family activities you can create wherever you are.
- Balance along fences when walking to the shop for an ice-cream
- Jump over and in puddles
- Balance along the gutter and the cracks in the footpath
- Play ball games
- Throw a frisbee around after dinner
- Schedule dinner for earlier and then take a walk to the park or the beach. Pack some torches if you plan to stay until dark (which makes for another adventure in itself!)
- Find a spider web and take time to find where the spider is hiding.
- Follow an ant trail and see where it leads to – place a few breadcrumbs in the pathway of the ants and watch if the ants go over or around them.
wet day fun
Of course, there will be the odd wet day over the holidays to fill. Gather together all the things you have collected on a family outing, such as stones, twigs, leaves, shells, etc.
- Create a collage called ‘Our family trip to the park (or beach or campsite)’.
- Make a holiday journal or booklet and print some photos from different things you did over the holidays and together write about what was happening and how much fun you had. Decorate it with things you have collected.
- Play chasing games with rain drops on a window by using your finger to follow the drips down the glass.
other fun things to do
- Dig and plant a vegetable garden together. Count the worms you find and talk about why they are so important to the soil.
- Count the seeds as you plant them, and then tend the garden as part of your daily family routine.
- Collect piles of newly mown grass and let your child stand on the top of the pile and jump off - and of course over it and into it too!
- Pick daisies and teach your child how to make daisy chains.
- Look for different types of bark on the trees when you go for a walk. Talk about their texture – sharp, flat, bumpy, prickly, etc.
- Collect stones and paint them with bright colours. Add craft glue to the paint and sprinkle glitter over the stones once painted. These can become fairy or magic stones and can be placed in your vege garden.
- Build a ‘challenge’ course together in the backyard using things from the garage and bits and bobs from around the house (or do the same with camping equipment and pieces of nature if you’re camping). Create activities to move over, under, around, pull along and step over. Try doing it backwards, sideways and blindfolded (as long as it’s not too high and scary!).
- Lie down on the grass and watch the clouds. Look for pictures in the clouds and talk about what you see – and then what they turn into as the clouds change shape.
- Go somewhere quiet and sit and watch the birds flying around the trees looking for worms on the ground. Shut your eyes and listen to the birds twittering – then pretend you are a bird and fly around.
- Make a bird feeder and place it on a pole or in a tree where your child can see it. It can be her job to put bread or seed out, and then all of you watch the birds eat it.
- Make stilts out of tins (with the lid cut off – larger tins such as golden syrup tins are best) and a piece of string to hold onto.
- Keep old pillow cases – they’re great to use for sack races.
There are adventures waiting on every corner, and if your child gets to learn about the world and herself in a relaxed, fun environment, she’s likely to be more receptive to everything.
Gill Connell, Child Development and Movement Expert
