5 School Holiday Activities to Keep Your Children Entertained at Home

‘Mummy, daddy,

… what are we going to do today?’
… where are we going tonight?’
… do we have any plans for today?’
… I’m bored, can we do something fun?’

If you have a son or daughter who goes to school, all these dreaded questions might have haunted you over the school holidays. You are often left scratching your heads.

Why? It’s because they have a looooonngggggg holiday and admittedly speaking, it’s difficult to come up with ideas to keep them occupied while staying at home. A few days into the school holidays and ‘I am bored’ may probably be your children’s anthem. A study found by Express UK evaluated that 88 percent believe parents are under huge pressure to keep their kids entertained throughout the break.

Fret not, we’ve got you covered with a list of activities to help beat the school holiday boredom and keep you and your whole family entertained!

Run a Movie Marathon

It’s raining heavily and you’re spending about 30 minutes just scrolling through Netflix, Disney+, Apple TV and VIU but unfortunately, you cannot decide which movie or series to watch.

Well, it’s time to call the minions and let them sort this out. We’re pretty sure they have a long watchlist. Make them choose 3-5 movies to watch for the day that are suitable for the whole family. Get your children to set a theme for the marathon.

For instance, if your children decide that the theme revolves on culture and traditions, then films like Encanto, Coco and Moana would make a great list!

Ready, Set, Action!

This can be a great activity to do once you have sat down for hours marathoning movies. Why not shoot a short movie the following day? Relax, you don’t need to buy expensive equipment, you’re not making a Hollywood blockbuster film. Your smartphone and whatever gadgets you have at home are enough to satisfy the experience.

Of all the movies you have marathoned, select a few scenes and re-enact them out accordingly. Your children can also make up a story of their own fairy tale and play their own customly built character. Shooting a short movie will definitely get your children excited as they get to play with their creativity and imaginations on set. As a result, this will help them to boost their communication skills and self-esteem.

It’s Time for a Makeover!

If you happen to read this at your home, go to your children’s room and see if it needs a makeover.

There are plenty of ways you can design their room; move the bed, reorganize the wardrobe, hang up posters of their favorite films or… you can vacuum and sweep the floor with your children during the weekends.

If you haven’t used that bonus income of yours, why don’t you use some to decorate their room? Make a checklist of the things to purchase.

Some of the things include:-

Study desk
Table lamp
Beanie bag
Pin board
Air Purifier

… and the list goes on and on and on.

Teaching them to be organized from an early age is great as it will improve their habits in the future.

Set Up an Indoor Scavenger Hunt or Other Physical Games

If you’re okay with your children playing physical games that require them to run or search things in the entire house, then scavenger hunt should be the perfect game to play!

Scavenger hunt can be done with things you already have at home. Pick 5 to 10 easy-to-carry items and put them anywhere in your house. When the game starts, the players need to find and ‘scavenge’ all the items within the time frame. The player who collects the most items wins.

You may also play other physical games like hide and seek or police and thief. We know what you’re thinking by now. ‘Habislah semua barang-barang pecah nanti.’

That’s okay, we’ve got an idea, moms and dads. Try setting boundaries on which rooms that they can and cannot play in. If you’re still having second thoughts, then you may buy physical games like Twister or Don’t Step in It. The aim is to have great fun and not play the game perfectly.

Let Them Cook!

You must think that we’re joking, right? Apparently, we’re not!

Believe it or not, plenty of children love helping out in the kitchen. Yes, they do! It’s like a science experiment for them where you throw in food altogether to make it better and more delicious (and edible)!

Of course this cannot happen without your supervision and guidance. When cooking, constantly ask them what they want to put as ingredients and tell them if those ingredients are suitable to be included or not.

Set up some precautionary steps for them to follow like washing hands before, during and after cooking and always ask permission before touching any kitchen equipment. When it comes to sharp objects like cutting fruits or vegetables, the only person to do it is you or your spouse. However, we advise you that only children at the age of 10 and above should start learning how to cook in the kitchen. Below that, we advise you to purchase some cutlery sets you can find at the nearest toy store.

Cooking is a great life skill for them. Who knows you might have a future chef or baker in the making! 😉