8 Screen-Free Ways to Entertain the Kids at Home this Summer
For many of us this week, the school holidays are starting! That’s six whole weeks to keep the kids busy…*gulp*
If you’ve planned a staycation, and you’re trying to keep the kids content at home, it can be tempting to turn to the TV and tech for entertainment (especially after week one), but we’re here to help you fill the next 45 days with some screen-free fun!
Including 8 activities to get you started, along with arts and crafts ideas, boredom-busting kid’s slide beds and even a sleepover checklist, we’re here to turn your Summer Holidays into Holi-YAYS! *Does a happy dance*
You might want to go ahead and bookmark this page for later…
Get Crafty!
One of the best ways to keep the kids busy is with arts and crafts! Especially good when you’re trying to dodge the puddles on a rainy Summer afternoon; you can’t beat a few hours inside getting messy with the poster paints!
Before diving right in, we’d recommend creating a dedicated crafting corner in their bedroom, playroom, or even the kitchen or living room. With an easy-clean design and part of the Tuli collection from Vox, the pastel-coloured desks are ready and waiting for the next drizzly day in! The Vox Tuli Kids Stackable Desk and matching Stools double up as storage shelves too, so the kids will have a home for their glitter glue sticks and modelling clay. Get them set up at their crafting station, along with their assortment of art materials, and see what they think up! Make space on your fridge – masterpieces are incoming!
The Alfie 2 in 1 Mid Sleeper Bed with Storage is great for encouraging creativity over the Summer holidays! With a multi-functional design, choose to build a mid-sleeper bed or single day bed – both with a freestanding modular bookcase – for all of their stories, toys and arty bits and bobs. Along with a blackboard, make sure they’ve got plenty of chalk pens on the shelves, so they can stretch their creative muscles. Simply wipe clean to start again!
If you’re stuck for crafting ideas, we’ve got you covered there too:
- Download and print the free colouring pages from Crayola
- Grab a few heavy books and try some flower pressing!
- Make a collage from paper scraps and magazine clippings
- Collect dried leaves to create relief rubbings with paper and crayons
- Use potatoes and paints to make shape stamps!
- Decorate pebbles with paints and give them as gifts
- Use the recipe below to create homemade playdough:
Using a bowl, stir the below ingredients together until the dough leaves the sides. Dust a surface with a little more flour, and knead the mixture together until smooth. And when you’ve finished playing; store it in the fridge, inside a sandwich bag, to keep fresh.
- 8 tbsp plain flour
- 2 tbsp table salt
- 60ml warm water
- A few drops of food colouring
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
On your mark, get set, BAKE!
One word that will get any child (or adult) away from a screen, and that’s cake! Or biscuits! Or cookies… any sweet treat for that matter. Baking is a really fun, creative and educational activity to do together over the Summer holidays, plus you get to eat delicious goodies when you’re done! From measuring ingredients to licking the mixing bowl clean, every part of the process is exciting.
If the little ones aren’t quite ready for baking and cooking themselves, they can practice at the Kids Concept Toy Kitchen Set. Add in a set of play food or make a batch of homemade playdough (see above for recipe) and they can pretend to chop, mix, stir and make, without feeling left out. There is even a little sink for them to ‘clean up’ afterwards!
Storytime!
The Summer Holidays are a great time for bookworms to catch up on their reading! And what better place to whizz through chapters than the Fraser Single Storage Bookcase Bed. Designed with a bookcase inbuilt into the headboard, and with a wide shelf for their lamp, kids will have their favourite stories within arm’s reach. Read together before bed and share the experience. Set a reading goal for the summer and see how many you can get through in six weeks! Including a pull-out trundle drawer, there’s even more space for their growing library. Or you could swap their books out for a mattress and invite their reading group over to stay?
Slumber Party!
Summer is the best time for sleepovers! Now there’s no school on Monday, the kids can really make the most of the weekend. Unless you fancy giving up your living room and sacrificing the sofa, you’re going to need a spare bed for their besties to bunk up!
Thankfully for you, the Lily Kids Detachable House Bunk Bed gives you the option of an extra trundle drawer, making space for three sleepyheads. Including a removable house bed canopy and with separating bunks, there needn’t be any arguing over who gets what spot…
The perfect base for ghost stories and getting up to mischief; we’ve put together a checklist of kid’s sleepover essentials to help with hosting your first slumber party:
- Extra pillows and bedding – you need to be pillow fight ready!
