Spring holiday activities

You don’t need fancy equipment to set up your own crazy golf course – all you need is spoons for golf clubs, ping pong balls or even screwed up bits of paper and mugs to use as the holes. Have fun creating your course,  placing the mugs around your home in awkward places and using toys to create obstacles. Then see who can get round the course hitting the ‘ball’ the fewest times.  If you have a garden you can take this outside and get some fresh air at the same time.

Remember those heist films where the jewel thief has to make their way through a complicated pattern of lasers without setting off the alarm? You can try this in your home! Put a prize at one end of the room (it doesn’t need to be something new – a favourite toy will do). Next, make a maze by loosely attaching string to the furniture (don’t tie it on – you don’t want anyone getting stuck). The kids then have to crawl and climb through it without touching any of the string. If they do, everyone has to make a noise as if an alarm is going off. Just be sure to keep an eye on everyone, and don’t leave the kids unsupervised with the maze. 

If like us you find your recycling bin is overflowing, now’s the time to put it to good use! Challenge the kids to make a sculpture from paper, cardboard, cans, tin foil, jam jars, plastic bottles and anything else you’ve set aside to recycle (make sure you clean any food containers first). A monster, a superhero, a spaceship, an elephant, the Taj Mahal – their imagination is the only limit to what they can create.

For more fun uses for things you don’t want anymore, check out Zero Waste Scotland’s family activities.
 

If you’re lucky enough to have a garden – and a tent – then your holiday problems are solved. But even if you don’t, the kids will still enjoy camping in the living room. Don’t have a tent? A sheet, two chairs and some string is all you need! What will they take with them on their holiday to join them in their tent? A favourite toy? Some books to read? The cat?

One of the positive things about the past year is we’ve all come to appreciate our outdoor spaces more. And while we can’t travel far, we can still get face to face with nature in our own local parks and streets. Scottish Wildlife Trust has lots of great ideas for getting closer to nature at home and when you’re out and about. How about making salt dough with natural dyes or creating your own mini beast safari?

Make a DIY lava lamp, a rainbow cloud and – every kids’ favourite – SLIME! If your children aren’t enthusiastic about science, they’ll think again when they check out these experiments from CBeebies.

If they want more, you can find lots of resources to download in the Edinburgh International Science Festival’s Kids’ Lab and on the Glasgow Science Centre’s website

Hear ye, hear ye! If your kids are into history (or even if they’re not) then these fun makes from Historic Scotland’s Craft Knight will keep them busy. From making your own jousting knight to creating a catapult (you have been warned) there’s bound to be something that grabs their attention. And they’ll be learning something too – ssh! 

You may not be able to visit a museum this spring holiday, but you can bring the museum into your home! National Museums Scotland’s Museum at Home has loads of interesting activities for the kids can try, from art to games to yoga.

If your kids are dinosaur fans, they’ll love the games and activities on the Natural History Museum’s website, or they could even take a virtual visit to see the dinos in the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History in Washington. Or why not go down under to check out the activities on offer at the National Museum of Australia? When you’re online, the world’s your oyster!

It’s good to put your feet up during the holidays, but the wee ones still need to burn off energy. As well as going out once a day for a walk or bike ride, there are lots of ways the kids can keep active indoors. If you have a watch that tracks your steps, you could consider handing it to the kids for a day and challenging them to reach a target you set. They’ll love wearing a grown up watch – but better still they’ll love trying to trick it into measuring steps by clapping and waving their arms in the air!

Lots of places are throwing open their doors online so you can explore new places without leaving the house!

• Watch the animals at Edinburgh Zoo via their webcams
• Check in on the penguins and sea otters at the Vancouver Aquarium
• Meet flamingos, macaques and meerkats at Paignton Zoo
• Aim for the stars with a tour of NASA's Glenn Research Centre
• Virtually visit museums and landmarks around the world through Google’s Arts & Culture website

Set everyone’s minds whirring by getting the kids to create an escape room in your home – and then seeing if the adults can escape it! They’ll need to pick a theme – zombies? fairy tales? Harry Potter? – and create a storyboard and puzzles. This may sound a bit complicated, but complicated is good if you want to keep older kids occupied for any length of time. The Escape Kit website shows you how to get started.

Origami is the art of paper folding. It may not sound very exciting but try it and you might find it surprisingly addictive! There are lots of different ideas to try on the Origami Instructions website, from simple swans and hearts to much more complex folds.

Ever wondered what makes Wallace and Gromit come to life? The answer is stop motion animation – and you can do it for free on your phone! If your kids have a creative or techy streak and are in need of a project that will really absorb them, this could be the answer. All they need is a phone, some free software and something to film – this could be LEGO, toys, their own drawings, your origami models or any other objects they can lay their hands on. Their imagination will do the rest! This YouTube video explains how to get started.

If you’re already camping in your living room, why not turn the holiday into a mini music festival? Pick your dream line up to suit the whole family (we can’t wait for the festival that has Ariana Grande, the Wiggles and Deep Purple all on the same bill), design a poster and start playing those tunes.

Want to dress up festival style? You could make flowery headbands from paper or tissue and dig out those sunglasses. You could even go the full Woodstock and introduce the kids to the art of tie-dying – the perfect way to liven up old T-shirts and add a bit of hippy chic to your wardrobe. These instructions from WikiHow even include recipes for making your own dyes from berries.

And speaking of recipes, you’ll find burgers to suit every taste in our recipe section – the ideal food for any festival. Peace!