Guest Post by Tierney Kennedy
I was chatting to Tierney on facebook about activities for boys, and wow, she has some awesome ideas! This post is about the fun Tierney and her boys Rohan and Jared had on the school holidays.
There are BRILLIANT ideas, like my favourites: the Bubble vs Water Pistol Game and the Water Ball Target Game. I hope it inspires you too.
1. Drawing
Material
Butcher’s paper (or regular A4 paper)
Drawing materials
Inspiration (this could be from an outing, a favourite book, movie or character)
Rohan and Jared drew a transformers battle scene – the Autobots are up one end and the Decepticons are up the other.
2. Visit an Aquarium
For more ideas like this, see 15 Ways to be Adventourous with Kids.
3. Paint a landscape for diggers
Materials
Non-Toxic Paint
Paint Brushes
Roll of butcher’s or craft paper (available from places like craft stores, Big W, K Mart, Officeworks)
Sticky tape
How
1. Tape butcher’s paper down on table
2. Paint a landscape on the paper.
3. Allow to dry
4. Once dry, play on the landscape with cars or diggers.
4. Shaving Cream Painting/Play
Materials
Shaving cream
Food colouring
Plastic container
Paddlepop stick
How
1. Smooth shaving cream over bottom of plastic container.
2. Dribble in a few drops of food colouring (2 colours work well).
3. Using a stick, paddle pop stick or end of a paint brush, make patterns in the shaving cream.
4. Carefully lay a piece of paper over the top of the shaving cream and press gently. Lift to reveal a pattern!
5. Scrape off the excess shaving cream with a paddle pop stick, or even a small section of cardboard.
6. Allow to dry.
5. Chalk Road Drawing
Materials
Chalk
Toy cars
How
1. Draw track for cars on concrete using chalk.
2. Play!
6. Face painting (and role play)
Materials
Face paints or crayons
How
A tiger facepaint design is easy. Orange base, black nose an a few black stripes. Roooaaaarrrr!
More easy designs here.
7. T-Shirt Decoration
Materils
Plain T-Shirt
Felt pens
Iron-on Transfer paper (available from places like Spotlight and Officeworks)
How
1. Draw on a piece of paper (freehand or use a stencil/colouring page).
2. Scan drawing on to computer (or take a picture and upload it).
3. Print out on Iron-on transfer paper and follow packet instructions.
8. Wet Foam Ball Target Game
Materials
Foam balls (look for them in the swimming section of places like K Mart and Big W)
Chalk
How
1. Draw a target on concrete using chalk.
2. Wet foam balls and throw at the target from a throw-in line.
3. The wet balls make a mark on the concrete. Closest wins!
9. Bubble Vs Water Pistols
Materials
Water Pistol
Bubbles
How
Water pistols vs bubbles – Blow bubbles and try and shoot them with the water pistol.
10. Carboard Box Construction
Materal
Collected empty cardboard boxes
Masking tape
Paint (optional)
How
We made box robots / transformers using painted cardboard boxes.
11. Block Construction
Build a huge tower!
12. Dinosaur construction
You can purchase these types of dinosaur kits from Australian Geographic.
13. Painting
After we made and painted the dinosaurs, we played museums and then went to visit our local one. Lots of fun!
14. Box Obstical Course for Cars
Box obstacle course and ramps for cars – complete with cardboard tube tunnel and trampoline made from foam.
15. Lazer Course
Materials
Red crepe streamers
blu tack
How
1. Randomly attach red crepe paper to the walls in a hallway for a super spy lazer obstacle course.
16. Ninjas
Materials
Cardboard tube
Crepe paper
Sticky tape
How
1. Cut eye holes in a section of crepe paper and tie around head to use as a mask.
2. Attach a length of streamer to the end of a cardboard tube using sticky tape.
17. Make a gift for someone
We painted butterflies on a stencil, added glitter, laminated and turned it into a mobile for our baby.
18. Slip and Slide
Classic.
19. Wrestling (of course!)
Tierney, Rohan and Jared thank you so much for sharing all these fun ideas!
About the Author
Tierney Kennedy is mum to three children, a maths consultant and author of over 50 books for teachers. She works with teachers from around Australia to help maths actually make sense to kids. Read her post Making Maths Fun for Kids (at home).
Website: www.backtofrontmaths.com.au/teachers
Facebook page: Maths Matters
4 Comments
Mands
April 16, 2013 at 2:05 pmGreat ideas. We have just finished holidays here but will be saving them for the next lot. My school aged boy got so bored so quickly when on holidays
Marry with a baby
April 18, 2013 at 9:19 amYou’re an awesome mum! These are some great entertaining and (sometimes) educational activities!
Tierney Kennedy
July 2, 2013 at 12:33 pmThanks! Hope you have lots of fun. Plus everyone is good at different things – I don’t do housework, baking or sewing and I frequently travel for work. Holidays are lots of fun though!
Keeping Young Kids Entertained While Travelling | Be A Fun Mum
September 23, 2014 at 4:38 pm[…] Tierney Kennedy is mum to three children, a maths consultant and author of over 50 books for teachers. She works with teachers from around Australia to help maths actually make sense to kids. Read her other guest posts here: Making Maths Fun for Kids (at home), Fun with Boys on the School Holidays. […]