How do you keep your children busy? Share your stories of when it worked (...and when it didn’t!) with Boden - £200 voucher to be won

[BellaMumsnet]

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We all know that keeping our kids busy can get tricky, particularly during the school holidays when it seems like we're always looking for new ways to entertain them. That’s why Boden would love you to share your stories (successful or not!) of filling your children’s days.

Here’s what Boden has to say: “This summer, Mini Boden is continuing its popular Mini Missions series with exciting new challenges for sunny days. Mini Missions Summer Camp is packed full of easy activities to keep children entertained, with new ones to discover every few weeks. Missions include den building, picnic planning, foraging and stargazing – and Minis can collect badges for each mission they complete. Plus, place a Mini Boden order in July and get a free Summer Camp poster and stickers in your delivery (while stocks last). Get ready to get stuck in…Discover Boden Mini Missions here”

Perhaps you set them up with a box of crafts or enlisted the help of the older DC to play endless games of UNO while you finished that important Zoom call? Maybe you relented to an afternoon of TV or gaming in return for a chance to have a cup of tea in peace? Maybe your DC came up with their own entertainment...using your wardrobe as a dressing up box! Or perhaps you’ve encouraged them to try out some of Boden’s Mini Missions?

Whatever tactics you’ve employed, whether they’ve been rolled out every summer or swiftly abandoned, we want to know about them.

Post your stories in the thread below to be entered into a prize draw where one lucky MNer will win a £200 voucher for a store of their choice (from a list).

Thanks and good luck with the prize draw!

MNHQ

Insight T&Cs apply

[Chocolatebuttercream]

Come to think of it the whole barbican centre building is a really fun place to run around in and explore, and has cafes etc too.

[Montydoo]

A tent in the back garden and reading and having picnics, garden toys, hopscotch on the driveway gives hours of fun for my 2 and the neighbours little girl - an oldie but a goodie, and the paddling pool under a gazebo and blowing bubbles - I find switching activities works best and having a couple more children prevents sibling rivalry

[languagelover96]

Go for picnics
Experiment with chalk art
Try science kits
Take your kiddo geocaching
Do some orienteering
Invent a obstacle course
Make up stories on the spot to music etc
Create a fun dance routine to try out
Build something difficult
Learn about astrology

[thanksamillion]

When mine were younger they used to love making maps of our local area. I'd get a roll of paper so it could be really big (it helped that we lived in a very linear village). Sometimes they'd just draw city plans with roads and train tracks for their toys to run on. We took this to the ultimate level the day before we had a new living room carpet where we let them draw all over the old one with marker pens! It was the most epic city plan ever!

[Laney79]

My boy is only 18 months but the one sure fire thing to keep him entertained is tractors! If he's getting bored then drawing a tractor on the aquadoodle, reading a tractor book, playing with his sound and movement tractor and animals, watching tractor ted, or going for a walk to spot real tractors...any of those will do!!

[GertrudePerkinsPaperyThing]

At Christmas time when we went into tier 3 then 4 we did a lot of baking. Something simple that kept them entertained for ages was making their own wrapping paper.

In the summer if it’s hot we get the paddling pool out. Maybe have a garden picnic. If it’s not so hot, but warm, we like a walk or other outdoor activity.

[GertrudePerkinsPaperyThing]

We’ve also got some garden chalk which is brilliant for the patio and also the walls of the shed.

[Enough4me]

For school-aged children, fold paper into four. Everyone has a section to draw. Top is for drawing the head, next top half, then legs and finally feet. Drawing is hidden along the way and folded so only guide lines (neck, waist and ankles) are visible for the next section.

The drawing can be part person, animal, monster - the fun part is opening it to see how it looks.

[PickledChicory]

Never thought I would be one to stick to a schedule but my kids need this even in the holidays and weekends. We make sure we go for a walk every day and spend time outside. I also have lots of craft materials and orchard games. When out and about we spot things or count or look for things.

[NativityDreaming]

I hate arts and craft muself, especially painting, but encourage my boys in their love it. I just insist any painting is done in the kitchen and never on carpet.

My son wanted to do A&C a few weeks agos and I gave him the craft box and paper as he wante to do some painting thing he saw. I ASSUMED it was wih paint pens and he would do it in the kitchen. Never assume. It was with poured poster paint and he did it in his bedroom.

What a mess. I still love him though.

[maisietoo]

I tell them to go play outside and they usually come up with some imaginative role play game. I tell them that if they spend two hours outside they can watch a DVD.

[SkankingMopoke]

We never have more than one day solely at home, else they are climbing the walls and behaviour nose dives. It doesn't have to be a fancy trip out, just something to break the monotony: park, supermarket, even the builders' merchant for DIY supplies.
This summer we are embracing the return of free leisure swims for swim school members, and will be going at least once a week. I just have to pay for me, so it works out at £4.50 for 1.5hrs of child-exhausting entertainment. Bargain!
When I need a break, I get them into their swimwear and into the paddling pool. Obviously they need to be supervised, so I have no choice but to sit at a splash-proof distance and drink wine a cup of tea whilst observing. On days at ~20 degrees, I've found this buys me about an hour.
Screens go on at 4pm as tiredness is creeping in and the squabbling begins.
Daily snack boxes are provided each day. DCs choice if they gobble the lot immediately after breakfast or space them out through the day, but they now understand that once they're gone, they're gone. I am no longer pestered constantly for snacks!
If I need to catch up on work/home admin, then I either take them to softplay (the screaming becomes white noise after a while) or book a half/single day holiday club. They are busy and happy (and finish tired), and I can work.
Any moans claiming boredom are met with the suggestion of bedroom tidying. I find they either quickly find something to do or (sometimes, but rarely!) actually tidy their rooms! Bonus!

