If the thought of the summer holidays and keeping your children entertained for a whole month is beginning to worry you – fear not!

Remember school holidays are a time to be enjoyed and can offer a respite from busy schedules where you can come together as a family.

There are a number of wonderful activities you can arrange which will be fun for the family, will widen your child’s awareness and reinforce a number of the skills he or she is being taught at school.

Activities for Preschool Children:
•    Increase your child’s awareness and respect for the environment in which he lives.

Plan a bug watch. Start by getting a magnifying glass and set off to the nearest park and see what bugs you can find.

Look how they move, are they in groups or alone, how many legs do they have? Come home and draw the animals you saw. 

•    Make a book.

Gather paper, colouring pencils and a stapler. Start off by making up a story together, then write it down, a line or two a page and your child illustrates it. Once finished your child can proudly ‘read’ her book to friends and family.

•    Help your child develop a sense of charity by talking about children who have less than he does or maybe lost all their toys.

Ask if your child would like to give a toy that is not used very often to the children who have very little.

This can go hand in hand with a good clear out of the toy cupboard.

•    Talk about your family and who is related to who. Grandma is Mama’s mama.

Make family placemats by sticking a photo on a piece of coloured paper and decorating around it then wrapping it in clear sticky paper. These can be used at mealtime.

•    Talk about the weather and begin a project to monitor over a few weeks.

Create a large daily chart to record whether it was sunny, cloudy or rainy. If you have a spot to place a measuring cup where it will catch the rain you can record that too.

If it is cloudy see if you can see shapes in the clouds, for example, Mickey Mouse’s ears or a baby.

•    Enrol in a drama or art programme.

During school holidays, five times a week programmes are available so children can really see and feel their progress over the course of the week.

Exploring the arts can be a welcome break from term time tuition.

>> NEXT: Engage your primary school-going child during the holidays