Find out how Mumsnet users wind down with their kids after school

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It’s September, and for most families that can mean only one thing – back to school. And with that comes the daily duty of whisking everyone out the door on time, helping them out with homework, and guiding your kids through playground politics. To say term time is jam-packed is an understatement – that’s why we’re so keen to hear how your wind down with your kids after the day’s hurly burly.

Here’s what IKEA have to say:
“We all know that every child is different. The same applies here: where one might like to sit and colour, another might want to play football in the garden. The secret is to make things easy for them, keeping all their favourite things organised and easy to find. That way they can happily while away the hours with minimal fuss.
Speaking of reading, a great way to nurture it is to give your child a dedicated space just for them and their books. Keep theirs on the lowest shelf, give them a comfy chair to settle into and they’ll be away.
Arts and crafts are a great way to relax too, and brilliant way to nurture your child’s creative side. Encourage their inner Picasso by keeping all of their supplies in easy to find containers right by their desk. Don’t forget to keep your carpet from turning into a masterpiece though – a plastic floor protector is a lifesaver here.”

So, what are your tips for winding down after school? Do you have certain activities you can bank on to keep things calm? Maybe there’s a toy or game you’ve got, ready to play with when they get home? Or maybe it’s a spot of drawing that does the trick?

Whatever you do, we’d love to know. Share your tips for how you relax and wind down with your children after school on the thread below and be in with a chance of winning a £300 IKEA voucher.

Thanks and good luck!
MNHQ
Standard Insight T&Cs apply

Lately we've been collecting conkers on the way home from school . On these autumn evenings we get home, coats off have tea & toast and maybe do some conker crafts or relax on the sofa together .

Painting together so we can chat without it being the main focus

I fully agree with IKEA that every child is different and is important to find interesting activities allowing the children to fully participate and have a fun. We walk from school to home and already trying engage in chat, counting passing cars and talking about the day at school. After arrival my children have relaxing time either playing games indoor or outdoor or watching tv programme. My older one loves art , so she would be doing her painting or sewing project. Younger one might play with friends, have a singing contest,ride a bike or play with toys. We have in the room easy accessible toy boxes ,shelves with books or art materials. I don't plan for my children what they will do on daily basics after school. Everything depends how they feel and what they would love to do in their spare time after school. Sometimes we take trips to the swimming pool or cinema. Everything needs to fit in time for children to be able get their homework done and be ready for bed.

Chat about their days - all the way home in the car. First things first - get out of the uniform and into comfy clothes! Both of mine are always ravenous when they get home so next it's a snack and a drink. Homework has to be done first followed by music practice - then generally all they are fit for is a bit of TV (although my daughter does like to craft).

Mine is only young and doesn't really do 'winding down' after school, he needs to let off steam instead after sitting and focussing all day so it's a bit of a wild run about in the playground then a long walk home via the park or exploring paths come rain or shine - even in the dark winters.

On non-work days, we cycle home via the park and DS chats about his day - what he did, who he sat with, what a girl in his class I've never met, had for lunch. All that really important stuff. We will look at spider's webs, dead flies and conkers and we'll maybe plan our weekend.
Work days are a bit different. I grab him from after school club, stick him in the car and we pick up food on the way home. Tonight it's pizza. DS is staring at his tablet (and giggling) and I'm staring at my phone. We're too tired to talk much, yet. But we're cuddled up, and he will get his second wind at around bed time and I will do my best to be interested in what a boy in his class, who I've never met, said to another boy I've never met.
And somewhere in between we'll read his book, practice his spellings, tables and guitar, get out of uniforms and in to PJ's.
It works for us 🙂

Sitting at the kitchen table and drawing, my kids love it!

My kids stay pretty chilled all day as I home educate my four children. No tests, no exams, we learn about what they are interested in, and it works really well for us. Two of my older children are working and also attending college and loving it.
I try to keep my lot happy and interested at the same time, so we bake a lot, go for hikes around our local woods and do a lot of camping in our local woods. :-)

We walk home talking about how their days were and once we get home, the boys get showers and into their fave pjs and we chill on the couch watching our favourite Disney movie with snacks and discuss our weeks events and they tell me what they enjoyed most and what they didn’t like so much and why, we then do some arts and crafts which is messy but fun 😊😊

Food first! They all come home ravenous. Then usually a bit of TV and maybe some time in the garden. They usually need some space to decompress. As do I as I've just got back from work too!

