6 activities that will help your children during this long holiday

by Enock Bett · October 25, 2019

It’s that time of the year again, parents are receiving end year greeting newsletters from principals and headteachers of schools where their children study across the country. Why has it come so early? Yes, it’s October, too early to close schools for the December holidays. Basically, your children have 80 days before resuming studies next year. You may be wondering what activities they can engage in during this long holiday to avoid becoming bored. Here are 6 of them that will help your children.

Involve them in cooking at home.

Let your children help with cooking at home. Try out a variety of new recipes. Ask them to knead the dough, rinse vegetables, tear lettuce, chop potatoes and onions. Show them the procedures and make sure they can do it next time when you are not around with your permission. Always involve them in creating a timetable of the various foods that you would be having for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Let them be aware of who would be doing what at what time. This will help you develop a positive association between your children and food hence boosting their appetite. Always make cooking part of the role everyone in the family must do.

Go shopping with them.

It doesn’t matter what you are shopping for, whether it’s the groceries in the market or you’re going to a nearby supermarket, always ask your children to accompany you. Ensure you have noted down a good shopping list to guide them pick things that are within the budget. Help the children distinguish between what you need from what is not necessary at the moment. This way, you will develop a sense of priority in their minds.

Create time for play.

Play is serious activity children do, just like the way you’re going to work, children too, wake up hoping to take breakfast and go out to play. For younger ones, make sure they have a safe environment to avoid accidents. Provide footballs and other play materials for the older ones. Help them create teams with the neighbors. Ensure someone is around to watch over them if you have to go to work.

Sing and dance

After dinner, provide an opportunity for children to sing and dance. Find some of the good music from online sites such as YouTube and Spotify, download them and dance along together. This will help you create a permanent bond. I was raised in a strict environment, I could not sing dance with my parents unless it was during a Sunday service. These days, children have access to music and can learn ‘immoral’ dancing styles on their own, if you don’t help them find good ones.

Make sure they create time for reading

Encourage your children to develop a good reading culture by asking them to draw a time table for studying at home. Set up a study table and give them time to read without causing a disturbance. Switch off the TV and other devices that might create distractions. Make this a consistent routine by ensuring they stick to the time table. You can buy other books and periodicals they can read when they are bored with school course books. Remember to supervise them to complete the holiday assignments their teachers at school gave them before they can proceed to read other books. Provide adequate drawing materials for the young ones.

Go on outings

Let the visit grandparents, relatives and friends when they are free. You can drop them to meet up with their friends and pick them in the evening. You can organize an outside dinner, visit a local park or just simply take a road tour. Those in Nairobi can try a train ride to Suswa and back. Make sure your children have a memorable and refreshing holiday. Talk about random things and mental health with your children when you’re out, as they are likely to open up when you’re out.