From opposites day to supersize art & pot planting, 20 fool-proof & cheap activities to end kids' school holiday boredom
The dreaded cries of 'I'm bored' are likely echoing in many homes, but parenting expert Liat Hughes Joshi is here to save the day.
9
9
The author of How To Unplug Your Child has devised 20 free – or ultra purse-friendly – activities that will keep the moans and groans at bay.
Liat says: 'I've devised a list of things to do that will keep kids – from five years old to high school age – busy, without resorting to screen time overload and with little or no input from parents.'
Energy burning
RANDOM ACTS OF KINDNESS DAY
ASK kids to think of five random, kind things to do in a day that create a feel-good factor for them and the recipients.
One idea could be making and delivering Rice Krispies cakes to an elderly neighbour.
Let your child lead the way.
WHAT'S IN THE BAG?
YOU can make this for kids before you go to bed for an easy morning game.
Grab a pillowcase and put random, safe items inside: a Lego person, small football or a cuddly toy.
Kids then need to reach in, with no peeking, and describe what they feel for the other person to guess.
SOUND SCAVENGER HUNT
GET a sibling or play date pal to blindfold your youngster and then make a sound somewhere in the house.
They could howl, shake a Tupperware filled with rice, or ring a bike bell.
Their mate then has to find their way to them using only the sound to discover where the noise is coming from.
Just make sure the path is clear and safe and keep your eye on them at all times.
9
FIND all the odd socks in your house, give the kids some googly eyes (£1, The Works), or let them draw them on with a Sharpie.
Then, decorate the socks with random stuff you have at home – think glue, bits of wool or hair bands – for your children to create wonderful sock monsters.
Then it is time to have a fashion show wearing the creations, including silly walks and monster roars.
THE GREAT INDOOR EXPLORE
USE furniture as obstacles and turn your home into a 'mountain range' or 'jungle'.
Kids can climb over settee cushion mountains or crawl under a coffee table in their armour, which can include a sieve helmet and cushion 'body armour' that you've Sellotaped on.
The goal is to reach the treasure, which could simply be their afternoon snack of a biccie at the other end.
INDOOR CLOUD GAZING
DRAPE white sheets over furniture to create a 'sky'.
Lie on the floor beneath them with your kids and encourage them to find shapes, animals or characters in the wrinkles and folds of the sheets.
Bonus points if you add a fan for gentle 'wind'.
OPPOSITES DAY
FOR a whole day, everything is 'opposite'.
Walk backwards, say 'good night' as kids wake up, give pudding before dinner and wear your clothes inside out and back to front.
Make it a rule that anyone who forgets the opposite rule has to do an age-appropriate forfeit, like making the household a cup of tea.
It's even better if you start the day without warning the kids.
INDOOR BALLOON SPORTS
9
PLAYING ball games in the house isn't advisable, but what if it's chucking it down outside? Grab some balloons instead.
They're unlikely to smash ornaments or windows, but allow children to let off steam and use them to play sporty activities including volleyball and tennis.
A piece of string across your most spacious room will do as a net for either.
Work on achieving the longest rally.
Arts & crafts
DRAWING CLASSES
9
THERE is a use for screens that is worthwhile for creatively filling time – and that is YouTube drawing lessons.
There are two standout draw-along video lesson series on YouTube: Draw With Rob, hosted by the best-selling children's author and illustrator Rob Biddulph, and Art Hub.
All kids need is paper and pens.
SUPERSIZE ART
9
STICK a massive sheet of wallpaper lining paper (£5, B&Q), or broken down Amazon boxes, to a wall and let kids get creative with washable paint.
If you have empty shampoo bottles, washing-up liquid vessels or spray bottles that are clean, fill them with water and add a tiny drop of food colouring.
Let kids go wild, burning up some of their energy while also unleashing their inner Picasso.
SUN CATCHERS
9
SEND kids into the garden or balcony to find 'natural treasures' – thinly sliced leaves, petals and the like.
Then lay out strips of tape, or a sheet of self-adhesive book covering roll (Self-Adhesive Book Covering Film, 60p, Wilko.com) on a flat surface, sticky side up, and arrange the collected items on the adhesive surface.
Simply top the creation with another sheet, or lines of tape, to finish, and then hang them in the window.
FORTUNE TELLERS
ASK youngsters to think about what their own life, and the wider world, might be like in the future.
Ahead of asking them, create a written list of categories such as: where they'll live and with whom, their holidays, hobbies, work, future inventions and more.
Photocopy this, add the date and keep their predictions somewhere safe until next summer when you do it all over again.
