School holiday ideas

[Kymba]

Another good game is go to a DIY store and get some of their colour chart cards then get the children to find things to match the colour of the card you give them... The children at school i teach (5 to 11 ) love this activity, and it is amazing how many things they find.

Bug Search for Toddlers. This is a great activity for preschool children. You will need a large container (plastic wading pool, sandbox, sand table, or similar enclosure), an assortment of rubber bugs, and a substrate (rice, oatmeal, or corncob pet litter). Mix the rubber bugs and substrate and place the mixture in the container. Using their hands, let each child search for bugs in the substrate for a minute or two. You can either let them keep any bugs they find, or offer them a prize if they find any bugs (which they almost certainly will). Return the rubber bugs to the substrate and let others take a turn.

Last Bug Standing. Pack a bowl full of flour and put a plate on top. Unmold the flour onto the plate by turning the bowl and plate right-side up. Gently place a small rubber spider on top of the flour mold in the center. Have each player take turns cutting the smallest slice possible until the flour collapses. The person who cut previous to the collapse is the winner!
( quite messy but lots of fun)

Pin the Fly on the Web. As you probably guessed, this activity is played just like that familiar party game, Pin the Tail on the Donkey. You will need to create a large web with spider, and a fly (to be pinned or velcroed on the web). Oh yes, you'll need a blindfold too. For variation you can modify the game to play "Pin the Stinger on the Bee" or any similar theme.

Hope this are of use

[shirl]

Don't forget to check out your local wildlife trust, Derbyshire WT during the last school hols gave a "family" talk about water voles followed by a trip to the canal. The children were asked to look for water vole signs and draw pics etc, they had a great time - and so did the parents!

Shirl