If there’s one good thing about schools being closed, it’s all the extra outdoors time.
And with more sunny days in the forecast, we’ve been wracking our brains to find some fun, easy activities to keep your mini Mumblers busy.
Here are some of our favourites – we hope you have fun trying them out too!
My kids like nothing better than sloshing about in the mud, especially when they’re allowed to pick it up and play with it.
Mix up your mud mixture, divide onto plates and decorate your pie with treasures from around the garden. We had toppings of petals, gravel and leaves! An apron or old clothes is a good idea for this one.
Collect colourful flowers and juicy leaves while out walking, then grab a bit of thin, plain cloth and a rubber mallet. Fold the cloth in half and place the flowers and leaves inside. Let your kids hit the cloth with the rubber mallet and a beautiful picture will appear!
A great project for local woods! You may be lucky enough to find dens already made, then all you need to do is add dead twigs and sticks to make it bigger. If not, start by making a tipi formation against a low lying branch and keep adding. It will keep the kids entertained for hours!
This is quite an elaborate bug house built by some friends during lockdown, but if you’re looking for something a bit easier and more child-friendly, fill a plant pot with cut grass, twigs, pieces of bamboo, acorns, pine cones etc, and build it up until it is full before placing in the garden for bugs to enjoy.
5. Paint with Water
This is a great one to keep toddlers occupied! We used to play paint the garage door with different sized paint brushes and spray bottles. To add more colour into this activity, get the chalks out and make some marks on the ground before practising cleaning with the water and paint brushes.
6. Leaf Art
Let’s see all the different coloured leaves that we can find in the garden, then use cutting skills to create a picture! If you have a hole punch or zig zag scissors this is a fun way to make different shapes.
Add paint to the picture to create different animals such as hedgehogs.
We had great fun making boats out of lolly pop sticks and empty margarine containers. We made a raft with a sail and then a paddle steamer with a propeller which was a piece of plastic attached to an elastic band which we wound up. We had a race to see which was the fastest!, then made another paddle boat and raced both of them!
I had so much fun showing my little boy how to make a daisy chain! Whether it is a bracelet, necklace or crown he kept running around the park to find daisies whilst I sat and threaded them!
When we attended Forest School this was my little boy’s favourite activity and I was so impressed that he quickly learnt about the safety aspects and what they could and couldn’t do! Try toasting marshmallows, crumpets, make mini pizzas or popcorn!
10. Petal Perfume
Collect some petals from your garden in a little basket, or while out walking. Once home, grind them up with a little water, releasing the scent and colour. Add a little more water to create the perfume and then bottle in a small glass jar!