Welcome everyone!
Well, the Christmas/Summer holidays are in full swing here and I thought I would share with you some of the cheap or free activities for the kiddos we have done or planned!
#1: Our favourite books! We all spent the morning in our pj's and read our favourite books! Then we had some conversations about the books we read, asked questions like 'Why is this your favourite book?' and 'Who was our favourite character and why?' etc. This was a great way to start our summer holidays as it allowed everyone to relax after a really busy last week of school. I love doing this with the kids because of the educational aspect of it, getting to know how much the kiddos are comprehending what they are reading allows me to see how much they have grown in their understanding and vocabulary skills.
#2: Swimming! We are lucky enough to have a pool in our yard and the kids have been enjoying the cool water most days. This is great for them to let out energy before they come in for dinner and makes for a much easier bedtime! Our kids have a couple of pool toys however they have found their imaginations while playing in the pool.
#3: Baking Day! So I only buy ready made packet snacks for my kiddos when I really need to. I make most things to keep costs and waste to a minimum. So baking days happen often here whether the kids are home or not, but on the holidays (especially Christmas) we make more treats. The other day we made rice crispy treats with Christmas sprinkles on them and they were all gone by the afternoon! They were simple and quick to make and enjoyed by all!
If you are interested in the recipe for these yummy treats, check out the link!
http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/rainbow-lunchbox-bars/2f76a8a0-1f3d-4470-8180-22636b9167c4
#4: Movie Day! While there are many great movies out for kids on the holidays, to keep costs low, we choose from the range of kids movies on Netflix. We also snuggle up on the couch (in the aircon of course!), pop some popcorn, have some chips and our favourite softdrink (or Milo) and enjoy a movie. These movie days do not happen very often as I prefer the kids to be screen-free most of the time, but as a treat, this is a great way to enjoy each others company while not breaking the bank.
#5: Park Day! I love seeing my kids explore new playgrounds, but we always seem to go to our old favourite, the Pirate ship playground. There are plenty of trees for the kids to climb, slides, seesaws, etc and the kids are kept busy for hours! We all take a water bottle and the kids choose their fruit (they can all be fussy but as long as it is fruit they choose, I am a happy mumma!), and we are there for a couple of hours at least. We love meeting friends at the park as well as making new ones!
#6: Outside Day! I love these days where the kids can stay outside for the majority of the day! Yesterday we had my brother bring his daughter over for a sleepover with my kids and they brought with them a whole pile of water balloons! Mum and I spent about an hour filling them up and the kids had an epic water fight! While the kids were busy playing, the adults filled up their own bucket of water balloons and we joined in the fun by ambushing the kids after they had used all of theirs up! We ended the fight with the kids jumping in the pool while I ducked out to get some hot chips for dinner. Keep in mind that I would never leave children unsupervised in the pool, there were 2 other adults here supervising them constantly.
Other ideas for outside time include playing with soccer balls, chalk drawing on the trampoline is a favourite of my kids, swings, bike riding around the yard, running races etc. Just make sure they are drinking plenty of water and making use of sun protection.
#7: Visiting friends! We all need to get out of the house at some point and visiting friends is a great way to stay social (and sane for some of us!). My kids love visiting their own friends on the holidays and I love that they can get out on their own and be with just their friends. With so many kids in the house, the kids need time away from everyone else to refresh and be with friends their own age. We have a lot of friends with kids around the same ages as ours so getting out and meeting up with friends is something we love to do!
#8 Community/Church Events! Our Kiddos love going to community events and over the Christmas holidays there is plenty going on. Our city has a great Christmas Carols event that we went to this year and it was AMAZING! There were plenty of free activities and games for the kids to play (we made sure to get there early enough to get a good spot!) and we all enjoyed singing along with our favourite carols! Other community activities we enjoy as a family includes: Shopping centre activities, Bunnings craft and the Christmas Lights Cavalcade.
#9: Board Games! We love playing games with our kids as it teaches them things like teamwork, social skills and that it is never about winning/losing.
Our favourite games to play as a family is Sequence/Sequence Kids, Eye Found It, Memory games, Guess Who and Beat the Tiger.
A lot of these cater to the broad age range that we have and we all love playing together as a family.
#10: Lego Day! Who doesn't love Lego? We have a whole room dedicated to Lego where the kids (and big kids) can let imaginations run wild and display their creations on the shelf. We use a cube storage system to display creations and have them up away from little hands. The kiddos love building things with the Lego and including their other little toys (the Littlest Pet Shops have had many houses and cars built for them). We also have a big tub of Duplo for the little ones to play as well.
