5 Holiday activities for kids

The summer holiday is a wonderful break from school, but it can be a very long break for parents!

Rather than moaning about this time, take the opportunity to have fun with your children while they’re still young. If you’re looking for ways to keep them entertained away from the TV and tablet, here are a few festive fun ideas.

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1. Make popcorn garlands
Popcorn kernels are still one of the relatively cheap food items around!

You can make some popcorn for a Christmas movie day if it’s raining, or you could get creative with them.

Give the children a needle (it doesn’t need to be a sharp one!) and some thread, and get them to create popcorn garlands.

This is actually a really good activity for developing fine motor skills in young ones.

Once made, the garlands can be painted and hung on the tree or around the house.

2. Make a Christmas wreath
Another simple yet effective Christmas activity is making a Christmas wreath for the front door.

This will involve a traipse into nature, so go on a garden or forest walk to find branches, twigs, pine cones, ivy and more.

You can then wrap these around a foam wring or wire, decorating it with Christmas bows and anything else festive you can find.

3. Christmas charades or Pictionary
If your children need to get a bit active, then you could try something a bit more energetic like charades or Pictionary.

Brainstorm some Christmas-themed topics and then get the kids to either act them out or draw them on a board for everyone to guess.

4. Christmas cookie decorating
Baking is always a win at this time of year, provided load-shedding isn’t stealing all the fun!

You can use a really basic biscuit recipe to make either gingerbread men, stars, Christmas trees, or more.

Once they’ve cooled, get the children to decorate these with icing and sprinkles.

You can even put some of these in a jar as a Christmas gift for friends, family, or neighbours.

5. Shoot the Grinch
Blow up a green balloon and draw a basic Grinch face on it.

Tie it up somewhere and then let the children shoot at the balloon with their foam guns or any other soft items you have lying around the house. This will also get out that excess energy while improving their aiming skills!

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