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

[VanillaIce1]

always art and crafts !

[ButterflyBitch]

I made my daughter a craft box. Bought a box with lots of slots for different things and bought some new pens, sellotape, pom-poms, coloured lollipop sticks and pipe cleaners and she’s been entertained brilliantly.

[Kittyme]

Our littles ones love arts & crafts, they have also discovered the joy of growing vegetables. They have their own raised bed which they have been tending to during lock down. They are growing carrots, tomatoes, sweetcorn and beans.

[Marketa85]

We go to parks and playgrounds so little ones can go on swings and slides. Indoors is crafts (such as aqua doodle mat or crayons) as well as duplo (hours of fun building towers), books and for eldest daughter bit of tables time when she needs bit of rest from her little sisters.

[OhNoNoNoNoNo]

I think the best thing to do to keep my kids busy was to have periods of time when I refused to have anything to do with them. I had four kids very close in age and lived in a country where they didn't start school until 6. I'd exercise them every day, I'd take them to some activities and I'd spend time where they would have my full attention to do things with them but aside from that I'd have set times where I wouldn't interact with them. Usually fir a couple of hours in the afternoon.
I was honest with them and told them I needed some personal space 😅. Which I really really did.
This meant they learnt to keep busy themselves. Obviously it didn't always work but generally my kids could play together and keep themselves busy without any supervision. They are all now adults and still get together to play board games. It makes me happy.

[Jaderice21]

weve made and activity jar , each day we pick one and plan to do it. if cant be done we pick another great for weekends/ school holidays we have thinks like crafting . advebture walks , foraging when its time , baking with the foraging berries , lego , film night , living room camping is their favourite tho daddy cooks up some hot dogs on the grill and we turn off all the electricals

[christinawadeley]

I have lots of board games and crafts for my children to do.

[queenoftheschoolrun]

Spotting things - works for walks, car journeys, play dates, rainy afternoons at home. Find me X things which are orange, begin with a the letter B etc. The more time you need the more challenging the list needs to be! We've spent entire car journeys spotting numbers, starting with 1 and working upwards, we tend to get stuck in the 30s by which time we've usually reached our destination!

[ClaraSais]

I have a trolley full of art and craft stuff, we do colouring, drawing, play dough and make custom cards and postcards to send to friends and family. We also have water pistol fights in the garden which is great fun, obstacle courses and finding a list of things to find in the garden too

[hareagain]

I always give my ds jobs to do, clearly bigging them up 'Ooo, its really important this is done because xyz, before xyz'. Its a win win.

[wallers5]

they live on a farm so have to help with the animals from an early age & work as part of the family team, so are kept busy. to cool off they swim in their river, wild swimming in the extreme. One of them is training a Kestrel. When not farm busy they play Swingball.

[caffeineanddryshampoo]

Lots of arts and crafts, treated the 5 year old to a toucan box recently. Have been to the library so lots of reading to do. Playing outside in the garden, help out with the gardening (sometimes hah), playing with toys, Lego, go to the park, days out at the seaside, lots of screen time!

[Relightmyfire2017]

Gardening, especially in the warm weather, has been brilliant for my son.
He's a teenager with special needs and it can be difficult to get him out in the fresh air, but we are growing lots of fruit and veg as well as bee/butterfly/insect friendly flowers including tomatoes, rhubarb, peppers , beans, chillies, rocket, spinach, basil, rosemary, parsley apples, strawberries and raspberries.
Our garden is a haven of insects including bees from the hives next door.

[torthecatlady]

Writing a funny story or drawing a cartoon.

[Ladolcevida]

Blowing bubbles and using the garden hose to water anything and everything! Garden, playgrounds and parks. Playing with our dog. Too much television and screen time...