[DinkyDaffodil]

We grow plants, (fave is cress on cotton wool) along with peas, tomatoes, and watch them grow, and get my children to eat the produce (egg and cress sandwiches are a hit even though there is 'green' in them. Making den's, the old Nintendo Wii from the loft is a great way to pass time - never get tired of the 10 pin bowling.

[Mumsnut]

Ah yes. How delighted my sister in law and I were with the impact of a box of crayons and a roll of butcher's paper on our five and four year old respectively? We left them in the conservatory - not even any walls to write on. What could go wrong?

We had a good hour of gossip. Heard no quarrels / scuffles / sinister sniggers, just absorbed chat.

'Isn't life more peacefu', we congratulated each other, 'Now that they're past the toddler stage?'

Until we were called in to admire their 'bottom drawing'.

You don't want to know where they put the crayons .,...

[namemybabyplease]

Go outdoors every day. Usually to the park but also bike rides and to play in the woods.

Art, crafts, play dough or baking on rainy days.

Toy rotation. All toys in bedroom and one box is brought down at a time (train set, duplo, playmobil, dolls, sylvanians).

[Marmitemarinaded]

When is the prize draw please?

(I can’t understand why you so rarely stipulate this in the OP!)

[Marmitemarinaded]

Sorry that was meant for @BellaMumsnet

[GraceEMumsnet]

Hi @Marmitemarinaded the prize draw will take place w/c 9th August. As per our Insight T&Cs, unless otherwise specified, closing dates for Sponsored discussion prize draws will be four (4) weeks after the Mumsnet opening post date and time.

Good luck!

[sheilads105]

In the summer I take them to the allotment. They each have a small patch that they plant and tend to. They love seeing and eating the results.

[tetha]

The best one we did was participating in the "Fill your boot" fundraiser for the RNLI (other charities are available). My children and nieces range from 6-11, so they did lots of crafts (peg dolls, worry monsters, bookmarks etc.). As they wanted to sell these, they really pushed the boat out and came up with some great ideas.

They made a papier-mache boot (for donations) and set out a stall with RNLI posters, balloons etc. This was in a seaside town. They made an absolute killing, had lots of lovely interactions with tourists and locals and were entertained for days.

Only drawback: Because of Covid, we put everything in transparent bags, so the plastic count was quite high, unfortunately.

We are planning to make this a summer tradition!

[RuthTopp]

We live near a wood so when we have exhausted things to do at home , we go on ' a mission '.
This means once in the wood we have to find things . This might mean finding dandelion clocks to blow, or fallen sticks with leaves still attached , or perhaps count the dogs with blue collars on, just simple things. Hours of endless fun 😃

[Dolallytats]

Arts and crafts or sling 'em in the garden. Take them to the park-dh is currently teaching the youngest to ride her bike with no stabilisers. My grandson is obsessed with insects and nature, so he spends hours bug hunting.

[SilverOtter]

Usually, successfully entertaining my kids means physical activity - walking the dog, going to the park, getting the paddling pool out, bug hunting etc.
I had a recent surprise success story of keeping them (2 boys aged 8 and 4) quiet throughout an entire church service with just paper and crayons. They just knelt on the floor and used the seat of the pew as a table!

I think a lot of my failures have been blotted from memory out of sheer mortification! I think one of the worst (because I couldn't escape!) was a packed train from York to Newcastle for a big family day out. My kids and their cousins were overexcited and just wound each other up. They were restless, noisy, exuberant and just utterly embarrassing. All my usual strategies to distract them failed!

[SilverOtter]

@Dizzywizz

I get mine to write a story between them - they do a line or a paragraph each. Normally ends up with a pretty funny story!!

I really like this idea! Stealing this for when my little one is a bit older!!

[Quietvoiceplease]

A real mixture of things (mine are teenagers...):

• something outdoors everyday, if only a walk to post a letter
• helping in the house, including a more major chore (if they wish) -such as cleaning the car or mowing the lawn, for which they are paid pocket money.
• they each have one evening a week when they cook dinner
• they see their friends and watch screens a lot, apply endless make-up and then wipe it off and start again, curl-and-then-straighten their hair... (it's their holiday, so the rules are pretty lax)
• reading something each day (if only a paper or magazine)
• decluttering, including putting stuff online to sell (hello depop and facebook)
• family activities - cinema, Go Ape etc
• when blackberries are in ripe, there'll be a major jam making week or two (my DDs then sell it to their family and friends so quite entrepreneurial)
• in case this all sounds very wholesome, there's also a time spent each day arguing with each other, annoying each other, or borrowing each other's stuff and denying it.