You know how the weather can be here in the UK so here are some tips for sunny days, dry days, wet days, windy days and changeable days. Just imagine how boring it must be for people going on holiday somewhere where the weather is sunny and hot every day!
What I loved about the summer holidays was having all day to mess about and be creative without any time constraints.
So here's my first tip.
Introduce your children to the clouds and what they mean. There are all sorts of weird and natural ways to predict the weather. I had a little look and here is just one of them https://www.outdoorrevival.com/old-ways/predict-weather-using-nature-signs.html I remember as a child being told that cows lie down before it rains so they have a nice dry spot. I think there are some sayings which are believed to help when predicting the weather such as 'red sky at night, shepherd's delight' and 'red sky in the morning, shepherd's mourning' which I think basically means that if there's a red sky at night it's going to be dry the next day.
Children are naturally competitive and will enjoy being right in their predictions. Maybe you can let the child who is closest to being correct, choose the film on Netflix or have an extra 30 minutes on their phone.
There are several benefits of these sorts of activity
- they can be competitive in a positive educational way by finding the best weather prediction apps and web sites
- they will become more observant of nature
- they can plan the day's activities knowing how the weather will be
- one day they can bore their grandchildren telling them what madcap idea mum came up with one summer holiday!
2. Create a magical mystery chest in a shady area of the garden
No matter what size your garden is, you can find space to put down a rug and a box in which to hide some treasures. Take the kids to some charity shops, you know, the ones where you took all their old books, toys, games and puzzles, and buy some more. Get them to choose and then put them in the box so they have different things to read and play with there. Make sure you have some sketch pads and coloured pencils too. Children love to draw, don't they?
Take out a jug of fresh cold water with lemon slices, cucumber, orange, mint or whatever will make it look very pretty and desirable, and some plastic beakers. Make some small cookies with them as snacks or give them nuts or cut up carrots. Chocolate snacks will give them far too much of a sugar high to settle down to read or draw.
Every week refresh the collection by visiting another charity shop and taking back the read books and any rejected games etc to get 'new' ones.
3. I love to do vision boards
Here are two ideas
- a vision board for how they'd like the summer holidays to be
- a vision board for how they'd like the new term to be
How to make a vision board
Get a load of old magazines, scissors, glue and a glue stick or brush.
You'll need some plain card - I sellotape two A4 pieces of coloured card together
Ask them to create a vision or collage of how they'd like their summer holiday to be by cutting out any images that remind them or make them think of what's important to them.
As you can see from the image above, they can also cut out words and phrases.
There are no right or wrong pictures, remember it's what your child feels when looking at the picture they've cut out, that matters.
If they really enjoyed this exercise, they can create other vision boards that they can use in different situations, for example
- things that make me feel happy
- pictures that help me feel relaxed and safe
- pictures that make me feel strong and brave
- pictures that make me feel confident
Children love craft projects and they are perfect for rainy days. You can often pick up ideas from magazines in the library or online of course, get supplies from charity shops they always seem to have loads.
4. Keep a journal
A lot has happened to you and your children over the last year. It may be hard for them to process everything. Now might be a good time to start a journal where they can just write down or sketch their thoughts and feelings, reflections on the school year they've just had. What went well, what was rubbish, if they were in charge, what would they have done differently, what have they learnt?
Maybe you'd like to write one too.
5. Allow them to be bored
I remember as a child, coming in from the garden saying "I'm bored Mummy, I don't know what to do, I'm sooo bored." and she would just tell me that something will come to me in a while and it will be something amazing and fun...... and it always did. In fact those ideas were probably the best ones. Children don't need to be occupied all the time and it isn't our job to create ideas for them. Trust that they can come up with their own ideas.
6. Lastly, I know many children will not be looking forward to the return to school so please consider my free 30 minute consultation as an opportunity to have a chat with me about either your concerns about issues that may come up now as the holidays start or later in the holidays just before they go back to school. 30 minutes is enough time to take you through a technique or a different way of thinking, some EFT tapping or something that will make a difference.
Please leave a comment or get in touch with your own ideas.