Activities to keep the kids occupied this half term
Balancing home schooling, chores and effective home working is a challenge for the majority of us. February half-term seems a wonderful opportunity to close the laptops, stop explaining why X = 10 and end the copious amount of printing. Keep the kids busy, get outdoors and let the learning flow in a practical way that is fun for the whole family. We have rounded up our best ideas for keeping the family busy this half-term…
Get outdoors
The first months of the new year are traditionally focused on health and fitness, but with the whole family stuck at home with only one outing allowed for daily exercise, you may be wondering how do I give the kid's the exercise they need before daylight is over?
Turn your daily walks into adventures
Before your daily walk, get the kids together and write a list of items they need to find on their walk. Take a checklist and mark them off as you go. For some added fun, take these Nature Trail Binoculars along for the ride and discover as you go.
For the older kids, Geocaching is a fantastic interactive treasure hunt that’s fun for the whole family. The app uses a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver on your mobile device to hide and seek containers, called "geocaches" or "caches", at specific locations marked by coordinates all over the world. The search uses the coordinates and clues to find the treasure. Write your name in the logbook and leave some treasure before putting it back for other people to discover. Join the world’s largest treasure-hunting community and download the official app for geocaching here.
Mini-gardeners
Kid’s love getting stuck in and helping with adult activities. Get them wrapped up in warm clothes and take advantage of the extra gardening help. It’s a great opportunity to teach them about flowers, plants and the wildlife that lives and grows within our gardens. Introduce them slowly with our Plant & Grow Big Herb Set. Each kit includes four seed envelopes (basil, parsley, oregano and sage), 12 biodegradable pots to plant the seeds, a fully illustrated step-by-step guidebook and more.
Indoor activities for kids
While we may be stuck inside our four walls for the foreseeable future, we can still have fun with some exciting indoor activities that will keep the whole family entertained on rainy days.
Science experiments
Disguise science lessons by creating some exciting experiments from home. Create a chain reaction! Kiwi Co, the kids' projects website, describes chain reactions as 'amazing displays of energy... when everything is set up right, one little tap can cause a cascade of action, like a single domino knocking over a chain of thousands'. Try this experiment from Kiwi Co to make a huge chain reaction out of just a few lollipop sticks!
One of our favourite sensory experiences for toddlers is the shaving cream and food colouring activity. It’s so simple to set up: add some shaving cream to a baking tray and allow your little one to have fun swirling the cream with paintbrushes, cutlery, lollipop stock of whatever you have to hand. After they have had some fun with the shaving foam, slowing introduce the food colouring and allow them to mix and swirl. This activity is a great opportunity to talk about colours and how they change when mixed.
Kiwi Co has plenty more DIY experiments and craft activities for kids of all ages. Check them out here.
One of our favourite sensory experiences for toddlers is the shaving cream and food colouring activity. It’s so simple to set up: add some shaving cream to a baking tray and allow your little one to have fun swirling the cream with paintbrushes, cutlery, lollipop stock of whatever you have to hand. After they have had some fun with the shaving foam, slowing introduce the food colouring and allow them to mix and swirl. This activity is a great opportunity to talk about colours and how they change when mixed.
Kiwi Co has plenty more DIY experiments and craft activities for kids of all ages. Check them out here.
Puzzle time
Puzzles are a fun way to pass time and keep the brain ticking. Challenge yourself and the family to complete this Countryside Puzzle that contains 1,000 pieces! Or, if your little ones are bored of the traditional puzzles, try and master Chinese Chequers as a family.
Kids crafts
Learn to stitch! This colourful learn to stitch kit includes eight exciting stitching cards to get crafty with, along with all the thread needed to complete them. Ideal for learning together and getting away from technology for a while. For some no fuss fun, try out our activity books. We have a Mermaid edition, Dinosaur edition, Jungle and more.
For other fun activities for kids or to keep the family entertained, visit our games and activities collection to get inspired.
For other fun activities for kids or to keep the family entertained, visit our games and activities collection to get inspired.
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Posted on February 14 2023