Summer Holiday Activities

[Littlepurpleprincess]

Hello all. I am trying to plan ahead this summer holiday a little, in order to save money, and avoid repeating activities to much. I will be childminding two girls, a four year old and a five year old, and I have a DS who is also five.

I thought it would be nice of we could have a thread where we share our ideas for actvities throughout the summer.

So far I've got:
messy play,
a paddling pool and water pistols,
collages/painting/drawing,
ball pool,
passes for local zoo,
parks, beaches,
going to other childminders houses to play,
local stay and plays,
library

Well i have between 7 and 10 children each day during the holidays and they range from 22 months to 12 years old.

We are going to do some of the usual things you have listed but we also usually pick a 'theme' for some activities and this year we chose the circus/clowns and so far i have got juggling balls, diablos, stilts, balloon modelling books and balloons, spinning plates, face paints and books about the circus.

Thats a nice idea.

I'm off to stock up on messy play and art and craft supplies today so I've always got something I can pull out of the cupboard if it's too rainy.

The kids have helped to make a list and got lots of nice ideas for local outings, I'm just trying to keep costs down.

BTW, between 7 and 10 children? WOW.

We just spend loads of time in the woods. We can go for walks, hunt bugs and bigger animals, build dens, blow bubbles, take drawing equipment, picnics, climbing, hiding, gruffalo hunt, etc.

We also do some soft play and toddler groups, but all the children seem to love the forest.

There's a walk I used to do with my mum when I was little, through the woods and down to a small cove. I would like to do that with the chilminded kids but I haven't been there for so many years I need to go and check it out it out first, make sure it's not been eroded away (we're by the sea), or vandalised etc.

If you have a table to hand - with or without a pvc cloth have you tried shaving foam? I spray loads of foam over the table and let the kids' imagination run riot! It's great for all ages, incl me, can write, do faces, etc the kids love it and you have a room or table smelling of fresh foam.

Agree - the woods are great! We had a Harry Potter day yesterday. We spent the morning in the woods and collected sticks which we then brought back and made glittery broomsticks with and we also made some magic wands from black and white card.

Baking / chocolate crispie cakes (if you're not much cop at baking) always go down well on a rainy day!

Marking my place for more ideas too!