5 boredom-busting ideas for the school holidays

Growing up in Australia in the 70s and 80s, school holidays were pretty simple. When mum finally ‘had it up to here’ with our bickering and complaining, she’d swing open the backdoor and yell: “Alright you kids… outside and play”. And play we did. We chased, played tag, skipped rope, jumped on the trampoline, played cricket, built cubby houses, climbed trees, swam, caught lizards, rode our bikes, dodged magpies, ate Vegemite sandwiches, sucked on icy poles and came back in the house (reluctantly) when the sun went down.

These days, school holidays are a whole new ball game for kids and parents; with more gaming than ball games! Our kids seem content to spend their entire holidays tapping and sliding fingers across electronic devices, and as many of us know all too well, any disruption of this cherished gadget time can result in a brain explosion! Then there’s the added pressure parents feel to create an entertainment schedule that could literally keep up with the Kardashians!

So these school holidays, let’s simplify the fun with 5 boredom-busting ideas that won’t break the bank:

1. Backyard Bubble Bliss

Blowing bubbles is one of those simple little pleasures, and so much fun, especially for the little ones! Be sure to have the camera ready! There are many non-toxic bubble recipes available online, but here’s a basic recipe that you and the kids can make at home:

Older kids will enjoy the challenge of creating giant, oversized bubbles, and there are plenty of YouTube videos showing them how.

2. Create A Paddle Pop Stick Town

Add a little art & craft magic to the holidays with a simple bag of paddle pop sticks; make people, houses, boats, cars, farms, animals and more with a little glue, thread, wool, paint and a whole lot of imagination. Use the backyard, the garden beds or pot plants as the landscape to build on.

For more inspiration simply Google: paddle pop stick fun. You’ll find stacks of inspiration, how to instructions and more!

3. Bicycle & Skateboard Washing Bay

Get the whole neighbourhood involved in your ride-through wash bay. Older kids could take this a step further by offering tyre and safety checks. Encourage the kids to create a sign, grab the hose, a couple of buckets, sponges and washing detergent… and your ride-through wash bay is ready for business. The car and the dog might even get a wash too!

4. Nature Hunt

Handwrite some nature finds on pieces of paper (i.e. 1 x black stone, 3 x white stones, 1 x curly stick, 2 x leaves, 1 x pink flower) and put these into a jar. Each child selects 3 pieces of paper from the jar and sets out to find the items. Once they’ve found their nature finds they can design a piece of garden art with them or take a photo.

5. Bounce on a Springfree Trampoline

It’s impossible not to giggle when bouncing on the world’s safest trampoline so get your own Springfree here or head along to one of our Experience Centres to try the different sizes out with the kids.

Just remember to slip, slop, slap, seek and slide when playing outside.

Whether it’s your mission to minimise the time your kids spend in front of screens, stop the exhausting bickering between siblings or turn those bored faces into smiles, we hope these 5 boredom-busting ideas will help turn the school holidays into fun family memories. (Not to mention, leave a little more coin in the kitty).