[JulyaR35]

Hi, I'm a mom of one and a full time worker, more new im pregnant in 3 months. I'm used to have an active life and I want to keep my little one active aswell. When he start grow and walk I start bring him to the playcenters, parks , inside pools ,going for walks and searching to involve him in a sport. Sports are open from 3or 4 years old up here,we're leaving in Ireland. But covid quarantine came so all closed . Now all is more limited and of course we have to be careful were we go to not catch this virus to as his small and more open then us the adults to take it. So the only things that we do to keep him busy and not inside the house are playgrounds, walks, we went for a few weeks holiday in Spain were he enjoyed the sun,pool,sand and lots of family time. When we re at home beside watching his fav cartoons he plays games like Lego and superheroes and because were in summer holidays we try keep him on the line with new year of school doing Maths and English workbook.He likes to involve in family chores, small time but keeps him busy. He likes to clean the table and put the robot to hoover. That how I keep him busy weekly. Every day differs from the weather to how tired and what things we have to do .

[Sleepybumble]

When I need to think of a last minute activity with DD I follow my mums advice 'add water' sunny day, could be a sprinkler in the garden. Rainy days, pretend science experiments in the kitchen on a large tray with various plastic test tubes / cups of water with a drop of food colouring in. Add some pippets and safety goggles.

[ladymodjo]

My kids have a huge fancy dress box (mostly consisting of my old clothes!), they spend hours dressing up and rehearsing plays to perform to us in the evening!

[BigLlamaLady]

My kids love the arts and crafts box. After tiring them out in the park all morning, the arts and crafts keep them quiet and busy all afternoon!

[confusedofengland]

On good weather days we do lots of park trips, exploring all the parks within 45 minutes or so of us. I have a list I'm working through! We also love going to the woods, going on cycle rides, splashing in the brook etc.

On rainy days we can go out - to the cinema, swimming, trampoline park, museum. Or if we stay in we enjoy crafts, baking, board games & reading.

[MegsSmeg]

I try to balance outdoor physical activities and indoor creative activities with screen time.
Outdoors, we do walks (either with or without their much loved puppy), meet friends at the park, sit in a cafe for a snack, swimming, they love a train ride, go to a museum, water gun fights in the garden or do a paid for activity like climbing walls.
Indoors we do drawing/colouring/stickers, clay or junk model making, baking, stop animation (cheap apps for your phone/tablet).
Once they've done some of these activities in a day, plus some reading, I am happy to be more relaxed about screen time in the holidays.

[TreeWizard]

My daughter has sensory needs and loves to climb so we often spend time making obstacle courses using blankets, pillows, sofa cushions and boxes inside. She loves being pulled around on a blanket or rolled up on a blanket like a sausage roll.
Outside she loves water play. We have just bought her a solar fountain for sunny days plus a water table and homemade slip and slide.

[GeminiJen]

@OhNoNoNoNoNo

I think the best thing to do to keep my kids busy was to have periods of time when I refused to have anything to do with them. I had four kids very close in age and lived in a country where they didn't start school until 6. I'd exercise them every day, I'd take them to some activities and I'd spend time where they would have my full attention to do things with them but aside from that I'd have set times where I wouldn't interact with them. Usually fir a couple of hours in the afternoon.
I was honest with them and told them I needed some personal space 😅. Which I really really did.
This meant they learnt to keep busy themselves. Obviously it didn't always work but generally my kids could play together and keep themselves busy without any supervision. They are all now adults and still get together to play board games. It makes me happy.

Snap! With my kids, their favourite independent activity revolved around the dressing up box: choosing costumes, thinking up stories, constructing and designing a stage and then putting on a performance for an appreciative audience...friends, neighbours and a very chilled Mum, having enjoyed some Me Time!
Mine are all adults now too but they still love looking at the pictures I took of those shows and reminiscing about how much they loved doing them

[Theimpossiblegirl]

Den building always goes down well with mine. I can drag it out for hours with a picnic and movie thrown in.

The will also play for ages with gloop (cornflour and water) and love to paint. I just put them in DH's old shirts and let them get creative on the (easy to clean) kitchen floor.

It's worth investing in a tuff tray or water stand for outside messy/water play too. I used to be a bit uptight about messy play but I've learned to embrace it as the mess is worth it. Sometimes I even get to drink my coffee and read!