Plenty of time outdoors where possible! In the garden or local park.

It's also the time of day where they might get some tv time, especially if they just need some sofa time to chill before any evening activities.

If the weather is okay and they are not too tired then we go to the park on the way home. Otherwise we come home have a snack and then my daughter often does some colouring or plays with her teddies and my son starts to make a masterpiece with his wooden train tracks.

I always make sure there is a drink and a snack ready for them when they come home. I try to make sure I make time to chat about their day as soon as they come in too incase they've had a bad day and or a problem. I then allow down time with tv/games console etc as they wish until tea at 5 (unless they have a hobby to go to or family to visit!)

CHORES!!! When kids do their chores (and I don't mean a LOT of chores) when they get home, it stops them from getting overexcited. It gives them a level of continuity from school, and allows them to slip more gently into home life.

For example, when they get home from school, its uniform off, and lay out your uniform ready for the next day. If you didn't finish tidying your room before school, give it a quick tidy. And then make sure that your chore (our kids have one chore per day) is done.

I work full time so my daughter goes to my parents from school until I finish work. I pick her up on my way home and we both get changed out of school / work clothes. We will have a conversation about our day, she is interested in what I do at work and I'm interested in what she's been up to at school. I will make tea while she either does her homework or has a shower then we sit and eat together then watch a bit of tv or read then its off to bed. My daughter is 13 so we no longer have night time stories unfortunately, I do miss those days.

I have a pair that are chalk and cheese. One chats on the walk home from school; the other barely grunts and needs time and a bit of space to decompress. We’re lucky that our walk is through a lovely green space.

We have a snack when we get in, and it’s the one meal where I don’t chase the lego, comics or random interests off the table. I sit and have a cup of tea with them. By now the sullen one is usually perking up and full of news and the chatty one is withdrawing into silent lego contemplation.

On the days she doesn't have an after school activity we walk home which is a mile so that's enough for her to burn that energy she seems to have built up while behaving herself in class and she also tells me about her day. When we get in we on,y have an hour before I have to start making tea so we have a hot drink (hot chocolate or hot blackcurrant for her) and we'll catch up on bake off or strictly together. While debating who we think was best/worst/who's leaving this week.

It's the dreaded PC or gaming here!

Activities straight from school 2 days a week, often a play date once a week. On the other 2 days and around activities it’s generally a mix of the park, playing in the garden, stories, board games and lego. Mine are only young though and so minimal/ no homework.

We wind down by pulling on our wellies, grabbing the dog and heading out into the "wilderness"!
On a typical outing we collect things we find, like different shaped leaves, twigs and berries.
Then, once we're home with rosy cheeks and a mug of hot chocolate, we'll get the glitter and glue out, and stick the things we've collected to a big sheet of paper

My 5yo DS is always itching to get homenfrom school so that he can play with his little friends, Crocky & Turk, the double-act eraser set! Crocky is a crocodile who, as you can see from the photo, is a little worse for wear after being broken and glued back together more times than we can remember. Turk is ... well, a turkey.
DS invents adventures for the danger-loving duo, abseiling down the furniture, sky-diving and more gentler pursuits like a trip to a classic car show or a camping holiday. I do the voices of Crocky & Turk so am an integral part of these adventures.
The ideas he comes up with are endless and it's a true privilege to be part of his imaginary world... sometimes I'm even able to get him to do his homework!

Food first! It stops mine getting hangry.
Then one daughter is an introvert so she often needs to play on her own in her room/ watch a tv program for a bit before she joins the rest of us again. My others like to sit and chat/ watch tv/get toys out and create elaborate games/ crafts or colouring

Talk about the day while having snacks, then read a book together.

I wish I could say that we'd done arts & crafts or done activities that required lovely things but we didn't. DS is autistic and he used to get back from school and be really bad-tempered, stressed and grumpy. He needed to completely zone out and be alone, so he would sit quietly in front of the tv, with a glazed look on his face and about 45 minutes later he'd be ready to interact again.

DD just wanted to talk, at 100 miles an hour about every single thing that happened during her day. So she'd be in the kitchen with me, wriggling around like a loon and chatting like there was no tomorrow. Once she'd got everything out and DS had zoned out, we could all eat our evening meal in a state of relative harmony!