The winter holidays begin this weekend (1st July) in NSW. In other states the dates will vary. Families, and especially the kids, look forward to holiday time but what can you do if you are staying at home? With a bit of planning you can see that the kids do special things right at home and in your local town. Here are some ideas to try:

• a picnic in a local park
• a shopping excursion
• invite a friend for the day or visit friends
• invite a friend for a sleepover
• art and craft days
• let the kids use the camera to make some videos
• cooking with the kids
• go to a national park
• make a trip to a local museum
• go animal spotting after dark
• drive to the town lookout to see the bright lights after dark
• look at the stars using binoculars or a telescope
• hold a movie night
• let the kids plan and hold a midnight feast
• carry out simple science experiments

Get ideas from library books or your own book shelves for how to extend some of these ideas. For example looking at the stars might be extended by reading legends about the star groups or by reading about space exploration, painting night time pictures and so on. Make these holidays to remember.

Tags: holidays