100 School Holiday Activity Ideas

School holiday are here! And I like it. Mind you, there is always an adjustment period at my place, when the children are settling into a new routine and getting used to being around each other more.  Three days it usually takes for us all to adjust.

This school holidays, I’m looking forward to lazy mornings, no school lunches and the flexibility to do things with the children when I want.  The trick to fun school holidays is to keep the kids busy with enough down-time so Mum isn’t worn out.

To help you get the most out of this school hoidays, I’ve put together this MASSIVE list of 100 school holiday ideas. I’ve broken the list down into categories to help you find ideas that will suit you and your kids.  If you want to plan the weeks out, The Organised Housewife has a free School Holiday Planner Printable . Have fun!

100 School Holiday Activity Ideas

• Home: Inside
• At Home: Outside
• At Home: Arty and Crafty
• Out and About
• Adventurous
• At Night
• When It’s Raining
• Quiet Time

At Home: Inside

1. Make an ant farm.

2. Bake cupcakes.

3. Make a cubby house under the table.

4. Invite friends over to play.

5. Make homemade pizza.

6. Dance to music.

7. Have a theme day. This may be butterflies, pirates, princesses, fairies, dinosaurs or a particular colour.

8. Make an inside obstacle course with cushions, pillows, boxes, chairs and blankets.

9. Ice biscuits.

10. Play dress ups and do a play.

11. Make a themed play space: in a large rectangle bucket or tray create your own play scene. For example: use a smaller container (like an empty margarine container) filled with water, and in the rectangle bucket place rocks, small twigs, bark or sticks from trees for an outdoor scene.  I love this one from Picklebums.

12. Go on a colour hunt in your house. Collect objects of a certain colour and take a picture of your finds to make a collage. Also an idea by Picklebums.

13. Buy a note book and get the child/ren to write a school holiday diary (or draw pictures every day for young children).

14. Reorganise the children’s room (with their help).

15. Make fruit Kebabs.

16. Write a letter to someone.

At Home: Outside

17. Hang a sheet from a tree to make an outside cubby house.

18. Fly (cut to length) crepe streamers in the wind.

19. Eat outside.

20. Do general gardening or plant a vegetable or herb garden.

21. Make an outside obstacle course. Click here for ideas.

22. Play Backyard games.

23. Blow bubbles. Frills in the Hills has a great recipe for homemade bubble mixture.

24. Do an outside treasure hunt.

25. Create an outdoor play garden. Create a small space of dirt and fill with pots, small rake, bucket, spoons, utensils and solid plastic toys like animal figurines. I like this one from The Imagination Tree.

26. Make a flower head wreath.

At Home: Arty and Crafty

27. Make fairy wings.

28. Make a Zorro mask out of a strip of black material with two eye cut outs.

29. Create a family artwork on a large canvas.

30. Make recycled paper.

31. Collect flowers and press them inside book between baking paper.

32. Colour-in. You can print a variety of colouring in sheets online.

33. Face painting.

34. Make Photo Paper Dolls.

35. Make a robot out of cardboard boxes.

36. Make a treasure map out of brown paper.

37. Make a musical tree. See here for details.

38. Be crafty at home: knit, paper craft, play dough, cooking or painting.

39. Make up a travel drawing box.

40. Paint toe nails. (Boys like this too!)

41. Make boats out of milk bottle lids, a straw (for the mast), paper (for the sail) and blue-tack to stick the sail on to the boat.

42. Make a leaf collage picture.

43. Glue cut out pictures from a magazine or junk mail to a piece of paper.

44. Make a photo book: take photos of your favourite things and collate them into a book.

45. Make sock puppets by gluing wool on the top of an old sock and using a permanent marker to draw eyes, nose and a mouth.

46. Do a self-portrait. Stick a large piece of butchers to the wall (or lay on the floor) and trace around your body.

47. Make a long paper-clip chain.

Out and About

48. Visit a museum

49. Go Geocaching.

50. Go window shopping and have a special morning tea.

51. Go see a movie.

52. Eat a big ice-cream.

53. Visit a library.

54. Fly a kite.

55. Have a picnic outside.

56. Visit a park or playground.

57. Look out for butterflies and birds for a day.

58. Go fruit picking.

59. Plan a day trip:

• animal farm
•  new town
• historical village
• market
• environmental centre
• hiking
• bush walking
• drive up a mountain
• visit the beach
• the country
• theme park

60. Visit someone lonely.

61. Collect shells on the beach.

62. Go ten tin bowling.

63. Visit a planetarium.

64. Feed ducks at a pond.

65. Go fishing.

66. Look for organised school holiday opportunities at art schools, museums, shopping centres, national parks, libraries and councils.

67. Go swimming. (If Winter, look for a heated pool).

68. Visit and share something of your own childhood with your child/ren. This may be a home you lived in as a child, where you honeymooned or favourite place.

69. Look for free activities at a shopping centre.

70. Go for a walk.

71. Visit Dad or Mum at work.

Adventurous

72. Go Bike-riding

73. Catch a train.

74. Go Ice-skating or roller-skating.

75. Catch a bus.

76. Go on a bush walk or hike.

77. Go on a nature hunt.

78. Make a cubbyhouse from items from a second hand shop.

79. Catch a ferry.

80. Allow your kids to learn a new skill. Look for workshops in horse-riding, pottery, art, rock climbing and drama.

81. Have a quest. This may be photographing butterflies for a day, hunting for cool letterboxes, looking for street signs for the names of the people in your family or tasting 3 different types of cookies and cream ice-cream.

At Night

82. Look at the stars.

83. Walk on the beach at dusk

84. Go on a nature walk down your street with a torch.

85. Have a movie night. You can make your own popcorn cups by making a cone shape with a piece of paper and taping it together.

86. Toast marshmallows in the oven before threading them on to sticks (parent would do this).

87. Eat at a family restaurant.

When It’s Raining (also see At Home: Inside)

88. Go to an indoor play centre.

89. Play with umbrellas in the rain.

90. Collect rain in a bucket.

91. Play inside games like hide and seek or duck, duck goose.

92. Photograph the raindrops on the window and include them in a photo book.

93. Go for a drive in the car.

94. Visit a friend’s house (or invite a friend over to play at your place).

Quiet Time

95. Play board/card games like Monopoly, Dictionary, Pictionary, Snap, Taboo, Hungry Hippo, Scategories, The Old Maid.

96. Watch a DVD at home.

97. Stay in your PJs all day.

98. Make a “city” with cars, toys and boxes for buildings.

99. Lie on the grass and watch the clouds.

100. Have “rest” time where everyone plays quiet games like reading or puzzles on their own bed.

If you have more ideas to add, leave them in the comments below.

Family Holiday Links

Planning a Family Holiday

Entertaining Kids When Travelling

Printable Holiday Packing Lists

The Car Box List