Half term in May can be a bit daunting, as you never know what the weather is going to do. It could be sunny and warm, or the predominant weather of this year could continue, and it could be rather grey and dismal.
I have put together a selection of activities that you can do at home with the kids to keep everyone happy and entertained.
1. Frozen World
Get the kids to have a treasure hunt through the house and dig out their favourite plastic toys, cartoon figures or dinosaurs work really well. Pop them in a lidded plastic container, fill them with water and pop them in the freezer overnight. The next morning run the container under some hot water and pop the frozen giant ice cubes onto a grab a big tray, grab some tools and chisel away to release your toys from their frozen world. Hours of fun!
2. Paint the Garden with Water
If the sun is out and you have a fence or a wall, give each child a paintbrush and a bucket of water, they can then have the very important job of painting the surface until every spot is painted.
3. No-Cook Playdough
If you don’t mind a bit of mess and have some cornflour lurking about in the back of the cupboard, you can make a no cook playdough by mixing it with conditioner. What makes this dough so great is that it’s simple, no-cook, stretchy, and smells divine. This dough only lasts a day, so no need to make it ahead of time.
Recipe:
250ml of conditioner (go to pound land and get the cheapest one there)
500g of cornflour
Optional: liquid water colours or food colouring
- Mix the first two ingredients in a bowl with a spoon. The mixture should not be sticky. Add a tiny bit more cornflour if your dough feels sticky. Adjust as necessary.
- Add a few drops of food colouring or liquid watercolours. Mix.
- Form the dough into a ball and play!
- Add rolling pins, small toys, muffin tins, or ice lolly sticks and encourage imaginative play.
4. Card Games
It might sound simple but dust off those board games and play card games, my kids love Uno and Connect Four etc. If you don’t have any ask friends or family or have a look on Facebook Marketplace as there are usually lots of inexpensive family games available for sale locally.
5. Paddling Pool Fun
If a miracle happens, and the sun actually puts his hat on, get the hose pipe at the ready pump up that paddling pool and don your swim gear, as there’s nothing my kids like more, than when I join them and jump in the pool with them. You can also buy a very nifty hose attachment for your kitchen sink tap, so you can fill the paddling pool with hot water straight from the tap, much more cost-effective than boiling the kettle 20 times! Just google Kitchen Sink hose adapter and lots of options come up.
I hope you have a fantastic half term and some of the ideas above can help fill the days for you.