In todays blog, Courtney, a qualified ECE Teacher turned Primary Teacher, shares with us some fun ideas to help keep the kids entertained over the school holidays.
Holiday Play Ideas
It can be so hard to entertain your tamariki during the holidays as they are used to a busy school day, but I have a bunch of activity ideas that could save you the thinking time and promote exploration and learning through play!
Play provides endless opportunities for learning. They are developing motor control, oral language, cognitive skills, literacy and numeracy concepts, problem solving, social/emotional skills, creativity and imagination, risk taking and so many more important and essential skills. These things support children in becoming confident and happy learners.
Here are some awesome recipes and ideas from Courtney as well as some top tips:
My top tips for play in the holidays:
- Choose play experiences you can reuse/revisit. For example. Playdough is great as you can make it at the beginning of the week and then offer it each day! It's relatively mess-free and can be bagged up and reused the following day.
- Don't overdo it! I know it can feel overwhelming seeing all these elaborate play ideas on Pinterest and Instagram but know that the experiences you choose to set up do not have to be ‘insta worthy’. Most of the time children will take it in their own direction, regardless of how aesthetically pleasing it looks!
- Make a little holiday box. I have a plastic container in my cupboard with lots of bits for weekends and holidays. Things like – stickers, paper, pens and paint, craft bits, colouring books, playdough toys etc. It's easy to access and keeps it more exciting as they aren't things we use all the time.
- Add a few bits and pieces to your shopping list. Food colouring, a bag of flour or extra dishwashing liquid isn’t too expensive and if you just add 2-3 items to each shop you will end up with a great collection of ingredients for play provocations at home.
- It’s okay to have a quiet day. A day without a play provocation is still a good day. Spending the day watching movies together, quietly drawing, making a fort or going for a walk is perfectly fine. You are creating memories!