LIFE-SIZE PORTRAITS
A SIBLING or pal lies down on a large broken down box or wallpaper lining paper, while the other child draws their outline.
Once that's done, they draw on details, portrait-style, before colouring in or painting.
Garden or balcony
LITTLE GARDENERS
9
GIVE kids an area of garden, or a pot on a balcony, and let them know it is all theirs.
For younger kids, frame it as a patch of forgotten land and say they are the brave explorers who will bring it back to life.
Older children will relish the idea of responsibility, especially if you give them some seeds or mini plants to pop in.
NATURE'S ORCHESTRA
THIS is a classic 'set the kids a task and sit back with a coffee' trick.
Give each child 15 minutes to find as many different natural objects as they can that make differing sounds.
Think knocking stones together, rubbing leaves, shaking dried poppy heads or blowing across a hollow stem.
Then, conduct a concert where they play their 'instruments'.
BUG HOTEL CONSTRUCTION
9
TASK kids with making a resort for your garden or balcony's bugs.
They simply need to search in the garden for short sticks, seed heads and pine cones.
You will then need to provide them with a cut up pop or milk bottle, which they can artfully arrange the materials inside – just make sure you keep hold of that recycling.
PLANTING POTION
THERE are seeds kids can grow in summer that are fast-growing and easy-to-handle.
Radish seeds (49p, therange.co.uk) are perfect, as some varieties can be ready to harvest in as little as three weeks.
Younger kids can also decorate the family watering can with ribbons, leaves or drawings. Tell them this isn't just water, it's 'growth potion' that awakens the seeds' powers.
MAKE A SPRING GARDEN
THE end of the school holidays, around September for many, is a great time for kids to start planting bulbs for those spring flowers.
They can create a 'plant pot lasagne', with bigger bulbs at the bottom and work up in layers to the top of the plant pot, where the smallest bulbs are planted. A perfect activity for little ones and appropriate right up to teens.
You will start to see early bloomers like snowdrops (snowdrop bulbs, £1.25, moleavon.co.uk) peeking through from Jan.
WATER PISTOL SHOOTING RANGE
IN the garden, stick a row of golf tees (Bamboo Golf tees, £1.99, decathlon.co.uk) firmly into the top of a cardboard box, vertically.
Balance ping-pong balls or tiny toys like Lego people upon each tee. Players need to knock the target off the tees with water squirted from a pistol to score points.
Great for dexterity and very refreshing on a hot day.
PAPER PLANE RACES
THERE are numerous paper aeroplane folding styles which you can print off from the internet, or follow a YouTube tutorial.
Get kids to make a few variations and then hold races between the same, or different designs. Hang a hula hoop or another target up and see if your child can get their plane through.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Sun
43 minutes ago
- The Sun
Fortnum & Mason's beauty advent calendar is here – it's filled with £1,149 worth of luxury products
ADVENT calendar season is approaching faster than you think. The best options sell out at lightning speed every year, and Fortnum & Mason has released its luxurious Advent calendar worth a staggering £1,149. The beauty Advent calendar costs £265, and is filled with premium brands including Jo Malone, Clive Christian and Sol de Janeiro. No one does luxury quite like Fortnum & Mason, and the iconic Advent calendar comes with 26 beauty treats - 23 of which are full-size. Shoppers will find a variety of high-end products behind the doors, including fragrances, candles and make-up. There's plenty inside for skincare fans too, like the Wildsmith Active Super Eye Serum that's worth £100 alone. Beauty fans will also be treated to four fragrances, including a 30ml Gallivant London perfume worth £70. 2 Three 10ml perfumes are inside, Fortnum's 1707 Lilas Eau de Parfum, which costs £235 for a 50ml, a Topaze Eau de Parfum with a Gold Atomiser, and a Clive Christian Town & Country Perfume that would be £400 for a 50ml bottle. Sol de Janeiro's viral Bum Bum Body Cream is included for those looking to add a touch of luxury to their body care routine, along with a 100ml version of Aromatherapy Associates' Revive Body Oil (worth £60). There's also a selection of stunning keepsakes including two Ortigia soaps in tins - which could even be passed on as Christmas gifts. The 26 products are all stored inside the luxe-looking packaging, which opens up to reveal the pull-out draws with gold numbers. Fortnum & Mason's Advent calendar is one of the more expensive on the market, but its sky-high value of £1,149 means shoppers are saving £849 compared to purchasing the items individually. Beauty Advent calendars have started to launch in recent weeks, and we're expecting plenty more drops within the next month. Shoppers have already been taking to TikTok to give a first-look at the 2025 Advents. The Sun Shopping team will also be putting some of the bestsellers to the test, and you can read our thoughts on last year's versions, including our Charlotte Tilbury Advent calendar review. Beauty Advent calendars fly off the virtual shelves every year, so if you have your eye on one, it's worth snapping it up as soon as possible before it sells out. has sold out in previous years. While it's available to shop now, the website states that deliveries won't be made until after 22 September. The collection of premium products will make the ultimate gift for any beauty fan, or as a treat for yourself.