Well, the Christmas/Summer holidays are in full swing here and I thought I would share with you some of the cheap or free activities for the kiddos we have done or planned!
#1: Our favourite books! We all spent the morning in our pj's and read our favourite books! Then we had some conversations about the books we read, asked questions like 'Why is this your favourite book?' and 'Who was our favourite character and why?' etc. This was a great way to start our summer holidays as it allowed everyone to relax after a really busy last week of school. I love doing this with the kids because of the educational aspect of it, getting to know how much the kiddos are comprehending what they are reading allows me to see how much they have grown in their understanding and vocabulary skills.
#2: Swimming! We are lucky enough to have a pool in our yard and the kids have been enjoying the cool water most days. This is great for them to let out energy before they come in for dinner and makes for a much easier bedtime! Our kids have a couple of pool toys however they have found their imaginations while playing in the pool.
#3: Baking Day! So I only buy ready made packet snacks for my kiddos when I really need to. I make most things to keep costs and waste to a minimum. So baking days happen often here whether the kids are home or not, but on the holidays (especially Christmas) we make more treats. The other day we made rice crispy treats with Christmas sprinkles on them and they were all gone by the afternoon! They were simple and quick to make and enjoyed by all!
If you are interested in the recipe for these yummy treats, check out the link!
http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/rainbow-lunchbox-bars/2f76a8a0-1f3d-4470-8180-22636b9167c4
#4: Movie Day! While there are many great movies out for kids on the holidays, to keep costs low, we choose from the range of kids movies on Netflix. We also snuggle up on the couch (in the aircon of course!), pop some popcorn, have some chips and our favourite softdrink (or Milo) and enjoy a movie. These movie days do not happen very often as I prefer the kids to be screen-free most of the time, but as a treat, this is a great way to enjoy each others company while not breaking the bank.
#5: Park Day! I love seeing my kids explore new playgrounds, but we always seem to go to our old favourite, the Pirate ship playground. There are plenty of trees for the kids to climb, slides, seesaws, etc and the kids are kept busy for hours! We all take a water bottle and the kids choose their fruit (they can all be fussy but as long as it is fruit they choose, I am a happy mumma!), and we are there for a couple of hours at least. We love meeting friends at the park as well as making new ones!
#6: Outside Day! I love these days where the kids can stay outside for the majority of the day! Yesterday we had my brother bring his daughter over for a sleepover with my kids and they brought with them a whole pile of water balloons! Mum and I spent about an hour filling them up and the kids had an epic water fight! While the kids were busy playing, the adults filled up their own bucket of water balloons and we joined in the fun by ambushing the kids after they had used all of theirs up! We ended the fight with the kids jumping in the pool while I ducked out to get some hot chips for dinner. Keep in mind that I would never leave children unsupervised in the pool, there were 2 other adults here supervising them constantly.
Other ideas for outside time include playing with soccer balls, chalk drawing on the trampoline is a favourite of my kids, swings, bike riding around the yard, running races etc. Just make sure they are drinking plenty of water and making use of sun protection.
#7: Visiting friends! We all need to get out of the house at some point and visiting friends is a great way to stay social (and sane for some of us!). My kids love visiting their own friends on the holidays and I love that they can get out on their own and be with just their friends. With so many kids in the house, the kids need time away from everyone else to refresh and be with friends their own age. We have a lot of friends with kids around the same ages as ours so getting out and meeting up with friends is something we love to do!
#8 Community/Church Events! Our Kiddos love going to community events and over the Christmas holidays there is plenty going on. Our city has a great Christmas Carols event that we went to this year and it was AMAZING! There were plenty of free activities and games for the kids to play (we made sure to get there early enough to get a good spot!) and we all enjoyed singing along with our favourite carols! Other community activities we enjoy as a family includes: Shopping centre activities, Bunnings craft and the Christmas Lights Cavalcade.
#9: Board Games! We love playing games with our kids as it teaches them things like teamwork, social skills and that it is never about winning/losing.
Our favourite games to play as a family is Sequence/Sequence Kids, Eye Found It, Memory games, Guess Who and Beat the Tiger.
A lot of these cater to the broad age range that we have and we all love playing together as a family.
#10: Lego Day! Who doesn't love Lego? We have a whole room dedicated to Lego where the kids (and big kids) can let imaginations run wild and display their creations on the shelf. We use a cube storage system to display creations and have them up away from little hands. The kiddos love building things with the Lego and including their other little toys (the Littlest Pet Shops have had many houses and cars built for them). We also have a big tub of Duplo for the little ones to play as well.
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