Wondering what to to do with the kids in this autumn half term holiday? After all, our Halloween event is only 2 hours! Cara Kliman offers some solutions.
Half-term activities for the kids can add up to some real expenses so it makes sense to turn to an incredible free resource that is permanently available…no, not the Netflix subscription you share with your sister.
The park!
However, you then have to deal with your kids moaning: ‘We’ve been to the park, like, a million times, Mum…’ (See picture, left.)
But maybe there are some different ways of enjoying the park that you and your kids haven’t considered?
Here are a couple of ideas:
Dog Bingo
Before you go, each of you makes your own bingo card. Each card must be different.
Draw a square and divide it into a grid of nine smaller squares. In each smaller square, write a type of dog that you might see in the park. Be as creative as you like. For example:
- ‘seriously huge dog’
- ‘dog with high-pitched bark’
- ‘brown dog’
- ‘dog that is more than one colour’
- ‘dog that loves balls’ (wait, that’s every dog),
- ‘dog that likes smelling other dogs’ bums’ (this one goes down well with four-year-olds)
If you have a more sophisticated knowledge of dogs, you can put a different breed in each box instead. (If the rules allowed you to put Cockapoo in all nine boxes, you’d win the game within minutes).
Take your bingo card and some pens to the park.
When you see a dog that matches a dog on your card, cross it off.
The winner is the first person to get a line of three, or, if you want to kill more time (and which parent doesn’t?), ticks off every box on the card.
Children who like art might want to draw a picture of a dog inside all the squares on their card, and then tick off the box when they see a similar looking dog in the park – just don’t insist on photo-realism accuracy with the matching.
Bench Battleships
Before you head out –
- The children (who will be the ‘The Sailors’) each find a brightly coloured scarf or piece of cloth to use as their ship’s flag.
- You (the adult) will be the ‘The Pirate.’ To help you fulfil your role, you may want to wear a pirate’s hat and/or eye patch. With Halloween costumes galore at the moment, this shouldn’t be too hard. Or you can skip the costume entirely.
- Once kitted out with flags, hats, etc., head over to the ‘Cloverleaf field’ which is bordered by Elms Road and Peel Moat Road.
Each child or ‘Sailor’ chooses one of the benches around the field and makes it their ship (i.e. sits on it). One bench per child. If the bench is occupied by other park visitors, the sailor can ask if they could use an end of it for a short while, usually not an issue, although it may puzzle the occupant for a short while.
The adult (‘The Pirate’) stands in the middle of the field.
To start the game, the Pirate shouts: ‘Cross the seas’ and each child must run from their bench ACROSS the field and to the safety of another bench, without The Pirate catching them. This bench becomes their new ship. IMPORTANT: They cannot run around the paths, but across the field.
If a Sailor is caught, the The Pirate takes them to ‘The Dungeon’ (i.e., any cluster of trees around the field). We like to use the one near the park entrance on Peel Moat Road, it has a handy tree trunk for the hapless prisoner to sit on.
The Sailors that haven’t been caught are invited once more to ‘Cross the Seas.’ They also have a second challenge – rescue the prisoners in the Dungeon by pulling them out without The Pirate catching them too!
Play the game until all Sailors have been caught, or if you feel it’s time for ‘all ashore who’s going ashore.’ Having a handful of chocolate coins to distribute as ‘Pirate Treasure’ to the Sailors at the end of the game will help make this a popular activity.
For more ideas of things you can do in the park over the half-term – or weekend with kids (including some that don’t involve pirate hats) check out: Adventures with your Kids in the Park