Times
4 hours ago
- Times
Donor ‘shocked' as national library excludes gender-critical book
Scotland's national librarian is facing mounting pressure to reinstate a gender-critical book which she banned from a major exhibition, after a key donor joined a revolt against the move. Alex Graham, who has given around £300,000 to the library, said he had been 'shocked and angry' to learn that The Women Who Wouldn't Wheesht had been excluded from an exhibit that he personally supported with a donation of about £20,000. Graham, the creator of the television show Who Do You Think You Are, urged Amina Shah, Scotland's chief librarian and the chief executive of the National Library of Scotland, to reverse her decision. He said that if she did not, he would have to consider whether or not to continue to provide lucrative donations to the library, as he has done for the past 12 years. The critically acclaimed book, a collection of essays by more than 30 women about their role in the feminist campaign against Nicola Sturgeon's gender self-ID law, was set to be included in its Dear Library exhibition, after it was nominated by several members of the public. However, The Times revealed on Wednesday that it was pulled after a backlash by the library's internal LGBT staff network, which claimed it contained 'hate speech' and that displaying it would cause 'severe harm' to workers. They threatened to 'notify LGBT+ partners of the library's endorsement of the book' if management did not cave in. Shah justified the decision by citing the potential impact on 'key stakeholders' and the library's reputation if the gender-critical book was included, but has faced intense opposition after her ban was made public. In a major intervention, Graham called on the library to admit its mistake and reinstate the book to Dear Library, which Shah had publicly thanked him for his role in funding. He said that if it did not, he would have no option but to publicly disassociate himself from the campaign, saying the library had given in to what he claimed was a 'censorious, bullying culture' instead of standing up for ideals of free speech. The book's editors, Lucy Hunter Blackburn and Susan Dalgety, have branded the removal of their work 'cowardly and anti-democratic' and repeated their call for the decision to be reversed. 'I think this was a fundamental mistake and the correct thing for the library to do would be to put up their hands, admit that and reinstate the book,' Graham said. 'Instead, there have been weaselly responses. 'The library is not saying they have taken it out because it contains hate speech, because it does not. They've taken it out because of some ill-conceived notion that someone might be upset by its presence. That's not a good enough reason for me.' Graham added: 'This is not about taking one side or the other on the trans debate. It's about the principles of open debate and free speech, which to the national library should be sacrosanct. 'It isn't too late to redeem the situation. But if there is not a change of heart, I feel I will have no choice but to publicly dissociate myself from the exhibition and the campaign that surrounds it. 'This stupid escapade does not undo the very good work the library does, but it should never have happened. 'I couldn't say definitely that I will not donate any more money if they stick to their guns on this, but it has certainly given me pause for thought. That makes me incredibly sad.' Shah, who last year received a salary of between £105,000 and £110,000 in addition to pension contributions of £41,000, decided to exclude the book with the support of Sir Drummond Bone, the chairman of the National Library of Scotland (NLS). An insider within the cultural sector in Scotland said the decision was symptomatic of a wider trend of managers being seen to cave in to demands of young, activist staff members who have little resilience or tolerance of views different to their own. Graham became a major donor to the NLS as he credited free access to books at Cambuslang public library in his childhood as shaping his life and allowing him to go on to pursue a highly successful career in television. He sold his television company, Wall to Wall, in which he purchased a 33 per cent share for £1 in 1987, for about £25 million two decades later. Although the library receives the bulk of its funding from the Scottish government, private donors such as Graham, who has been repeatedly acknowledged by the library for his philanthropy, are also essential to its work. Graham has been one of the library's major donors over the past decade, funding major projects such as the digitisation of medieval manuscripts. He funds a scholarship at the library which is named in his honour, as is a room at the National Library of Scotland's moving image library at Kelvin Hall, Glasgow. Graham's generosity in supporting the centenary celebrations was singled out for praise by Shah at the launch of the Dear Library exhibition in June. Graham said he was initially impressed with it, before discovering that The Women Who Wouldn't Wheesht, which included a contribution from JK Rowling, had been excluded. 'On the opening night of the exhibition, I thought it was fantastic, because I found at least two books in there that I consider to be among the worst ever written,' Graham said. 'I said to Amina I thought that was great, because the whole point was that while some people are inspired by a book, others will hate it. That's the joy of the society we live in and the freedom that we have. 