- Sleeping bags
- Board games
- Music
- Torches or nightlights – for nervous sleepers
- Soft toys – should they need a cuddle buddy
- Midnight snacks and drinks – including hot chocolate ingredients!
- Spare toothbrushes and toiletries
- Parent’s phone numbers, should they get homesick or you need to discuss medical or dietary requirements etc.
Build a Den!
Kids (and adults) love building dens! Using clothes pegs, blankets, bed sheets and sofa cushions to assemble a makeshift hideout and then enjoying a floor picnic/tea party in the living room – is there anything better?
But the fun always has to end sometime right? WRONG! Not when they have a Cuckooland kid’s bed! Upgrading their temporary tent for a 24/7 fort; the Marlowe Mid Sleeper Bed has a secret hideaway. Pop bean bags, blankets and cushions inside to create a cosy retreat for reading and relaxing, and the kids won’t need to pinch any from your sofa set! Including a staircase with in-built storage, they can pick out their favourite books and toys to snuggle up with.
Style the wooden Nora Kids Teepee Bed with a canopy, fairy lights and decorations and create a 2 in 1 play house and kid’s bed that never needs to be tidied away. Finished in white and set low to the ground, it’s easy for little ones to hop in and out unaided, helping encourage independence. And when they can camp out in their bedroom, you might just get your living room back!
Backyard Beach
If you’re staying home this Summer and don’t live by the coast, get yourselves a Kidkraft Children’s Outdoor Sandbox with Canopy and the kids won’t have to miss out on sandy toes! Including buckets for sand and water, bench seating on all sides and a protective shelter to shade them from the sun – fill with sand and spades and you’ve got the makings of your own private beach! All that’s missing is a place to cool off, so we’d recommend pairing yours with a paddling pool if you have the outside space.
With all of the swimming and sandcastle construction they’ll be getting up to, your kiddies will be needing a sand-free zone to refuel and take snack breaks! Which is where the kid-sized Kidkraft Outdoor Table & Bench Set comes in. Available in two colours, the striped cushions and parasol come included with the picnic table and bench set. Suited to (back garden) beachgoers aged 3 to 8 years, they can enjoy anything from icecreams to sarnies, out in the fresh air!
Head Outside!
A great way to let off some steam during the Summer Holidays, we’d recommend getting out into nature and green spaces. And for trips to the park and exploring outside, kids can travel in style with Micro Scooters! Including scooters for every age range and ability, it’s a great opportunity for some screen-free fun, giving kids a mental health boost and staying active over the Summer. And when September the 4th quickly rolls around, they can show off their new wheels to their school friends when they zoom into class each day!
Already selling fast – the three-wheeled, height-adjustable Maxi Deluxe Foldable LED Micro Scooter comes in blue or purple and suits riders aged 5 to 12 years. Without the need for batteries, the motion-activated light-up wheels will never run out of power, so they’re set for a BRIGHT Summer Holiday! With other colours and styles to choose from with alternate wheel options and push-along features, there’s a Micro Scooter for every tiny thrill-seeker!
Indoor Climbing Frames
If your kiddies are feeling energetic, create a bedroom designed for letting off steam. Great for days where you can’t get outside, having an indoor space to actively play will help keep cooped-up kids (and their carers) from getting restless.
Furniture like the Maxxi Cabin Bed and the Vipack Dallas Kids House Bed with Slide will help keep active kids busy. Both beds include a ladder and slide, with lots of under-bed storage for extra toys and entertainment, so kids can play all day without giving into screens and devices… you’ll even get a break from watching Peppa Pig for the umpteenth time! Look out for Kid’s Furniture with extra play features to combat boredom and keep kids stimulated over the Summer.
Screen-Free Fun over the Summer School Holidays
The chances of the kiddies being totally screen-free over the next six weeks are small, but it doesn’t mean you can’t squeeze in some fun activities alongside TV time. Which of our 8 ideas do you think you’ll try first? If you’d like to get Summer Holiday ready and want to talk delivery times, call +44 (0) 1305 231231 or email customerservice@cuckooland.com.
