School holidays – Schools out, now what? {Activity suggestions}

Are you excited about the school holidays or not? I reckon the stay at home moms, maybe not so much? I don’t know, but I love school holidays, because it means in the morning I can get about my business. We don’t have to make lunchboxes, I can sleep in an extra 15 minutes…. bliss. BUT I do leave my kids at home with my poor mom and the nanny, so for her, maybe not as exciting…with endless snacks, and ‘I’m bored‘ being the order of the day. I’ve received some really cool kids products recently and they inspired this blog post. I don’t have money for the kids to be going to movies and whatever over priced activities there are, so to find some cost effective activities to do at home, I reckon is win!

The point of this post is to encourage you to get your kids away from their electronics, to spend time bonding, creating memories…and to be creative during the school holidays. I like kids to use their brains, their imagination and be as creative as they can be…so with that in mind, let’s get started!

Activity Books

I’m a fan of books, ya’ll know that by now! So this should come as no surprise…. however, not all kids love to read, but there are other ways to get them to sit down with a book…even if it’s not for reading per se. Enter….activity books! I feel like there are so many benefits to activity books, like improved concentration, fine motor skills and even developing a feel for ‘reading’. Pan Macmillan sent over some activity books a few weeks ago and my kids went nuts! Adam and Addison in particular.

Sugarlump and the Unicorn Sticker Book

Packed with sticker scenes, puzzles, games and over 400 stickers, Sugarlump and the Unicorn Sticker Book is ideal for unicorn lovers and perfect for birthdays, rainy days and school holidays – a great gift for any child.

Based on the bestselling picture book by the unstoppable creative team of Julia Donaldson and Lydia Monks, who also created the modern classic What the Ladybird Heard series. Join a beautiful unicorn with a silver horn and sparkling blue eyes as she grants a rocking horse’s wish and turns him into a real horse. But after trotting around the farm, galloping around a racetrack and even dancing at the circus, Sugarlump the rocking horse learns to be careful what he wishes for. Luckily the unicorn has one more wish to grant . . .

Kaleidoscope – Colouring Too Cute

Whether it’s llamas in flower crowns, sweet baby pandas munching on doughnuts or unicorn besties lazing on magical clouds, absolutely everything about the Kaleidoscope Colouring Too Cute! kit is simply TOO CUTE!

Use the seven magical gel pens and rainbow gel pen included in this kit to colour more than 20 pages of adorable images of sleepy sloths, happy cacti and more! The tear-out pages mean that you can put your creations on display and add cute to everyone’s day!

The sticker books come in different sizes and with different characters, so you’ll find something that any kid can relate to. PJ Masks, dinosaurs, mermaids, ladybirds…whatever they love! Even though this was unicorns and mermaids, Adam was loving the activities and especially the stickers. These sort of of books are so great for hand-eye coordination, especially at Adam’s age where he prepares for pre-school next year. Then the Kaleidoscope colouring book is great to just let my older kids express some creativity and switch off from the world.

Annie’s Baking Club

Annie’s Baking club is a monthly subscription box launching in November, or you can order the kits once off. Everything you need, neatly packaged and delivered to your door!

About

Remember Smartie cakes, caterpillars made out of dough and finger biscuit aeroplanes? Do you remember sitting on the kitchen counter creating masterpieces with chocolate sprinkles, hundreds & thousands, silver balls and twirly straws? The chances are some of your earliest – and happiest – memories involve hours spent in the kitchen with your mom or granny.

We are passionate about baking and bringing back those nostalgic memories through our bakes, but we also want to create these sweet memories for our future generation with a monthly baking subscription, spreading the love of baking one box at a time!

Our experience

This was an interesting email that popped into my inbox and immediately I was intrigued.  When I went to the website, the boxes and all the themes were so adorable….I honestly didn’t know what to choose for the kids to try out. Eventually I settled on the Emoji Cookie kit and a Dinosaur cupcake kit. In a time where our sons need to be nurtured and our preteen daughters need that extra something to be excited about spending time with us (by us, I mean me!)…..I thought these kits were PERFECT! The boxes are so beautifully packed, you can’t help but WANT to unleash your inner Martha Stewart with these boxes!

My mom ended up claiming the dinosaur cupcake kit and making it with the boys and Addison and it was so cute and sweet…how they were creating these memories. My mom is also a typical granny now later in life, she loves baking! So she’s been trying to learn more about decorating, sugar paste, etc….so this was actually an educational box for her too. We never stop learning right? Also, these cupcakes were DELICIOUS! I kid you not….so light and fluffy. I was gutted when I realised Adam had helped himself to basically 8 of the 12 cupcakes. LOL. I also think these are a great option for your kid’s birthday party, where they can decorate the cupcakes themselves. You just need to order the box. Definitely set aside a day during the school holidays and bake with your kids. They will love it! Shop the kits HERE.

Magic Stretchy Sand and Bubble Slime

Slime has been a huge hit with kids for a while now, and I don’t think that obsession is dying down. Slime with glitter, fluffy slime, gloopy slime….there’s slime for everybody. So when something new hits, you know the kids are going to want in on that action…and my kids did! 4AKid sent over some Bubble Slime and some Magic Stretchy Sand recently, and we made a whole day of it.

Stretch your child’s creativity and imagination with this awesome bubble-blowing Bubble Slime!

Mould different shapes as you blow the Bubble Slime. Loaded with fun, this slime stretches, bounces and bubbles! Make giant bubbles for hours of endless fun. Slime is a fantastic sensory toy for both kid’s as well as adults who are hypersensitive to textures. It also helps to alleviate stress and anxiety. Soft to the touch, you can play with the slime smoothly and comfortably for hours, without it sticking to your hands or clothes.

Magic Stretchy Sand 100g is incredibly satisfying to play with. You can squeeze it, twist it, as well as stretch it!

Ideal for arts and crafts whether at home or school, this Magic Stretchy Sand 100g is super soft and stretchy. This sand has a unique texture that is solid yet flowy. With 6 bright colours to chose from, you can create and play for hours on end! Use your imagination while kneading and building different shapes while at the same time developing those fine motor skills. The possibilities are endless. And the best part is that its mess-free! In addition, it is a great product to help alleviate stress and anxiety as well as combat any tactile issues.

I set the little kids up with the magic sand on a tray outside and they played for hours and hours. Each tub also comes with a little mould (i.e a boat or a dolphin) so Adam really enjoyed playing with this. Currently the sand is in a tupperware and he whips it out every so often. Then my older kids are obsessed with the bubble slime. They loved that they could blow these huge bubbles…as well as have the benefit of playing with slime. It’s not sticky and I see the longer they play with it, the more ‘solid, but still pliable’ it becomes. If that makes sense.

So that’s my 2c with ideas on how you can entertain your kids during the school holiday. Honestly all really great options and you can be as involved as you want to be as well. If you want to take a breather while they do some activities, that’s also quite okay 🙂 How are you planning to spend the school holidays with your kids?

Disclaimer: All these products were sent to me in PR, with no obligation for this blog post. All opinions are my own.