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Six weeks off school can feel like a long time and trying to fill the days so kids aren’t too bored can be tricky and expensive.
Fear not though, there are plenty of activities you and your children can take part in over the summer holidays.
It’s important for children to keep active during the summer holidays. If your kids are into gaming, they can easily be sat in front of a screen for hours at a time and although that might keep them quiet, it’s not good long-term for activity levels. Recent NHS statistics have shown a significant increase in childhood obesity rates, so encourage them to step away from the computer or tablet and get outside while the weather’s nice!
According to the NHS, children and young people aged 5 to 18 should aim for an average of at least 60 minutes of moderate or vigorous intensity physical activity a day across the week; taking part in a variety of physical activities will help develop movement skills, muscles and bones.
A great exercise and life skill for kids is to go swimming, and they can do this whatever the weather. Your local leisure centre will probably have a special timetable during the holidays so kids can go swimming more often. They have floats and fun things for them to play with in the pool so they’re not just doing lengths.
The Olympic Games are taking place in Paris at the moment until 11th August. With 206 countries taking part across over 30 sports, it’s definitely something you and your kids can get involved in over the summer holidays.
You might be lucky enough to have tickets to go and watch some of the games, but if not, you can test some of them out in your back garden or local park.
Sports including netball, badminton and athletics can easily be replicated at home. Why not get your kids and their friends to pick a participating country to represent and have a competition? You can task them to learn a bit more about the country they’re representing – it might be you have family heritage from there or one of their favourite athletes is from there – and incorporate their learned knowledge into a challenge.
Sit down with your kids and come up with a list of things they’d like to achieve or take part in over the summer holidays. It could be trying a new sport, visiting the beach or a forest, learning to swim or riding a bike. Create a list of, say, 10 things that they’d like to do – it can also involve family activities you can all take part in. See how many you can tick off over the holidays, you can always add more on as you go along!
Council-run libraries are free to join and offer a wide range of books to peak your children’s interest. You can usually take out a book for three weeks, so it gives your children plenty of time to get through it. With such a big selection of books your kids can pick out a variety of genres depending on their age and interests. Libraries often host special mornings for little ones where authors come in to read stories and librarians are always happy to encourage children to read more and will be able to make recommendations.
Remember, you don’t have to have something planned every day of the holidays. Finding a balance between activities and letting them have a day in front of the TV will hopefully allow your kids to relax and recharge ready for the new school term.