'There are books that are beyond the pale, but there are very few of them. You need to be very careful before you ban anything. 'This book [The Women Who Wouldn't Wheesht] was clearly selected to be included, and frankly the management were then bullied out of that by a staff lobby group. 'They say they've removed this book to protect relationships with stakeholders. But they certainly didn't consult me and if they had, I would have voiced strong opposition. I am angry and disappointed at the decision to remove the book as well as the implication that as a stakeholder, I am somehow supportive of it, which I am not.' Kate Forbes, the deputy first minister, has found herself at the centre of a similar row after staff and performers at Edinburgh's Summerhall arts venue criticised her views on trans rights. Summerhall's bosses said Forbes had been permitted to speak at the venue as 'an oversight' after some of the artists set up a 'safe room' while the 5ft 2in politician was present as they were 'terrified' because of her opinions. A whistleblower who works within the arts sector in Scotland said that activist staff members were becoming increasingly powerful within major publicly funded institutions. 'I have been in so many meetings where it is just taken as a given that everyone there is in lockstep on these issues — that everyone hates JK Rowling and that books like The Women Who Wouldn't Wheesht are dangerous and harmful,' a source claimed. 'The internal LGBT networks are given carte blanche and it is very isolating to those of us who do not agree with their extreme views, who are forced to self-censor or face, at best, being socially ostracised at work. 'It sounds ridiculous but those of us who don't agree with them feel like we're in an underground network like the French resistance or something, secretly sending each other supportive messages.' The insider added: 'A major part of the problem across the cultural sector is the infantilisation of younger staff members, who can't cope with any type of conflict or opposition to their views. 'This has now led to the ridiculous situation where people intolerant of ideas and books are not only working in our national library, but are calling the shots. Management are terrified and pander to them every time they have a tantrum.' The NLS has sought to defend its decision not to platform the book at its exhibition by claiming there were only 200 spaces for public display, and it received more than 500 nominations. However, documents released under a freedom of information request show that all books with two or more nominations were initially to be included in the public display, with the Women Who Wouldn't Wheesht obtaining four. Joanna Cherry, the former SNP MP and one of the essayists in the book, accused Shah of attempting to mislead her own staff with a message that claimed the library was not 'banning or censoring' books. Although the library does hold a copy of the book — a legal obligation given its statutory role — its exclusion from the Dear Library exhibition was the direct result of complaints from the LGBT staff network who did not like its contents, the documents show. 'I'm concerned that the librarian seems to be misleading her staff as well as the public and the media about what has occurred here,' Cherry said. 'The issue is not whether the book is available within the library's collections but her decision to withdraw it from an exhibition where it had rightly earned its place because of the prejudiced demands of a small group of her staff.' Cherry added: 'There is an increasing pattern in Scottish society where zealots masquerading as LGBTQ+ activists seek to censor women who want to talk about their rights. 'This book was written by feminists, survivors and lesbians. To remove it from an exhibition is not only an attack on freedom of expression, it is also discriminatory.' Hunter Blackburn said: 'We are very saddened that it has come to this, but we understand why Mr Graham has reached what must have been a very difficult decision for him. 'We will continue to seek for this to be resolved by the library making an unreserved apology, putting the book back in the exhibition where it won its rightful place, and, it becomes increasingly clear, undertaking a root-and-branch review of its internal culture and practices.' A spokeswoman for the NLS said: 'We are engaged in a robust and respectful conversation with Mr Graham about this matter, and we will accept his decision regardless of the outcome. 'It goes without saying we are indebted to Mr Graham for his support to the national library over the years. His assistance has helped us to preserve collections, reach new audiences and give young people's careers that much needed start through our apprenticeship programme.'
Daily Mail
4 hours ago
- Daily Mail
British viewers are not sufficiently 'classy' to enjoy Meghan's Netflix series and are 'too cynical' unlike Americans: Incendiary claim of Harry's friend revealed by RICHARD EDEN... and he doesn't stop there!
Described by British television critics variously as 'an exercise in narcissism' and 'toe-curlingly unlovable TV', the Duchess of Sussex 's series With Love, Meghan provoked much mockery among Netflix viewers. As the American streaming giant prepares to broadcast a second series of the lifestyle and cookery show, one of the Duke of Sussex 's old friends has spoken out about why the British failed to take the series to their hearts.
